And there we have it.

See ya later 2013, don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. I mean, you weren't all bad - I did get married this year, after all. So that's AWESOME. I got promoted, which was cool. And the Rock Boat is always an absolutely fantastic vacation, no changes there.

There was also some drama, mostly from folks who need things to always be about them. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to handle those people is to just remove them from your life. But that doesn't make it hurt any less, or make the actions any less angering. So there were a few less people on the Christmas card list this year (theoretically, because we didn't really do that well on Christmas cards this year), and while we're still feeling the effects of why, we'll be OK.

There was plenty more that is just plain forgettable about 2013. As in, I'm sure there was other cool and not so cool stuff that happened this year, I just can't really think of it off of the top of my head. The wedding automatically takes this year into the better category, but take that out of the picture and 2013 was really just a resounding meh.

The past few years I've posted my goals for the New Year and how I did the year before. This year, I'm not. Because really, my main goal for 2014 is to live in the present, and leave the past where it belongs. Well, most of the time at least - saying that's the plan for 100% of the time is just not realistic. But most of the time. Much more doable.

So here's to a better-than-meh 2014, one in which the past does not govern us and the dramatics do not overtake our lives or govern our emotions. Here's to trying new things, meeting new people, going new places, and improving our lives instead of dwelling on things that happened before and cannot be changed. Here's to controlling our reactions to people, not letting their actions control us. Here's to a year of life, love, good music, good friends, and maybe even a change or two.

365/365 (12/31)

I made it! It's been an interesting adventure, finding a picture for every single day this year. Now maybe I can use the blog for writing a little more, who knows :)

To close out the year, here's one more shot from my FAVORITE day of this year.

 And with that, Project365 COMPLETE!

364/365 (12/30)

This is what happens if I get out of bed for even just a minute in the morning.

363/365 (12/29)

My favorites :-)

362/365 (12/28)

A beautiful morning on the Potomac!

361/365 (12/27)

So, this happened...

360/365 (12/26) #tbt

A little throwback to Christmas 2009. This was actually a couple of days before, and it rained on Christmas and got rid of most of it, but definitely whiter than the little snow nuggets on the windshield!

359/365 (12/25)

Merry Christmas everyone!! Those little white nuggets on my windshield were as close to a white Christmas as we were gonna get around here :)

358/365 (12/24)

Christmas Eve fire!

357/365 (12/23)

Daddy and kitty time

356/365 (12/22)

Our little Christmas :)

355/365 (12/21)

Charlie likes the view

354/365 (12/20)

SecDef's Holiday Reception

353/365 (12/19)

We went for dinner to a place in the neighborhood that I always forget is there, and they were all decked out for Christmas

352/365 (12/18)

The husband made peppermint bark :-)

351/365 (12/17)

The invitation for the Secretary of Defense's Holiday Reception - he had to get the Nebraska reference in there :)

350/365 (12/16)

This might be the best beer I've had in a good while. Very tasty, and localish - from Baltimore!

349/365 (12/15)

Its our first real Christmas tree :)

348/365 (12/14)

Much better way to watch Army Navy than in the snow.

347/365 (12/13)

Happy birthday to my baby sister! How time flies...

346/365 (12/12) #tbt

Our first ornament together :-)

345/365 (12/11)

I think he knows what's in the box...

344/365 (12/10)

We got a snow day for this. Wasn't much, but the fact that it came down during rush hour was why. And hey, I'll take it!

343/365 (12/9)

Our poor little rose bush could barely handle the ice. It perked back up though!

342/265 (12/8)

First snow of the year!

341/365 (12/7)

OK, somewhere I screwed up my numbers. I knew this would happen. But I am FAR too lazy to go back and figure out where it was so, yes, there is no 340. I get it.

I was supposed to take a picture at my company's holiday party Saturday night, but I forgot my phone. So you get this instead :) We got a few more lights up, on the rose bush out front and another strand of the snowflakes to go all the way across the front of the house, but we feel festive :)

339/365 (12/6)

Getting ready for Christmas!

338/365 (12/5)

LOVE. Carrie wasn't the best Maria I've ever seen, and the lighting/set was a bit strange sometimes, but it will take FAR more than that for me to not love The Sound of Music in any form.

337/365 (12/4)

What happens when husband falls asleep before he finishes his wine: I get two. And in real glasses this time, even :)

336/365 (12/3)

Even though it's raining, he wants out.

335/365 (12/2)

Husband missed the bed and the snuggle kitty while he was gone for Turkey Day and stuck sleeping on a couch :)

334/365 (12/1)

My little brother's ADORABLE new kittens - this was the best shot I could get of them both at the same time, they're very playful :)

333/365 (11/30)

The frost on my car Friday morning - very pretty, which almost made up for the fact that it was cold enough for this, but not quite.

332/365 (11/29)

This pretty much sums it up!!

331/365 (11/28)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

My aunt and uncle have these big wooden hippos that they acquired during their time with the State Department in Africa. My niece LOVED them, as evidenced by the big hugs she gave the "uppos" throughout the day.

Help Save Penelope

In my Thankfuls post the other day, one of the things I mentioned being thankful for is having health insurance, even if its not the best ever, because its better than nothing. If you've been following the Obamacare debate at all, you know that there are some folks out there, a very small number, who are just not going to benefit from it - they were out of luck before, and they're still not getting much with the new law. One of those people is someone that I met several years back when I used to go to local music shows all the time. Penelope has given endlessly, giving her time, money, heart, and soul to local bands and musicians in the DC area and neither asking nor expecting anything in return. And now she needs help. Her father has started a fund raising campaign to help pay for Penelope to have the bariatric surgery she desperately needs to stay alive, because even with Obamacare, the plans that she could afford will still leave her with huge out of pocket expenses, and most do not cover the surgery that she needs. In order to get the plan that would cover the surgery, she would be spending pretty much her entire paycheck on the premiums. A bad situation either way.

You can read more about Penelope's story on her website. Even if you've never attended a show in the DC area and never met Penelope, consider helping out, and consider sharing her story. No musician who has made it past singing cover shows at bars would be there without people like Penelope.

330/365 (11/27)

I'm pretty sure metro windows aren't supposed to leak, but you never what will happen in a monsoon in late November I guess.

The Thankfuls

My new friend The Good Groupie posted today about three bands that she' thankful for, and it got me thinking about what I'm thankful for this year in general. It's been quite a year, and while I always have the standard friends and family thankfuls, I wanted to actually think about it a little more this year. So here's what I've come up with:

First and foremost, I am thankful for my husband. 2013 was a big year for us, getting married and all. I'll save y'all the sap, because really, who wants that, and just leave it with I am incredibly lucky woman and it feels awesome to be able to call him my husband.

I'm thankful for my job. Times are tough out there, and I'm lucky enough to have a good job that pays enough to pay the bills and mostly live the life I want. I know what it's like to not have that. I am also lucky that I don't mind going to work every day. I mean, of course I'd rather stay in bed longer, but I have a boss and coworkers and employees who make it an alright place to be.

I'm thankful that I have health insurance. It might be crap insurance, and my out of pocket costs have increased significantly this year, but its better than nothing, especially if, God forbid, something ever happens. Along those same lines, I'm thankful that I'm pretty healthy. I have my issues, who doesn't, but I am pretty lucky.

I am thankful for music, and the communities I am privileged to be a part of because of music. This goes in so many directions. I'm thankful for the band Ingram Hill, which got me into the world of independent music, and introduced me to so many good friends, and indirectly introduced me to the Rock Boat. I wouldn't have met my husband if it wasn't for Ingram Hill, in a six degrees of Kevin Bacon kind of way. The Rock Boat has given me not only some of my favorite bands, but some of my best friends. It also introduced me to turntable.fm, which sadly is dying next week, and a whole new group of music loving friends. Music brings me sanity, gives me an outlet for emotion, relaxes me when I need relaxing, cheers me up when I need cheering, occupies my time when I'm feeling bored, and I could go on and on. Basically, I have no idea who or where I would be without music.

As mentioned before, I am extremely thankful for my family and friends. I have an amazing family, and I am lucky enough to have married into an equally awesome one, one that accepted me completely from day one. I have friends all over the world that I don't get to see nearly enough, but I know that they're there for me if I need them, and no matter where I end up, whether for work or for fun, I can almost always find someone I know (usually through music!).

There are so many other things to be thankful for that I can't even begin to express. But these are the big ones. Happy Thanksgiving, and oh yeah, one other thing - thanks for reading :)

329/365 (11/26)

This was a new one. It also was not sleeting...

328/365 (11/25)

Husband left a fishing lure lying around. It is now a cat toy.

327/365 (11/24)

Fun with my flowers...

326/365 (11/23)

First fire of the year!

325/365 (11/22)

Chorizo stuffed mushrooms - yum!

324/365 (11/21) #tbt

Today's throwback Thursday is from Newport, Rhode Island, when I lived there in 2002.

323/365 (11/20)

We got my daddy some birthday Swedish meatballs at the wedding.

322/365 (11/19)

Our wedding night sunset

321/365 (11/18)

How about another wedding photo? I think I will :)

320/365 (11/17)

DC Rock Boaters at the Sister Hazel show Saturday night - are we there yet??

319/365 (11/16)

Sister Hazel in DC for a little pre-TRB action :)

318/365 (11/15)

Another wedding shot!

317/365 (11/14) #tbt

A little throwback to some pumpkin patch goofiness, 2009 :)

I think we might have had a breakthrough

I used to write music all the time. I always had a notebook with me, or scraps of paper to write down lyrics I was thinking. I had books full of full songs, or random lyrics that I wanted to eventually return to and finish.

Somewhere, in the last couple of years, I lost that part of me. It's been a long time since I really wrote. I don't know what happened. May it was intimidation when I started dating my husband because he's such a talented musician. But he's not a lyricist or a singer, so why would I be intimidated? Maybe because I'm unsure that I'd ever be as talented as him? Maybe it's seeing some of my friends do so well with their music, and I don't think I'll ever get to where they are? Maybe I've just lost my touch? Maybe I'm just getting old, and can't find the words anymore? Maybe my happiness with husband has killed the pain that I used to draw on so often for lyrics?

Whatever it is, I'm hoping that it's finally going away. Husband has been bugging me for ages to write with him. We did, once, when we first started dating. I can't even remember the words to that song, or where I wrote them down. But the other day, drawing on the pain of some things that he's currently going through, and doing what he always does, picking up the guitar, he played a line that immediately gave me chills. Just two chords, one progression in the middle of a line that he was messing with, and I just stopped, and said I want to write to that. The power of just those two chords, with no lyrics to them yet, and not even paying attention to the rest of what was happening, it just struck something in me.

Last night, I finally said OK, no TV, just you, the guitar, me, a pen, and a notebook. Let's get writing. And we did. I don't think it's done yet, but we have a scratch recording on my phone, and probably a bridge and maybe one more verse to write, but it's coming along, and so far I'm really excited about it.

I hope this is what I needed to start writing again. Music is such a big part of my life, and writing has been my primary mode of expression since I was 12 years old. I've never been able to accompany myself or truly realize what I imagine my songs to be. But now I have no excuse - my husband is one of the most talented guitarists and writers I've ever met. DUH!

So here's to more writing, some recording, and renewing my love of the art. Wish me luck - both with the big picture and being able to read this later:

316/365 (11/13)

This was our photographer's absolute favorite picture from the wedding. Not gonna lie, we love it too :)