Things are looking good

Each time I've had to date something this week, I struggled to remember the "12" at the end of 2012. Every year it takes a little getting used to but I can't help but feel like this is going to be a good year, and here are some reasons why:
-It's leap year. It doesn't really have any direct impact on anything...but it's just a quirky little tidbit, like a full moon or Friday the 13th, that makes it seem just a pinch less mundane than the norm.
-It's an election year, and all signs are pointing to a Romney/Obama showdown and it's going to be a close one. Regardless of the outcome, I'm so excited to be in D.C. for a presidential inaugeration (another one to check off the list!). Plus, the potential to visit-teach the first lady is just fun to think about.
-Unemployment is down! All the way to 8.5%, which is still high, sure, but it's the fourth month in a row that unemployement has fallen and this is a very positive and welcome piece of news for all of us. Particularly when Brody will entering the job market in a few years :)
-The London Games. I LOVE the Olympics and London has always been near the top of my "To Do" list. It's a match made in heaven if you ask me. Go USA!
-I got business cards today! I've never had my own, and although I don't anticipate handing them out very much, it's still a fun little milestone and a good omen for 2012.
-I'm getting at least 3 more nieces/nephews this year! Thanks to Lacey being pregnant with twins (we found out yesterday they are a boy and a girl), and Lisa being pregnant as well. Can't wait to meet them all!
-Movies. I've found the older I get, the more picky I am about which movies I watch, (it's a rarity for Brody and I to shell out the money to see one in the theaters when we can just wait and buy the blu ray for the same price) so I'm thrilled that so many movies are coming out this year that actually look really good. First and foremost, the Dark Knight Rises of course. Brody is borderline obsessed with the Christopher Nolan Batman franchise and I can guarantee this will one of the few films we will actually go see in the theaters. Some others that I'm really excited for: The Hunger Games (the first book is by far my favorite of the three), The Hobbit (again, my favorite Tolkien book---a much better read than Lord of the Rings), The Woman in Black, saw the trailer on Katherine's blog the other day and it looks super creepy and good, and it's PG-13!, Snow White and the Huntsman - love the new take on a classic fairytale...although I wish they would have picked a better actress for Snow White. Sorry, but not even in a fairytale is Kristin Stewart prettier than Charlize Theron). I'm hoping the new Spiderman movie will be more in the vein of the Batman movies, let's keep our fingers crossed. The Great Gatsby, I can't wait to see Baz Luhrman's take on this classic tragedy and how can it not be good with Leo playing Gatsby? Speaking of Leo, Titanic is being re-released in 3-D!!! haha okay there's no way I will pay money to see that, I almost died when I saw a preview for it over the Christmas break. Quite frankly I think James Cameron is way over-estimating how good the movie was. It did well because of freak-show 13-year-olds like myself that saw it 7 times in the theater. And lastly, I'm excited to see Lincoln by Steven Spielberg. He's my second-favorite president after all and I'm hoping the movie lives up to all the hype it's already gettting. I think it's a pretty safe bet though with Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee-Jones, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt among other great cast members.
-Oh yeah and the whole 2012-world-ending-Myan-Calendar mayhem. That's sure to be entertaining.
Happy New Year everyone, let's make it a good one :)