A Seriously Tardy Recap

Just a little disclaimer......the first two paragraphs of this post have been saved as a draft since January 5th.  In all honesty, there are quite a few posts swimming around in my head and I am having a really hard time just focusing on just one.  As a result, I have neglected the blog altogether (well maybe not, if you check out the pages on my navigation bar that were previously empty, you might just find a little something!  Instead of rewriting the first two paragraphs, I am going to leave them as it and "Be Calm and Blog On".

I have fully intended on several occasions this week to write an end of the year post about my birthday and New Year's, but I keep getting distracted.  There was not much exciting to report but I got a few awesome gifts and celebrated with some dear friends and my favorite 11 year old.  Maybe at the end of this post, I will throw in the Cliff Notes version with a few photos.

Today (Jan 5th) was my first day back at work after a 5 day break and working only two days the week before....all of which I got to spend with Zachary.  I am not sure if every parent appreciates this like I do, but when you only have your child 50% of the time vacations like this are simply PRICELESS.  Because of the nature of my work the end of the year is generally the most hectic time of the year for me.  Because of some extenuating circumstances that I will perhaps share at another time, it became possible for me to spend the majority of the latter part of Zachary's holiday break with him. I don't get the opportunity to take regular great vacations, but almost three years ago I took an amazing trip to Cabo San Lucas, MX and although I am sure it is hard to believe, from a mom standpoint this one was right up there with Mexico.  Zachary and I had no big plans and didn't really do anything all that exciting but the great quality time that we got to spend together was truly a blessing.  We caught up on sleep, not to mention my boy cuddled up in bed with me.  I am not foolish enough to think that will go on for many more holidays, if any.  We were pretty lazy and I am not ashamed to say it felt really good.  It seems like life is constantly flying by at break neck speed and it was nice to just slow down and take it all in.  A few of the days we ventured out to River Legacy Park for a walk.  The afternoons tended to be a little chilly, but it was wonderful to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather.

We caught up on some shows that we were watching on Netflix and on the last day of  our vacation, we stayed in our jammies all day and that evening made a run to Braums for an ice cream (still in our jammies) - don't worry we went through the drive through.

Yep, we went to Braum's like this

What can I say....it may not sound like much, but it was good - VERY GOOD!  Needless to say, I am back in the swing of things at work.  It seems like that treasured time with my son was months ago instead of just over a week, but I will cherish it always.

As mentioned at the beginning of the post, here are the Cliff Notes from my birthday and New Year's. 
On my birthday Zach was with his dad the first part of the day.  I was pleasantly surprised with these beauties....although for the life of me I can't figure out what I did to deserve them.

There are 24!!!!

It had been a VERY long time since I had received flowers and it was a wonderful way to start my birthday.  I also received this perfume that I absolutely LOVE!  Holiday Edition Flower Bomb....can't get enough of it.

Special Edition Flower Bomb

Two of my very dear friends took me out to lunch at my absolute favorite Mexican restaurant La Hacienda Ranch.  They gave me a beautiful green scarf and mittens so that I won't get pinched on St. Patty's Day in Chicago watching the parade.  It was great to visit with them and enjoy great food and an awesome margarita!

Jan, me and JR at La Hacienda

New Year's Eve was about as low key as you can get.  We were invited to a party in Plano where we could have spent the night, but who knows what our crazy cat would have gotten into while we were gone - he is such a mess.  Instead, Zachary and I snuggled up on the couch to watch movies and we got a pizza.  He insisted that we stay up until midnight and we made it, but I don't think that we saw 12:15...lol.  I am relieved that I have finally recapped the last week or so of 2011 and the start of my 2012.  Better late than never!  I hope 2012 is treating everyone right.