Monday, December 20, 2010

Social Media

I recently watched a movie (I can’t for the life of me remember the name or the rest of the plot) that talked about 2009 like it was WAY in the future. Flying cars, futuristic clothes- the works. We’re not quite there yet in 2010, but sometimes I still can’t believe the strides technology and social media has made. I remember the days of calling our friends on our home phones asking “can you play?” Granted I was much younger back then, but that’s what we did. Or we just stopped by. But if we were lucky we could leave a message on an answering machine, otherwise we just waited until they got home. That's the way life was- lots of waiting and we were okay with that. Now, my brother who is the same age now as I was then, is texting his friends, IM-ing or waiting for his parents to come home to take him somewhere because walking or riding your bike takes too long. It seems to be more of an instant gratification thing. I'm in that mindset now too sometimes, but he can get just way too impatient if a friend doesn't text back right away. He'll text again and again. I ask him why he just won't call and leave a message, and he looks at me like I have 3 heads. Then I feel inclined to say "you know when I was your age" but then I stuff that inside cause I'm not that old! There are so many ways of getting a hold of someone or putting yourself out in the cyber-world it’s amazing. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but sometimes I feel like I can’t keep up. My brother is 12 and I’m 29 and he’s more advanced than I am! I admit, some of it is probably just me. I don’t really instant message, I joined Facebook a little over a year ago and just started to blog. I don’t have an I-Phone (though I REALLY want one) and I haven’t started tweeting- yet. But my old ways have definitely changed to keep up with the new ways of the world. Where I once used to spend hours on the phone catching up with friends, writing notes to pass in the hall in my school days or sending a letter to a friend who moved away, a simple “how have you been” text or email takes its place. Sometimes I’m okay with it seeing as how I seem to have less time to be on the phone, and of course email is so quick. But sometimes, I miss writing a letter to someone and thinking about how excited they’ll be to get it (or am I the only one who loves getting mail?) or the anticipation of knowing you’ll be getting a letter soon. So, in 2011, I’m going to try to bring back some of those old traditions. I’m going to send more letters/cards- even just little simple ones to let friends know I’m thinking of them even if I get to see them. I’m going to make that phone call to the friends I haven’t talked to in 4 months so I can hear their voice instead of the hey-how-are-you text. I’m still going to text and email, but I’m going to go old school again too. I’m still going to Facebook, still going to blog and I think I’m going to join twitter. Even though technology and life is speeding up and it can be hard to keep up, it's time to because some things really are too good not to share right away. And I think I’m going to have a lot of good things to tweet about in 2011.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Winter Wonderland

I think it's safe for most of us to say hello to winter and snow. I hope everyone is safe and warm and didn't have any issues with this (stupid) storm we had this weekend. I’ve been away for awhile- which does not please me since I’m still pretty new to blogging, but time got away from me. Every time I decided to blog something, something else happened. But now, I’m going to commit to getting that in check and make 2011 the year of blogging for me! Can you believe it’s going to be 2011? I cannot. I’ve heard that time starts to fly faster as you get older, but I didn’t believe it until this year. It’s truly crazy. I remember last New Year’s Eve like it was yesterday and here we are preparing for it again. I'm going to need time to slow down a little bit, I already can't keep up!

I’m excited for the holidays this year, not only because we’re in our new house, but we’re HOSTING both Christmas gatherings. My husband’s side always has their Christmas the Saturday before to ensure everyone will be there, so that is this Saturday. And with him being one of five boys and all of them married with kids, it's going to be a packed house. Then on Christmas Day, my mom, grandparent’s aunts, uncles and cousins from my mom’s side will be at our house, and again it will be packed. But to me, pack them all in, the more the merrier! I’m so excited to have them all over because none of them except my mom have seen our house. And I just love being around my family. And I’m not going to lie, not having to leave the house sounds pretty good too. So, hopefully I’ll remain calm and not let the stress of party planning and hosting bother me. I’ve already started my baking- and that includes one of my favorite Christmas treats- the green wreaths made with Corn Flakes…YUM! 

Exhibit A



Someone in my family would always make them so I’ve never made them before until Sunday and oh my are they easy AND good. I have a feeling they are going to get me in trouble! Is it weird to still make those when April comes? What are your favorite things to bake? And what holiday traditions do you prepare for this time of year?