New Years!

Since getting back to Rochester on Thursday I've seen some good friends, driven to and from Albany, and celebrated the New Year!

I got back to Rochester around 7pm Thursday. The drive went well, not a lot of traffic and the weather was good the whole way. That night I met one of my good friends for a drink out. I hadn't seen him since August so it was awesome to catch up with him. We've known each other since we were little, probably elementary school, so being able to see each other in person instead of talking online is always a plus! What was really funny was that we went to Applebee's which had Karaoke and some of my students were there. Luckily one of them was one that I also work with at Old Navy so it was less awkward than it could have been, and they were seniors so it wasn't too weird, but still an odd occurrence. I wasn't expecting to see my high school students when I went out for a drink, but now I know where not to go, especially during school breaks.

Friday was a whole whirlwind of events! I slept in again which was glorious! Then I went over to a friends house a borrowed some awesome board games for the weekend. After that two other friends stopped at my place before leaving town. I saw the two of them quickly over Thanksgiving for about 20 minutes and before that I had seen them in August. It was great to catch up with them even though it was only a short time again. Then I spent some time unpacking and relaxing during the afternoon before my brother stopped over to get all of the stuff I brought back for him from NJ. Not all of it fit in his carry on for the plane, plus Mom sent food! Then I went out for drinks with another friend from high school. Technically we went to elementary, middle, and high school together. We hadn't been in touch for a while and hadn't seen each other in a few years but she was in town and it just worked out which was awesome! I had a lot of fun!

Saturday I slept in for a little bit, packed some stuff up and then headed to Albany. It's only a 3 1/2 hour drive, but I feel like I've been living in my car. I got to my friends place and we grabbed dinner and then had a low key night in. We played Blokus and Munchkin Booty (2 awesome games) and watched Big Bang Theory until midnight. Had a few drinks and just caught up on life. One of her other friends came over for a while and played one of the games with us. It was nice to just lay low, get tipsy, and play fun games.

Today we slept in for a while, had a lazy morning, played Blokus again and watched Serenity! Then I went and visited my aunt and uncle who live in town. It was good to see them, it had been quite a while. They aren't too much older than me and have 2 cute pugs so hanging out with them is enjoyable. The drive home was dark and rainy but went well.

Tomorrow I need to do some grocery shopping and write a few letters to friends out of town. I'm hoping to sleep in for one last day and get a little bit more relaxing in before the craziness of work starts back up on Tuesday.

I've been thinking about new year's resolutions and things I'd like the change. I had a lot of things on my 25 before 25 list that kind of fall under this category. I'm still working on a lot of those things, and I've got 8 months and 6 days to go!
A few general resolutions:
-surround myself with people and in activities that increase my happiness and not my stress level. I've noticed lately that some of the social situations I've been putting myself in have actually been stressing me out more, which is pretty counterproductive in the long wrong, so I am going to work to find the people and the types of activities that will make me happy.
-let work bother me less, and bring less of my work (and feelings about work) home with me. One of my jobs really gets under my skin and makes me really unhappy and stressed which impacts other aspects of my life. Hopefully I can learn to leave that at work.