Thursday, December 31

2009 in review

as i've done for the last few years now here is the 2009 in review :)
2008, 2007 (and i just transfered over 2006, 2005 and 2004)

january - rang in the new year home in new jersey and then went back to ireland for my last 3 months of the irish adventure. the beginning of january was blah - i was sick and just working and the weather was typical ireland in january. but the last week was fabulous when amy came to visit me and i rented a car and drove over 1000km in 3 days and i got to show her my favorite place in the world. it was absolutely hilarious and a vacation i'll never forget. and then we went to spain - malaga, granada and madrid and from lolcat spanish, sherry, and nonstop laughter it was incredible.

february - realized my time in ireland was coming closer to an end and i needed to take advantage of everything. so i was constantly doing things with friends, doing all the things i hadn't done in cork yet, had my weekly cinema dates with brenda, my last hike with the club on a gorgeous day in the irish mountains, booking my flight home :( and deciding to go on an italian adventure by myself where i frolicked through venice, florence, pisa and rome and ate more in those 6 days than i ever have. i really recommend traveling by yourself. i also decided to move to connecticut with the roomie when i moved back to the states in march.


march - ahhhh! it went by too fast. every day in march i was doing something from last dinners or pints to goodbye parties, an amazing weekend in dublin with brenda, a ztatastic weekend in london, a great patrick's day, a completely drunk clubs and socs, seeing old friends, ireland winning 6 nations, figuring out how to pack up the last 20 months of my life, saying goodbye to all my friends and crying most of the flight back to the states, back in nj for 4 days, buying a car - colby and moving to connecticut.


april - starting work in connecticut which i loved, the ridiculousness of living with amy again, danish ghosts, margarita nights, working 16+ hour days, getting to see my loves again, gator, seeing jeanne run the boston marathon, i'm on a boat, meeting up with a college friend and seeing bruce springsteen, and being very happy about everything.

may - super crazy work, an absolutely hilarious birthday weekend for roomie's birthday, sailing, drinking waaay too much, fun on the long island sound, some bad decisions, lots of work, getting the summer job in dc! and still just very happy with life and the decision to move back to the states.


june - extremely sad to leave connecticut but a great going away party, home for a week where i subbed hs and then down to dc for the summer to work at the leadership conference. immediately hit it off with my summer roomie, a hilarious staff orientation week, hooking up with the boy, back home for my little bro's graduation, my first session and the great group of scholars who dealt with me always singing taylor, kelly and miley, being sarah palin, the craziness of the staff at night and just loving what i was doing. started dating the boy, got offered to work the international session, home for 2 days.


july - back down in dc for the international session, got asked to interview at a school up in nj - which would require me to drive from nj to dc 2x in 3 days, but I GOT A TEACHING JOB, had a blast with the international session and exploring dc & nyc with these scholars, bus 5 and the bus belt. back to my westpark loves for the 2nd session and more dc ridiculousness with that. sad for the sessions to be over, the most hilarious end of cycle staff party, back to new jersey, happy 24th birthday to me!

august - a few days of relaxation at the shore with my family, continuing to see the boy every chance i could, enjoying the end of summer, camping with the boy, lots of trips to philly, seeing karen in nyc, and about to enter the real world.

september - ahhhh, first day of teaching! crew reunion trip to md, broke up with the boy, joined zta alumni group, teaching going well, really spent most of the month focused on getting everything well at school.

october - still pretty focused on school but loving it! my co-workers were fabulous, my students pretty good, lots of zta alumni events, getting koko - my mac book! a great weekend in philly with jeanne getting to see my crew team row, then a hilarious halloween with the connecticut gang, getting tickets to see t.swift in may.

november - going to maryland and wac for the first time in 2.5 years! loving some time with friends who i saw while i was there, seeing little!, school still going well, lots of seeing friends for dinner, trying something i never thought i would but it is going well, waay too much shopping with my mom, fun in the city with friends, thanksgiving parade with my dad and then ski practices started.

december - ahh, seriously? school still going well and i'm loving it, but ready for a break! dealing with snow, a great weekend in connecticut, a nice christmas, getting to see friends, a fun night in the city with my family and another new year's eve.

2009 was incredible. considering i was pretty nervous how the year would be, all i knew last december 31st was i was leaving ireland in march... the rest was unknown. and for it to have turned out this fabulous. well, i'm extremely lucky. i loved my last few months in ireland, got some amazing vacations, loved connecticut, had a blast in dc and then found a teaching job i couldn't be happier with. everything worked out fabulously.

hopefully 2010 will be just as amazing and i'm ready for what it may bring!

hope everyone has a fabulous night :) happy 2010!

oh, and yay for my 300th post here at heart in ireland :)

3 comments:

Amy said...

Congrats on #300! What a year, right? Great pictures Erin, can't wait to read more from you in 2010 :)

P said...

Your pictures are fab! Loved reading this. :)

Lee Ryan said...

Awesome pictures - looks like you had a great year.