Showing posts with label yearinreview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yearinreview. Show all posts

Friday, December 30

2011 in review


2011 was a really interesting year. i traveled a lot, lived in dc for a few months, moved 800 miles away from home on a whim and broke myself again. the first 11 months were pretty damn awesome,  but it was the last 1.5 months that were pretty rough. so overall 2011 was a great year with lots of adventures but not quite the stability i was looking for, especially the end of the year. but it has been a fun year and one that i'll remember as i was able to travel so much!

january

amsterdam

zurich
vienna
kicked off the new year in philly with jeanne, kaity & co and don't really remember anything as i was a hot drunk mess. but on january 3rd i hopped on a plane to zurich to start a 3 week adventure around europe. i had an amazing time traveling solo getting to go to some amazing places and just doing what i wanted as i frolicked around. spent about 36 hours in zurich, loving the churches and chocolate! spent many hours on trains as i went to prague next. loved loved loved prague and the history there, charles bridge, prague castle! saw the sedlec ostuary and the church decorated with human bones. wished i had more time in prague but off to budapest. it was foggy & wet in budapest but loved the cathedrals, castle, walking tour and turkish baths. next was vienna and i loved the elegance & history. spent a lot of time in palaces and went to a ballet at the vienna opera house! cologne, germany was where i spent most of my time in the one of the largest cathedrals in europe, eating chocolate and enjoying this adorable city. and then finally getting to go to amsterdam! the highlight was the anne frank house, but i loved the canals and bikes. had fun at the heineken brewery and museum and just enjoying the city! and then my last leg of the eurotrip going back home to cork! i spent 4 glorious days back in my little city along the lee, visiting friends, eating all my favorites, going to my pubs, going to my old office and just missing ireland like crazy. i was really sad to leave cork! but the adventures were just getting started when my eurotrip ended. i was in dc within 24 hours of landing starting up more conferences, but this time traveling around the US! and dc was great - catching up with old friends, meeting new great people and an epic snowstorm! and one of my best friends getting engaged!
cork

prague

budapest

philly

seattle

february 
birthday ball

a month full of travel! after dc i headed off to seattle! yes! for another new state - washington! after the conference had a great few days exploring seattle and falling in love with the pacific northwest! then to indianapolis (another new state indiana) where i spent some time with amy's family and also went to the speedway and my sororities international office! started dating m, spent a few days in nj before heading to philly and back to chestertown with my loves for birthday ball! a great weekend at wac celebrating gw and being with many of my favorite people in one of my favorite places! 
indy

















march
sister & i at bama
loves!
started out march with heading out to pittsburgh for work. had a blast after the conference, a great night out with my coworkers, a nylc reunion, seeing a good college friend and exploring the city. found out i got the pc job in dc for the summer! on the way to my next conference i stopped in harrisburg to see becca and had a fun night with her before heading to dc. dc conference was ehhh, but i got to see many of my friends. next up was birmingham (another new state alabama!) where i met up with m. who was also in alabama for work and had a great conference and was super excited to explore birmingham until i had to go to meriden, mississippi (another new state) to rescue my sister when her car died en route to new orleans. so her and i had an adventure stopping at university of alabama and i drove 550 miles in a 24 hour period. but i went to mississippi! i was back in new jersey for a little bit, my dad and i went to the ncaa sweet 16 games to cheer on carolina! which was so much fun! celebrated being back from ireland for 2 years, went to dc/philly for a weekend to see friends and search for a apt in dc, with a hilarious evening in philly with the loves. and had a hs moment going to a devils game with 2 hs friends!
pittsburgh
sweet 16 


april
zeta
meeting lucy!
celebrated sisterhood with zeta day and a fun trip with my sisters and the most redic night ever with m. and his friends with the drunk phone calls with barb! my last crazy conference in dallas (another new state! texas) and all the amazing history with jfk! meeting one of my favorite bloggers - lucy and playing with the cowboys at the stockyards! moved down to dc to start my new job! one of my professors had a book signing for his book 1861 and it was great to see him! and enjoying the spring in dc and getting to see my friends all the time! being giddy about the royal wedding and worrying about my sister down in alabama with all the tornados until we heard from her 48 hours later.
grassy knoll - dallas jfk!
may
with little & glittle
dc
great falls
kicked off the weekend with jeanne coming down and playing with her & kaity in dc. crazy nights out in admo with my coworkers, seeing glittle at the randomest college brunch ever, went to the jennifer landcaster book signing, played at the embassies and just enjoyed dinners & movies with my friends. it was great to be in the same city as so many of my dc friends! celebrated the 4 year mark of being out of college (when did that happen?) had the best weekend ever! went to harpers ferry with annie and re-enacted john brown's raid, hiked on the AT and visited their headquarters (i've wanted to go there since i was 11) then i saw brett dennon with ellie saturday night, brunch with little & glittle sunday morning and then seeing sugarland and meeting fellow blogger amanda! celebrating memorial weekend with jones's bachelorette party and amy & jeanne in town and discovering great falls park where i spent many evenings this summer! had a great month at work, loving most of my team, getting excited about the summer, hiring the staff, joking around with my pc partner, annie & i getting close and just loving everything!

atc headquarters in harper ferry
sugarland













june
being funny at work
jones's wedding
june started the crazy of summer - conference life began. checked into a hotel for 3 weeks and trained my staff. it was so awesome to finally meet the 20 people i helped hire! helped jones celebrate her marriage and had a crew reunion at her wedding which was a blast! ran a leadership conference with paul for 327 hs students around dc for 12 days with some of the craziest stories and a few nights of 3 hours of sleep but laughing to keep my sanity. and i loved it. and i became an amazing problem solver. after working for 12 days straight i went to a U2 concert!! which was absolutely amazing. i enjoyed my days not in session in the office and then a mini worchester reunion in chestertown! aubs & her husband flew in from england so we had a weekend of pretending we were freshman and going to all our favorite ctown spots, playing beer pong until 3am and of course the bird! and somehow celebrated my 10 year blogging anniversary - i started waaay back in june 2001!

U2
worch girls at wac
july
4th of july fun
mj and i at keith urban
kicked off july by heading home for a few days to see my family in a very quick 48 hour trip which was nice. enjoying a semi normal 9-5 schedule and going out to amazing dinners with mj & ellie, annie & i with out nooshi nights and just soaking up the gorgeous summer! celebrating the 4th of july with 300 hs students and then stepping back into conference life for 10 days with 328 hs students and it going so much smoother than the first time. really loving my job and being excited for the next few weeks with just office time. deciding to move to charleston for an adventure, heading up to mystic to see amy and say goodbye to it and all the crazy times up there the past 2 years. more nooshi nights with annie, seeing keith urban with mj! my birthday weekend and a hilarious sangria night with patricia, heading to pa for travis's party and swinging by harrisburg to see becca! a fabulous 26!
mj, patricia & i
best coworker!







august
at zzb & kenn
ahhhhh! the summer went by way to fast! reliving the summer of 2009 with patricia at the t.swift concert. a historytastic weekend - ford's theatre, antietam, dc memorials at night, manassas. soaking up the last of dc with my friends. saying goodbye to a great summer job and some amazing coworkers. tim mcgraw & zbb with my sister & momma. spending a few days in jersey packing up my life to move to charleston. the lovely 13 hour drive to charleston with an earthquake, moving into the apartment and exploring my new city!
moving into the apt!
my room all packed up


september
ft. sumter
angel oak
spent the beginning of the month getting used to my new city and job searching. hung out a bit with amy's grad school friends but most of the month was job searching. was approved to sub and found a retail job, wasn't my dream job or even what i wanted but it paid the bills. got involved with the charleston zeta alumnae group and volunteered with the homes & gardens tours, had fun with amy playing tourists. saw my my aunt & uncle when they came down. and finally at the end of the month my things arrived so i was able to unpack!




october
zeta
was a pretty crazy month with work between retail and subbing and then volunteering with the house & garden tours and playing kickball. but still continued to play tourist and loved going for walks on the beach! volunteered with zeta for race for the cure and subbed a lot which i reallly don't like uuugh.  decided to go to the southern ground music & food festival to see zac brown band for the friday night and ended up meeting people which led to going to the festival on saturday to see zbb again (this time from a few feet away) and then the next week going to the pro am jam where i saw hootie & the blowfish among other people play a few songs!
cyprus gardens
southern ground festival
november
family
pittsburgh
grand & great grandkids
beach!












kicked off the month flying out to pittsburgh to work a conference for the weekend and had a blast seeing old friends and really missing conference life. still working like crazy but getting a promotion at retail job to stock room supervisor - which was nice to get more hours and be a supervisor. saw darius rucker perform in his hometown, which was awesome! continued playing kickball - annnd then tearing my ACL playing kickball mid way through the month, which really threw everything for a loop. needed to come home for surgery and everything so drove home screwing up thanksgiving plans and everything else. spent thanksgiving at home with my family and was able to see a few friends which was an added surprise of being home. started going crazy with being home and unable to work.

december
post acl
family
sister & i at lady a
sister & i in nyc
 very rough month for me. i really missed being in charleston, working and just living. i hated not working and then not having money, so didn't really do much. was able to see my nj zta sisters a few times and did help twin go wedding dress shopping twice though! little car accident - oops! and did go to philly to see jeanne and help her with some wedding plus saw phil vassar & craig morgan with her too. went to see lady a with my sister and also into nyc for the day to see the city at my favorite time of year. acl surgery on the 19th and all the fun that came with that. christmas with the family and seeing friends and quietly ringing in 2012.




i'm hoping for 2012 to start off better than 2011 ended. 2011 was an interesting year where i was able to go to 6 new states and 5 new countries, make some great new friends, run conferences for hs students, work retail, go to 12 concerts, moved into my own apartment in charleston, lived in dc, had all sorts of adventures, was able to see so many of my friends, tore my other ACL and overall had a blast! who knows what is in store for 2012??

Wednesday, December 29

2010 in review

so 2010 wasn't the best year for me - it started out pretty awesome and then about halfway through the year everything started to change. it hasn't been horrible and i've really tried to look on the bright side, as i've been able to do some pretty awesome things. but it has been a rough year. but i've been really lucky as 2007, 2008 and 2009 (especially 2009) were awesome, so i hope 2011 will be a better year.

january:
had a fun new year's eve with erin hanging out, and i was super busy in january. with teaching, driving to bethlehem to see matt on the weekend, coaching the ski team. yea... january was boring. i was working everyday from 7am-8pm with school and ski. and there were seriously no photos in jan :(


february:
february was crazy! with teaching, ski team, zta recruitment, going to kansas, and other little trips.
kansas basketball game with patricia
at truman's house in missouri
lots of snow!
so it was the usual with school & ski. i also had recruitment for the college zta chapter i advise with a few late late nights, and the highlight of february was kansas! i was also hanging out with erin every week going to the movies or dinner (so nice to have a local friend). played in princeton for the day with jclark and i went out for a long weekend to see my friend patricia and had a blast in kansas! went to a kansas basketball game, played with history and ate a lot of amazing food. i also hit 2 new states - kansas and missouri! stayed a little longer due to a blizzard in jersey. lots and lots of skiing! the charity ball with matt, more snow, being hooked to the tv for the winter olympics especially the skiing & hockey.




march:
amy and i on our adventure
puppy and lillian kitten
march started out great. i went up to mystic for a fun weekend! i also got a new camera! yay! dyed my hair, seeing twin in pa, got new glasses, sadly had to put the sweet miss brandy to sleep :(
saw riverdance with erin which was fabulous and my present to myself for being back in the states a year! huge budget cuts in nj in education, but still loving my job and my students, still seeing matt on the weekends and having fun with him, super busy with work, being ztatastic and happy that it is no longer winter!


april:
monticello


gettysburg
april was a fun month! it started out with spring break! yay! a week off of school! and i was down to virginia to see my sister for easter with my family and then it was the civil war road trip. i went to richmond, appomattox, monticello, longwood college (where my sorority was founded), fredricksburg, saw where stonewall jackson's arm was burried, chancellorsville, wash dc, gettysburg and i got to see my pen-pal holly! so that was an amazing week. the rest of april was uneventful, loving my job but things were still uneasy with if i was going to have a job, but i was loving the spring weather and still seeing matt when i could and i bought my bike!

may:
fun weekend in philly
tswift
graduation
may was traveltastic! started out may with a much needed mystic weekend. i helped amy celebrate her birthday and a fun weekend of drinking and playing on the water. then the next weekend i was down in philly with jeanne, with a hilarious we're drinking like we're in college night and cheering on our college team rowing. still waiting to hear about my job, absolutely loving my students and teaching, seeing TSWIFT in concert which was ammmmazing! then the next week i was in baltimore to see my little & glittle for the weekend, which was an awesome time! and next was my fav trip of may - going up to boston to see jeanne graduate which was my 4 reunion! may went by super fast as i was traveling but it was so much fun!




june:
dixie chicks, keith urban & the eagles
eeeee! only a few more days of school before summer break! i signed up for a half-marathon, read a ton of books, loved seeing erin & my sorority alumni sisters & cut my hair with bangs! unfortunately found out that i wasn't getting rehired with about a week left in the school year, saw the dixie chicks, keith urban & the eagles in concert which was fabulous! survived my first year teaching and was extremely sad to not be teaching there again, went to graduation and then a few hours later was in mystic and camp started the next day! camp was crazy! the staff was fun, but man i wasn't used to the little kids!

july:

lots of sailing
lobster
lady a & tim mcgraw
summer was in swing at camp, which i was enjoying. but i was loving the weekends. 4th of july was great with the beach, boating & fireworks. lots of sailing, driving the launches, happy hours on friday nights, laughing as the boys drank on weeknights. twin came up and her amy and i went to see lady a and tim mcgraw and got drenched in a thunderstorm! the summer of arnold palmers, attempting to eat lobster, sailing, playing at the cottages in newport, my fab 25th birthday weekend of the bar, carson's, the beach and the rascal flatts with amy and captain! i also started up my photo365 again!

august:
sunrise over acadia
acadia national park
love it
still lots of sailing, realizing i should be running for the half marathon, the pranks at camp, and general summer fun. quickly realizing summer was almost over and slightly panicing about my life and no clue as to what would happen, i cried a lot this summer. camp ended and lots of cleaning. heading up to maine (yes! another new state) with amy for a few days camping at acadia national park. which i LOVED. lots of hiking, biking, watching sunrise, and just an absolutely gorgeous part of our country. sadly leaving connecticut and heading back to nj, where i became a statistic. started going on a few dates and did my 30 by 30 list and found out i'd be in dc only for a few weeks this fall.



little's bachelorette
yay 13.1 miles
world war II memorial
ft. mchenry
september:
had a mini breakdown when school started and i wasn't going back but it was a busy week, catching up with erin & barb, went hiking with becca, and then drove down to dc for a few weeks work. and on the way went to my little's bachelorette party in baltimore which was a blast! and then the history dork i am went to ft. mchenry and then i started what i thought was going to be two-ish weeks in dc. in dc i hung out with my fav mj and we were tourists and i got my library of congress library card! and then was so excited to be reunited with patricia and mj! training week was fun, and to end the week was the chestertown half marathon! i met up with jeanne and walburn and had a great weekend, running 13.1 miles in 2:11:56, which i was super excited about, and then some crew time and then hitting up the bird and drinking like we were in college! first session went well and i was asked to work more weeks! so i was going to be in dc a bit longer!







october: 

ft. sumter
magnolia plantation grounds
mom and i at army
little and i
conference life is crazy. i was loving the fun with ellie & mj and our lunch adventures especially with cupcakes! my groups were all pretty awesome, so i was lucky! little's wedding in baltimore was so much fun! she was gorgeous and it was a great party! and just crazy conference life. having a week off and going with amy to charleston, sc! took amtrack and had fun playing in a gorgeous southern city! seeing ft. sumter! and all the gorgeous architecture! the plantations and old houses! i was in love. tswift's new cd came out! ended the month with going to an army football game with my parents and heading back down to dc for one last week.











november:
ellie & i at end of cycle
erin and i hiking
thought there might be some good news, but there wasn't. but the last week of conferences were fun! and the end of cycle was completely hilarious! then i was back to nj.... november kinda sucked. i subbed a few days a week, read a lot, erin & i went hiking and were hanging out all the time. it was a really quiet month. i bought a bed. thanksgiving with my family was nice. joined the gym...



december:

amy & i in newport
walburn, me and jeanne 
christmas
lots of plans for december. the first weekend i met up with 2 college friends in the city for the day, then sorority christmas party, and saturday drove to philly to get jeanne and we headed to baltimore for walburn's christmas party! it was a great night and then met kaity for brunch sunday. continued to sub a few days a week, re-did my room, went to connecticut for the weekend and saw catie for dinner and then the usual mystic shenanigans. amy & i went to newport, the slumber party and a great weekend. christmas was quickly approaching, i booked the eurotrip! 3 weeks in january to zurich, prague, budapest, vienna, cologne, amsterdam and ireland!
yay!! took little bro into the city for
his present to see the king tut exhibit, which was fabulous. and then suz's christmas party in the city, which was hilarious and fun to see some people i haven't in years. and then lots of christmas and euro prep. a nice christmas with my family, where i got a kindle! and today a big snowstorm. the rest of this week will be getting ready for europe and a new years eve with jeanne and other college friends in philly.



2010 overall i did a lot, there was a major disappointment with not getting rehired. but i think i've done an ok job of looking on the bright side and having fun. i did some awesome things!

-3 new states (kansas, missouri & maine)
-successfully completed my first year teaching
-made a few new awesome friends
-restarted my photo365
-ran a half marathon
-saw riverdance, taylor swift/kellie pickler, eagles/dixie chicks/keith urban, lady a/tim mcgraw/rascal in concert
-lots of road trips to see friends

so i am extremely lucky that i was able to do so many things and have these awesome opportunities. i hope 2011 will be a better year, but i was lucky in 2010 for many things.