#2935 three things to look forward to

3 wonky chickens

 I know the chickens are a little wonky, but I sort of love them. I drew them with my left hand. When the combs and beaks were painted, I felt like they needed something else, so I spattered paint droplets. I think they sum up my mood. January has been a long month. It's the 22nd, but it feels like the 52nd. Why is that? For me, I think it is because I didn't have many things I was looking forward to. It's best to describe it in rhyme:

Having nothing to look forward to
Left me feeling sad and blue
I said to myself, "This will not do!"
That's when I began dreaming, planning and buying
Low-spend January? Yeah, I stopped trying
But now I have plans that are way appetizing!

1. Chris Stapleton concert! I really like Chris Stapleton's music, and when I heard he was coming back to SLC this summer, I wanted to go. He'll be here in mid-August, but MT will still be out on the Colorado Trail, so I figured I wouldn't go. Plus, the seats were super expensive. But then, Stapleton added a second show on 16 August and the tickets were on pre-sale today. I had the code, so I decided to see if I could get a ticket for a reasonable price, and I did! The ticket was under $100 (for a seat, not the lawn), but of course Ticketmaster/LiveNation tacked on a 30% charge, so it came to around $130. I've paid more for concert tickets, so I'm ok. And yeah, I'll go by myself and I'm ok with that too! Yay live music!

2. A visit with Mama and Lizzie! One of my priorities this year is to see my sweet lil mamacita at least four times this year. I had a little time today, so I took a look at the calendar and planned my visits. Other years I have just figured it out as I went along, then something almost always came up and I missed out on a trip or two. I don't want that to happen this year, so I have plans to go in February, May, July, and December. Yes, it's a long time between July and December, but there's a reason for the wait. Anyway, I booked my first quarter visit today: I'll be going to southern California in mid-February. Yay to warm temps and my women-folk in February!

3. A river cruise!  SQEEEE! Lizzie and I will be sailing down the Danube in September and visiting the big three capitals of Central Europe: Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. The cruise is booked, and we are currently finalizing flights and hotels for before and after the cruise. Now, I realize this vacation is eight months away, and it is my intention to not talk about it again until at least mid-June. That doesn't mean it is not on my mind and that I am not gathering information about any of the stops we will be making. I just won't talk about them to anyone but my private journal LOL. I probably drove Lizzie nuts when I was sending her all sorts of stuff about Italy for months before we left on that trip. I'll try to show a bit more restraint on this one, but I am pretty f**king excited about it!

I hope you have things to look forward to as well!

xo