happy new year from HMOH

bring.it.on.

-HMOH

HMOH: best of 2011

What's best about keeping a running blog of moments in time is the ability to look back on what you were doing a year ago.  The lessons you learned, the highlights, the low points, the people who stuck it out alongside you and made the journey what it was supposed to be.  A year older, definitely a year wiser. To be fair, I worry most not about what the next year will bring, but how many sheets of my daily to-do list I'll have to get through before I get the "month/date/12" right.  


So, have you accomplished all you set out to do (I mean, I know … that 5 lbs stuck out the year with me too)? Have you said the things you wanted to say or become the person you want to be?  Written that book you swear you're meant to?  


In preparation for letting the past year pass and embracing the next (it's going to be a good one, for real) … here are some wise words people have told me, or quite frankly I make up.  Regardless, this is the best of what 2011 has left me with.

• The powers that be will never toss you more than you can handle.  You'll learn that you can take on way more than you thought you could. #factoflife
• It could always be worse … but let's be serious, it could always be better.
• Even if you have to spend your weekends at wedding activities, you're spending them with your best friends.
• Natural disasters - hurricanes, earthquakes, college scandals, maids of honor - they can shake your core and worry you, but with those you love by your side … they become just another experience (and if you know me, a blog post).
• Despite your best efforts at bachelorette parties, you may find yourself faced with outrageous strippers, bride-to-be's ex boyfriends and high school acquaintances.
• Sometimes you just have to sit back and be grateful for what you have - and don't have - anymore.
• Just because they moved on does not mean they won.  It means someone else gets to deal with their bullshit.
• Double chins may come and go, but best friends - whether near or far - are forever.
• Let work teach you new things, open your eyes to new experiences and cultures, and fulfill you.  Don't let it consume you.
• New York City is New York City.  To those who live here, that can lose it's luster. But just exploring opportunities to be elsewhere can make you realize you couldn't be anywhere else.  

• Um, the demise of marriages and productivity everywhere? Simply put … Pintrest. 
• You are never too old to rally, head back to college, survive on little to no sleep, believe you're really 25 again, and "beast".   
• But seriously, you're like pushing 30. It's ok to stay in, watch a movie or catch up on your trashy reality TV-filled DVR.
• Stop complaining about Facebook changes.  They will inevitably happen, you will adapt, and you'll eventually forget what the "good ol days" used to be before your life was a timeline.
• The search for that watch that always shows when the time is right continues ...
• Eventually your MOH duties transition into "Aunt of Honor" duties as your best friends learn they're expecting.  2012 is going to bring some changes (read: baby showers, HMOH projects, and diapers), new additions - and the next little love of my life.

So with that and lots of HMOH love … I say a year later, cheers to 2011, here's to 2012.


-HMOH


And in keeping with tradition, 2011 HMOH totals:

• Wedding Invitations Received: 9
• Weddings Attended: 7
• Bridesmaid Dresses Purchased: 2
• Engagements Celebrated: 5
• Save-the-dates Received: 5
• 2012 Weddings, To Date: 4

stand to the right, make the best of what's left

Despite finding myself on 5th Avenue and in Herald Square in the days after Christmas - faced with climbing massive subway stairs because tourists don't know the "stand to the right, walk up the left" rule on escalators (if you're a NYer, you know what I mean.  If you're not, get to the right) - I'm loving the weeks off of work and time to actually run errands.  

So while the year's winding down, I'll soon reflect on what has transpired - good and bad, lessons learned, good times had.  Before I bid farewell to 2011 (something I will gladly do), I'm going to hang tight onto the holiday spirit, walk up subway stairs, tear up the next few days and look forward to what 2012 has in store.

-HMOH

santa's coming to town ... and your wedding, and your studio apt

Well my fave over at A Cup of Jo introduced me to this site.  It let's you capture Santa in your living room (or "beving room" ... should your bed reside next to your couch) so that you can prove that the Big Man really did visit your house (ehmm studio apartment) over the holidays.  


So, I did it.

I realized I'm seriously a child.  And then I got to thinking:

• What if I could get these pesky watermarks off the images without paying for them (and thank you, Lauren) ... and
• What if Santa just straight chilled with me all year round?  What if he was my plus one to weddings, brought me birthday presents, tailgated, etc.

Like, what if?

No big deal ... 

too much tailgate food?

Santa just goes ahead and brushes his shoulder off

handMaid of Santa?

So for those of you who are clearly checked out this week (myself included), get to inviting Santa over to some of your big events.  Guaranteed good time.


-HMOH

SIDENOTE: a holiday before the holiday

And so I'm back.  A holiday before the holiday if you will.  Mental fatigue from work and the season has kept me away, not to mention priorities of drinking wine, eating my face off and making the best of what's left of 2011.  Finished up the wedding season finally this past Saturday - with a solid 4 month hiatus before any further bridal/wedding obligations hit the calendar.  (Seriously, I just high-fived myself)


Now I know good ol Nick is making his rounds and checking that list twice.  But perhaps some sidenotes you can check out too:


For starters the freak boy who cut in front of me on the subway platform with sandals on and toes that looked way too much like fingers, did not start my day off on the right foot.  Yea, I know. Funny. Stop.  But what did kind of turn my frown upside down was the man that shoved the woman getting off the subway and that same woman who then ran across traffic, took a photo of said man with her iPhone and told him she was going to find him. I laughed mainly because, no ma'am. You won't.  There's not yet a Shazam for men who abuse you on public transportation.  If there was, girls my age would know about it and use it to track down cute guys who they swore stared at them the whole ride and like practically proposed with their eyes while getting off at the Christopher Street stop.


I'm excited it's starting to feel a lot like Christmas, which hasn't been as cool since I stopped cutting toys out of the Toys R Us Big Book and gluing them to a collage for SC to buy me everything. Everything. Santa sure knows how to win over a girl.  But on that note and in the holiday spirit I stumbled upon this little gem of a note.  I'm pretty sure I probably have written something like this.  In better handwriting.  With 100% of the words spelled correctly (just saying). I was smarter than little Claire, yet totally get where she's coming from - the hole puncher shows she's practical and organized and a Virgo.  And clearly her brother shouldn't be rewarded for messy handwriting.  You see something, you say something ... and this needed to be brought to Santa's attention.

Additionally, I was excited to receive a holiday pickle over the weekend (yea, you read that correctly).  Offended that I was just learning about this in my old age, I relished in my secret santa gift of a pickle ornament.  German tradition dictates that it's to be hidden in the tree for the "kids" to find and receive an extra gift.  We didn't do this as a child - probably because the rentals tried to keep things more kid-friendly on our tree.  We didn't hide meatballs or dried sausages - I don't think that's true Italian tradition. Because I'd be just as excited to find a real pickle under the tree, I'll be sure to start this tradition moving forward and hope it doesn't lead to any awkward birds + bees talks.


And so ... this is what my tired brain has allowed me to lay down here.  Perhaps some much needed time off and rest/relaxation (read: more food, drinks and socializing) will get me back into the swing of things.  


-HMOH