Christmas & Starting 2015

Christmas... another tough holiday without Dad! We had another tear filled dinner thinking about how there's that empty chair. There was a lot of emotions in general anyway because when I was younger we lost my grandma on Christmas Eve, and now we were having the first Christmas without him.

Prior to Christmas day was my holiday party at work. This time instead of Angela coming with me, John came. It was super nice. Angela and I went shopping during the week and she helped me find a dress to wear. She even helped me get some discounts by introducing me to new apps on my phone and so I got a nearly $100 dress for just under $30. Denise and Kristie helped me that evening with my hair and makeup and when John saw me he said "I'm the lucky one tonight" It was super sweet. We went to the party and he ended up sharing that luck with me! I actually won big at the raffle. I won one of the door prizes which was a Starbucks cup and $5 gift card. Then I won an Angel City Cafe $50gc (restaurant in Woodland Hills, not too far from the office) and then I won a $50 Harbor Freight gc. Then at the very end of the raffle... I won the 42" Smart TV!!! It was awesome! At the time I was still watching/using my old school 19" TV with the huge picture tube back. Now TV watching isn't usually a priority for me. so I didn't even set up the new TV for like another 2 weeks. I waited until after Christmas. But it's been a nice change for me!

Christmas Eve John had invited me to go to his stepmoms house for dinner. So we went over that evening and when we got there only Heather was home. Apparently he misunderstood the message and she hadn't said Christmas Eve, she said Christmas eve-ning and so we went out for sushi instead. It was nice. We did that and then I can't remember if we saw a movie that night or not. We've gone to a lot of movies together. I've never gone to the movies too often, but with dating John I've seen a lot more.

Christmas day he came over and was with my family for opening gifts. It was nice and then I fell asleep on the couch in the afternoon. I told him he could stay for dinner with us, but he opted to go to his stepmoms for her dinner instead. Deann happened to be heading out towards Westlake, so she dropped him off for me (& I continued napping) I could've gone with him, but I really wanted to stay with my family being our first Christmas without Dad. It was hard, but once again we all showed our strength and got through, even with a few tears.

New Years we hung out again (and in between of course) John and I went over to Denise and Neals where we played games with them and with Kristie and Sean. The 6 of us had a good evening together. Snacks and cider (for John and I, the others had champagne) and later in the evening my Mom, Aunt Nancy and Uncle Charles came by for a bit as well. We broke in the new year and toasted 2015. I stayed for a bit longer than needed to head home for the Rose Parade in the morning.

My captain had got me 4 tickets for the grandstand seating for the Rose Parade. My mom, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Charles and I got to go. We had to be at the Altadena office at 0530 and they drove us over and dropped us off at the end of Colorado Blvd where we needed to be for our seats. It was incredible! We had such great seats at the beginning of the parade route and didn't have to camp out! I really enjoyed it! It was my first time going to the parade, and it was the first time for my Uncle Charles as well. Mom and aunt Nancy had camped out and watched the parade last year for their first time!

After the new year i finally got the chance to go to the Pompeii exhibit! I got tickets for John and I and we planned to take the metrolink down. We got over to the train station and were trying to get our tickets but it wasn't coming up as an option on the machine so we called the number listed on the machine. The lady I spoke to told me that there weren't going to be any Metrolink trains coming from Simi that day :-/ so we ended up driving instead. Because it was within the last week of the exhibit they were packed! That part was a little frustrating but we had a good time none the less. The exhibit was incredible and they had some amazing artifacts on display. I cried a bit looking at the replica's of the bodies. After the museum we came back to TO and saw a movie. It was a great day.

Well even though we had some good times through the holidays' and at the Pompeii exhibit, sometimes good things come to an end. A few weeks ago I had to tell John I wanted to just be friends. There were a few things that had happened that made me feel as if things weren't as nice as they seemed. We had a lot of really great times together. But there were times when I was starting to feel as if I was losing focus on who I am. I was really starting to fall back into old habits and wasn't taking care of myself anymore. I wasn't working out and was starting to gain back the weight i had lost before losing my dad. There are also some things from his past that he needs to work on moving forward from. I had felt for awhile that he wasn't going to be the guy I was meant to marrry and though things were nice I couldn't continue when my feelings had changed. We hadn't been hanging out as much and weren't even talking on the phone as often so i got to a point where I couldn't do it anymore and told him how I felt. It wasn't easy to do it, but I am glad I did. We were together for about 4 months. Which may be short in some people's perspective, or may be long in others. We had known each other though for like 7 months prior to dating though. At first after I told him that I wanted to just be friends, he didn't seem to want to talk much. So I wasn't sure how it was going to play out, but finally this past Fri night we went to the temple and had a nice evening and yesterday he, Heather and I went to Disneyland and had a blast. It was a little bit strange because the last few times we went together we were holding hands and such, but i had fun.

So this year has brought a few changes already, including a new windshield and tires on my car. I got a crack in my windshield when we went to Pompeii (darn train) and luckily hadn't changed it yet, because 2 weeks later I got hit again and ended up with a big spot again and a second crack! I also broke the window in the garage at my moms house, and then while boarding that window I knocked down and broke a jar! So keep me clear of glass!  I also got to go to Knotts Berry Farm with my friend Becky. I hadn't been in like 12+ years and she had never been, but i was able to get us in for free with my work ID. It was a fun day but I think I am going to stick with my Disneyland pass ;-)

I know my past couple posts have been kinda crazy, but I guess that's what happens when you wait to write and have too much to say! I also have pictures galore on my phone but right now it's getting late so I am not going to link them onto here!