"adventure: That's part of the name of this blog, right? But there doesn't seem to be too much adventure. I've got at least one thing in the works that will fall under this word, but hopefully I will be able to make more room for more adventures this year.
acceptance: Life is all about change, and sometimes it's hard to deal with those changes. This year, I will accept what I cannot change and make the best of it."
As far as adventure, there were a few of those, the biggest two being a solo trip to Minneapolis and moving into my first apartment. I didn't do as many spontaneous things as I wish I would have looking back. And acceptance? That's a hard one. Life really is about change, and this year did bring quite a few changes that I am still working to accept including, but not limited to, my parents' divorce and the death of a friend.
Here's a look back on the past year.
{view all daily DSLR snaps here}
January
I rang in the beginning of the year with a sad instagram from work about how I spent a lot of the past year both at work and alone. I didn't exactly mean for it to seem as sad as it did, so that kind of caused a little problem. In all honesty though, this year was a bit of a struggle at times, and I kind of wonder if that was some foreshadowing of that.
The polar vortex gave me a couple extra days off of work, which was a weird thing for me. It also looks like I wasn't always needed for my classes at the Y and I took a couple shifts in child care.
some posts
*a little drive in Door County
*some notes on happiness
*January NatureBox
*January Instagrams
*January Spending Freeze
February
February included having my sweet friends come for a week and there were some new faces this time around, including at least one that I got pretty attached to. My parents divorce was finalized which was a pretty strange thing for me to come to terms with. It’s weird because when you’re little, you think that your parents are going to be together forever, but then sometimes something just changes. Valentine’s weekend was spent with those dear friends. They are the lights of my life. I finally received my college diploma after finally completing the last piece of paperwork for my internship {oops!}. I went out one night to see WIFEE and the HUZz Band, Purgatory Hill, and Thy Dirty Deuce for Wifee’s birthday and musiclessly slow danced with one of my favorite gentlemen before leaving that night. I started looking at apartments. I also got new glasses!
some posts
*Twenty While Twenty Halfway Progress
*Ten on Ten
*J'Adore VoxBox
*February NatureBox
*February Instagrams
March
At the beginning of March, I headed out to Minneapolis for a few days to just relax. I took a lot of pictures, visited a few churches and a museum, and went shopping at IKEA for the very first time. I taught my first Wee Read and Wiggle class! I celebrated working at the motel for four years and went to a Geri X concert. I signed the lease for my first apartment!
some posts
*Minneapolis posts
*10 Things I Like About Me
*March NatureBox
*March Instagrams
April
{the saturation got messed up on the roses picture when it was uploaded months ago, and I am too lazy to try to fix it}
The whole month of April and the second half of March was spent living in the house that I grew up in alone, which was one of the strangest things I have ever done. Summer camp planning started for the year. Easter was celebrated at my grandparents’ house and my adorable cousin played the ukulele that belongs to one of the second cousins. This was the first month of the year that I didn't have a day off.
some posts
*numbers
*preschool teacher musings
*April NatureBox
*April Instagrams
May
I moved into my first apartment in May! I obtained my bartender’s license, which has yet to even be used. The biggest purchases of the year were purchased this month: a washer and dryer and a queen sized bed. I started trying to plan my birthday party. My mom and I went up north on Memorial Day just to hang out and take pictures and such. I got my second tattoo on the 29th.
some posts
*Twenty While Twenty nine month progress
*Door County summer bucket list
*Memorial Day
*May NatureBox
*May Instagrams
June
June brought the lights of my life back for a week, and then summer camp started right after they left. I made sure to document every field trip that we took the kids on with a picture on instagram because I love that map on there. I took a drive on the backroads and found some cows near Fish Creek. I had a concert field trip for work, which was an interesting experience.
some posts
*apartment tour
*Volkswagen problems
*June NatureBox
*June Instagrams
July
July was very much like June, in that I worked a lot with both the motel and camp. I went and saw my friend and her daughter, who was about a year and a half old at the time. Luna’s catalytic converter was replaced.
some posts
*a look into my purse
*another Door County drive
*July NatureBox
*July Instagrams
August
Summer camp ended in August, which always comes as a shock to my co-counselor and I. I even helped out with a gymnastics camp one day, which was an interesting experience. I turned 21, and had my birthday party with WIFEE and the HUZz Band at the Florian II, which is a supper club in Baileys Harbor. The party was a week after my birthday, so between my actual birthday and the party, I went and had a manicure and pedicure for the first time in a few years. the end of August brought a lot more hours at the Y, as my supervisor and I had to move allllll of our camp stuff out of the room where it has been for years so that it could be redone a little bit to be used for fitness classes. I watched Frozen for the very first time as I started to catch up on Disney movies from the past few years.
some posts
*birthdays past
*camp birthday
*21st birthday
*Twenty While Twenty {20 books}
*Twenty While Twenty revisited
*21st birthday party with WIFEE and the HUZz Band
*August NatureBox
*August Instagrams
September
September started with Labor Day of course, which was my last day off before working 110 days in a row between the two jobs. Sometimes a day of work was really only a class or two at the Y, but it can be disruptive in that I can’t get away and really take time to myself. My mom and I took a day trip down to Kewaunee to have lunch with my grandma and we visited a salmon hatchery. Luna’s brake pads were apparently really worn down and were replaced at the end of the month.
some posts
*Labor Day
*fifty questions
*September NatureBox
*September Instagrams
*September randoms
October
October began with me getting back into going on walks and getting back in the pool (where I swam a mile), but it was pretty shortlived. The middle of the month had me going out to help ring in a dear friend’s birthday, and then finding out less than 24 hours later, on that friend’s birthday, that one of our nearest and dearest passed away. I was filled with regret when I realized that I didn’t even take the opportunity that I had to see him play when I saw him less than two weeks before his passing. Some of our friends came for his memorial a couple days later, and thankfully many more of them were in for the week of Halloween.
some posts
*abandoned bricks
*we lost Chris Aaron
*October NatureBox
*October Instagrams
*October randoms
November
November brought the motel from crazy craziness to dead silence, which was pretty eerie, but things have picked back up a little bit. I got my hair cut for the first time in eight months. Thanksgiving brought time with family and I got to hear my almost-three-year-old cousin say my name for the very first time. Some friends were in town that weekend, so we went out to see another friend perform at a local bar.
some posts
*a nerve-racking moment
*November NatureBox
*November Instagrams
December
December was busy getting ready for 2015 while finishing up 2014. One of the most special experiences was getting to see pat mAcdonald in a solo acoustic show. After working 110 straight days, I had a day off, which was productively spent running errands and doing things at home like baking, cleaning, and Christmas present wrapping. That was Monday the 22nd, and my mom came over while I was painting my nails and we used FaceTime to watch my sister get married. Christmas Eve was spent at my grandparents' house in the evening after a lovely lunch with my aunt. I went to Mass and lunch with my mom on Christmas, and then I worked that afternoon, followed by ginger lime martinis with a few friends. A few days later, I met up with some friends from high school for lunch. New Year's Eve was a wonderful and super long night with WIFEE and the HUZz Band, and some surprise friends!
some posts
*nicknames
*Christmas 2014
*New Year's Eve
*December NatureBox
*December Instagrams
Goals for 2015
*join GoodReads {done} and keep track of all of the books that I read
*import photos to LightRoom and edit them before importing them to iPhoto
*take at least one DSLR photo a day {again}
*buy a new lens {actually done 29 December 2014}
*floss teeth every other night
xoxo.
