Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo
New Years Eve Flashback Pictures (2006-2014)
Happy New Years Eve, friends!
For years and years NYE was my absolute favorite holiday. I loved everything about it – dressing up, going out with friends, counting down to midnight, the opportunity to set new goals, the whole thing. My friends in college used to call me the “new years girl” because they knew how much I loved it (and because I always used to be the one to turn on New Years Rockin’ Eve and start the countdown). Ha!
Tonight is shaping up to be a little more low key. It’s seriously freezing out (my phone is reading six degrees right now), so I think the five of us (Jenn, Josh, Jamie, Hadley, and me) are planning to eat somewhere early, go bowling for a bit, and then ring in the new year quietly back at our house. Sounds good to me!
Just for fun, today I want to share a few flashback photos from New Years Eve. We’ve had some fun ones, that’s for sure!
For NYE 2006 (my senior year of high school), my group of girlfriends all went to eat at Outback and ran around to a couple different parties that some of our friends were having. We all spent the night at Emily’s afterwards. We were a really close group, so this night was really fun!
In 2006 (welcoming ’07), I went over to our friend Cody’s house and celebrated with a big group of high school friends. Our reunions were always so fun. I really grew up with the best group of people!
I’m doubtful that there will ever ever ever be a NYE greater than 2007-2008. Three really close friends and I spent six days running around NYC, and we rang in the new year right in the middle of Times Square. Counting down to midnight, watching the ball drop (live!), dancing in the streets to “New York New York”, watching the confetti fall… it was all really, truly surreal. I wish I was blogging during that time and had a post about it so that I could relive it over and over. My memories from that trip are so, so special.
2008-2009 was the first year that I spent with Jamie! We rang in the new year in Epcot with my family while on a week-long vacation to Disney World. It was a blast!
We rang in 2010 (my senior year of college) at Jamie’s parent’s neighbors house in Birmingham. Nothing special, but we had a good time!
Ringing in 2011 was special because we kissed and cheered to our wedding year (we would get married two weeks later). We spent it in Medford, OR at Col. Didier’s wedding. We were with a few of Jamie’s friends from West Point, and the whole trip was just a blast.
Three years later, I still remember crying on and off all day on NYE 2011-2012. Jamie had just left to go back to Afghanistan for his final seven weeks of the his deployment, and I was so exhausted and emotionally drained from the goodbye and the deployment in general. My family and several friends were at a wedding, and I was home alone and so down. I finally got a text from a friend around 8 inviting me to her parent’s house for a low-key hangout, and we ended up having such a fun time! Kerry, I was thankful for your text that night!
NYE 2012 was quiet but beautiful. All of our friends were out of town, so we planned on a night in just the two of us. Later that afternoon on the 31st we finally made some plans! We ended up going out to eat at our favorite restaurant and seeing Les Miserables. We got home around 11:30, poured some champagne, and clinked our glasses to 2013. We had no idea that in a few days Jamie would get deployment orders and that I’d have a positive pregnancy test in two months!
I remember having a “new momma meltdown” last year on NYE (2013) because Hadley was six weeks old and having a really rough day. We wanted to join our friends at their party, but we just didn’t have the energy. My dear friend Michele offered to rock Hadley all night if we’d just get dressed and come. At the last minute, we threw some clothes on and had a wonderful, much-needed night with our very good friends! I sure do miss this group.
Well walking down that memory lane was fun! How are you celebrating tonight? I hope you enjoy doing whatever you want to do tonight – celebrating with friends out or having a quiet night at home. See you next year! xoxo