2013 Yearbook

I can’t believe it’s 2014. Like seriously.  It’s really here.  I have to say 2013 was good to me.  It was full of exciting new things.

If I had to sum it all up in one word I would use “growth”.  It truly has been a year of growth both personally and in my relationships.  Personally because I feel like I am actually becoming a women and not a girl.  I kinda feel grown up.  I asked for kitchen things for Christmas.  Come on.  Who am I?  In my relationship because we are making a life together.  I’ve never been at this level with anyone before and we learn from one another everyday.  He pushes and challenges me and vice versa.  I think it's healthy in a relationship to have that.  

I decided to join the train and do a look back at 2013.  I will thank myself later for doing this one day.  Probably in 10 years when I’m telling stories to my kids. It's also a good way to get to know me since I'm newish to these bloglandia parts.  

The bf and I had just spent Christmas in Upstate NY with my family and had such a good time with them.  Unfortunately, when we got back I got sick with a major head cold and was sick for New Years.  We had already made plans to have friends over to bring in the New Year so I sucked it up and took lots of supplements.  And it was a really great low key night with friends. 

Phil and I got floor seats to the Pacer’s game.  Not going to lie it was awesome.

At the end of January we went to Columbus to visit friends for the weekend.  This trip was good and bad.  It was fun.  But I clearly couldn’t control my alcohol and had way too much to drink.  I embarrassed myself.  I passed out at the hockey game.  I don’t recall being there.  Got in a fight with the bf.  Yup, not my proudest moment. 

My best friend Kristen and her now fiancé got engaged!  I am so so happy for them and can’t wait to be part of their special day in 2015!

February was a crazy month.  I ended one chapter and opened a new. 

I left a job where I was being taken advantage of.  I believed in the people and the company and turns out they just cared about themselves.  I’m proud for standing up for myself and leaving the business.  It was the best decision for me.  Though I didn’t have a job to fall back on I was thankful to have a supportive family and bf to help me get through it.  This was probably up there for the hardest time for me financially and emotionally. 

I moved out of my apartment in Indy and moved in with the bf of 5 months.  What? Am I crazy?  It was exciting and scary all at the same time.  We were busy making room for myself and getting used to living with one another. Thankfully,  I only fell in the toilet twice from the toilet seat not being down.  Yea it was an adjustment for both of us.  I moved in on Valentine’s Day.  Kinda sounds cliché. 

We got a dog.  A very crazy dog but we didn’t know it yet.  We named her Dragon after the band Imagine Dragons. 

My dad and his wife came to visit.  This was also the first time the bf met the father.  I would say it went pretty well.

Officially booked our cruise for January 2014 which is now less than 2 weeks away! Happy dance!

Philly’s birthday month.  We went down to Indy to celebrate.  We snuck into the St. Patty’s festivities and had a few green beers and met Philly’s cousin and gf for dinner at St. Elmo’s.  We have made this a tradition between the four of us to eat at St. Elmo’s for each of our birthdays.  The shrimp cocktail is to die for. 

I got employed with an Architectural Firm in Fort Wayne!  Yay.  I still had a few more weeks to enjoy doing absolutely nothing. 

Our friends got married!  I had so much fun taking pictures in the photobooth!

My mom and her partner came to visit and as always had a blast. We celebrated my sister in law’s birthday with lots of drinks and food. Duh! :)

I had lots of fun with the pup before I had to go back to work.  I officially started work on the 8^th.  I was excited to start something new and actually be productive. 

I had one of the best day dates in my life with the bf in Indy.  I can’t even remember what we did but I know a lot of laughing was involved and that’s what I remember.

This picture was from that day!

One of the saddest things about 2013 was the passing of one of my family dog's Scout.  She became very sick after a routine shot and somehow her white blood cells started attacking her red ones.  The worst was not being able to see her or say goodbye. 

The month ended on a good note because it was my birthday and the bf and I went to Chicago to celebrate.  We even had a suite.  Yup he is too good to me!  We did what I do best eat and drink oh and of course some site seeing!

I shot a gun for the first time and was actually pretty good.  I even did better than the bf but I try to keep that one to myself.  Don't ask what guns I shot because I have not a clue.  

We kept our tradition alive and went to St. Elmo’s to celebrate my birthday!  I always have so much fun here with them.  We even went to a Cigar Lounge afterwards, which was a first for me. 

The bf, his dad and I went golfing.  I did more drinking and driving the golf cart because that was just more fun.  I felt like I was back in middle school driving the cart thinking it was the coolest thing ever. 

One of my favorite parts of May was the fact that I became a bad ass.  Yup you heard me right.  I started boxing.  It became one of my favorite workout’s ever and I got close with one of the bf’s friends and she is now one of my closet friends.

Philly and I drove down to Biloxi, Mississippi to visit his Mom and Dad on their boat for memorial weekend.  This was also the time that I discovered that I LOVE GUMBO.  Holy cow is it good down there.  I have a love for seafood in general so I did a lot of eating, which shouldn’t surprise you.  We got to explore Biloxi, take the boat out to an island for the day, see a live band and visit New Orleans for the day.  We went to lots of great restaurants and one of them was called Mary Mahoney’s, which is my grandmothers name so I thought that was awesome.

The bf had to go to NYC for work and decided to tag along so I could spend time with my best friend/sister Erin. Lots of sangria and Mexican was consumed. If you know anything about Erin it's that she loves Mexican. We even go to play in Central Park and eat ice cream cones. 

I went to the zoo with my nephew.  He is just the cutest thing ever and so glad he is semi close to me. By semi close I mean an hour and a half away.  His favorite thing was by far petting the goats and it was just too adorable watching him.  

I had a rough time in June.  I was struggling with myself and what I was doing with my life.  I felt unaccomplished and down on myself.  I was at my heaviest weight.  I didn't feel good about myself.  I hadn’t found my niche.  I’m sure many of you can relate to this.  I had thought about seriously moving to Thailand for 6 months to try to find myself.  Doing that in a relationship though is really hard.  I went back and forth for weeks because things with the bf were beyond amazing and I couldn’t imagine being away from him for so long.  I also knew though that I needed to do something for me.  Which brings me to…

The month that I started my blog and 101 Things in 1001 Days List.  I decided to not run off and to instead make a list of things that I want to do, places I want to visit, goals I want to accomplish, and challenges I want to undertake. I thought it would be a good way to hold myself accountable.  This could be a way for me to feel like I am doing more with my life and really and enjoy life at the same time.  It’s been a slow start but it’s a work in progress just like myself. And I have found some great blogs that I can relate to.  

We spent the weekend at our friends lake house and seriously had one of the best weekends.  We even brought the dogs so It was our first lil family weekend away (Read more here).  I got to cross off the second thing on my list because I went skinny dipping!   Sorry Mom and Dad. 

August was super busy. 

We had been having some serious issues with Dragon.  Read here to catch up.  The gist of it is she was suffering from sever separation anxiety.  She was breaking out of her kennel and destroying everything in the house.   I started taking her to Puppy Daycare and she loved it.  Plus I had a buddy on my commute to work so that was a plus. It ended up not working out and she was getting several bad notes sent home.  We were honestly thinking of bringing her back to an animal shelter (where she would probably get put down).  It broke my heart to even think about it.   Our last hope was taking her to an animal behaviorist, which saved our lives and hers.  With a lot of work she has made an 180 turn.  We love her and our so happy that we didn't give up on her.  

One of my favorite parts of August was going to Kentucky for the weekend.  This was my first time in Kentucky.  I loved every minute of it.  We spent the day doing a bourbon bus trail visiting Maker’s Mark, Barton 1792, and Jim Beam.  I do not enjoy bourbon but I still had a good time and managed to get most of it down.  We went site seeing around Louisville with my Little (sorority little sister) and her bf.   She is just the best person ever and always have so much fun with her.  On the last day we drove around to this great breakfast spot and then drove around Old Louisville looking at all the brick homes. 

Phil and I had an amazing date night at Joseph Decuis.  It’s a farm to fork restaurant and the food is so freakishly good.  

Wedding Time!  Phil’s half sister got married.  I just love weddings period.  Plus we took one of my favorite pics of the bf and I.

One of the highlights of 2013 was getting to witness my Mom and her partner of 12 years get married. It was a special time and I was happy to be part of this day with them.   I even got out of my comfort zone and gave a toast and it went better than I could have expected. Laughter and tears is a win in my book.  It was a such a good time home especially since I got to see my bestest.  We hiked the Watkins Glen Gorge, hit up a few wineries, went hot tubbing, and got to spend lots of time with my family. 

Went to my first NFL football game with the bf and his family.  I was surprised at how much fun I actually had watching football.  Maybe it was the beer. 

The bf and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary by going down to Indy and shopping, having beers at the place we had our first date, and then eating at our favorite restaurant, St. Elmo's for dinner.  It was a huge milestone for me and can't say how happy I am to have him in my life. This day was supper special to me and loved that we were able to look back at some of our most memorable times together.  

My Mom and her wife came to visit and they actually came up to Marion (which is the town I live in).  They had only been to Indy which is where my brother lives.  It was super existing to have them see where Philly and I live.  I showed them around, we went shopping, sampled pumpkin beers, and laughed a lot.  You can read more here. 

The time I went to the best concert ever, Twenty One Pilots with friends!

Health wise I knew something was not right but didn't really know what was going on.  

It wasn't until my hair started falling out that I finally went to see a doctor and learned that I have hypothyroidism.  I was happy to finally know what was going on but also crappy that there actually is something wrong.  

Went to visit Purdue for the weekend for a fun filled weekend with friends.  Irish music, drinking, and a tailgating was involved.  

The bf and I hosted our 1st Annual Friendsgiving.  Everything about it was fun from the crafting, decorating, cooking, the friends and just seeing it all come together.  I worked hard to put this together and I cannot wait for next years!  

My dad came to visit and we got to celebrate a 2nd Thanksgiving!  He gave us a belated house warming gift of an Irish pitcher and glasses.

And now here we are in December.  

We had my niece and nephew stay with us for the weekend.  It kept us super busy but it was worth it.  Had so much fun with these two! We went to Science Central in Fort Wayne, played with Phil's old matchbox cars, went to bdubs for dinner, watched Thomas the Train, danced, played in the fun zone area at the mall, and finished the night seeing all the Christmas lights on the Marion Walkway of Lights! 

Phil had his work Christmas Party and we got to dress up as Jack and Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Which now brings me to Christmas.  I had the amazing opportunity to spend Christmas in St. Thomas with Phil's family.  I can't wait to share about my Christmas with you because I haven't had the chance to write my post about it yet.  But stay tuned.  

2013 was definitely an unforgettable year filled with many firsts and lots of growing up.  I'm so thankful for everything that happened in 2013 and for everyone in my life.  I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store because I have a feeling that it will be even better than 2013! 

Wishing everyone a kickass New Year's and a happy