End of the year Wrap

This year has been amazing, challenging, exciting, adventurous, difficult, joyous and so much more!

January 1-30th are a blurr. Saw AMAZING fireworks! I flew home a few days later and I worked full time at My Gym Children’s Fitness Center for my very last month. Took a night class (Financial Accounting) and basically tried to sell everything that I owned in one month, including my Jetta! Plus I had to find someone to take over the lease for my apartment or I would have been stuck with 6 more months of payments. whew!

February 4th I packed my bags and flew to the Netherlands! Feb. 6th I almost got ‘mugged’ and then Brendan asked me to marry him! We then went to Paris and Antwerp for a little get away mini Engagement celebration!

March was basically spent wedding planning/swimming with Hannah/hockey games/tanning because I turned into a ghost over the winter/and mini day trips throughout Holland. We penciled in our church this month and booked our reception site just by looking at some pictures(all thanks to Marj). The Tilburg Trappers had an amazing season and Brendan’s team won the cup! My flight back home to Charleston was on the 31st! Yay for sunshine and glorious beaches! Brendan Flew back on the first!

April: This month Brendan and I were jugglers. We slept back and forth from Sarah’s and Jackie’s Apartment sleeping on couches and going downtown. I tried to land any babysitting job that I could find for cash, which scored me a trip to Amelia Island Florida for a weekend in a 5 star resort!! To babysit of course! But really I laid by the pool with the mom the whole day. Ha! Brendan stayed at the lake house in Manning and did a few work outs here and there, but mostly we felt exhausted from all the running around and no sense of real rest. Of course I was still wedding planning. I had picked out my dresses, invitations, and party favors at this point.

June On the 3rd Brendan and I flew to Boston I basically cried because I had to throw all my clothes away. I could only pack so much. What a girl I am! We flew to Boston for Adrienne’s graduation from Harvard. J.K. Rowling was a guest speaker and was TERRIFIC! The whole week was filled with activities and excitment. I did some shopping for the wedding and bought bridesmaid gifts ( earrings). On the 9th we flew to Regina,Canada. This was the first time we got to stop sleeping from house to house and really had time to relax. Well kinda! I still had lots and lots of planning to do. Suits, flowers, cake, centerpieces,painting trees, rehearsal,dress, place cards, charts, quotes, ahhh list can go on. 🙂 Needless to say I was a busy girl. We also were thinking of making a change of the church due to no air conditioning. But let’s face it. Regina is nothing compared to Charleston heat. We started marriage counseling and basically stayed busy busy.

July probably went by the fastest. This was my first July that I didn’t spend the 4th on a beach with a burn and hot dogs. I was a bit sad about that. I also was getting super nervous that my dress wasn’t going to get mailed on time. I ordered it online without ever trying it on. Brave! I was scrambling to get final head count numbers and just to keep my head attached to my body. Basically got really mad at myself for all the DIY projects that I had signed up for. I wouldn’t allow myself to do anything else until I finished my projects. I made my life so much harder I even hand glued sequences to my table cameras. Ha! I got a lot of help from Brendan, Ade, Chris, Jill, and Marj this month. I booked our photographer David Wild with Ria Photography. I went to the gym a few times this month which was nice. I do remember eating lots of ice cream as well. Through it all I do remember Brendan and I getting to spend a little bit of time together. At the end of the month was pretty much wedding time. My family and friends started to drive/fly in!

August 1st I married Brendan! Our wedding was like many others before ours. Beautiful,stressful,amazing, confusing, glorious, blessed, and did have it’s share of mishaps. But when you marry the man of your dreams..you can let some things just slide!After the wedding we got to spend a few days resting and seeing friends and family! I had some drama with Jackie..but we worked things out like we always do. We then took everyone to the science center. That was so much fun! A few days after everyone trickled out of town and went back home, Brendan and I went on a little getaway of our own to the mountains in Banff. We have a lot of stories from that trip! By the end of the month we were packing our bags for Italy! We flew out on the 23rd!

September I spent the first week and a half basically learning my way around and going on lots of hiking trails. We invited Sarah to come visit us in Italy and she flew in on the 12th. This month Brendan had a hard time clicking with the team on the ice with winning games, and we were also adjusting to living together for the first time being newlyweds and all. We didn’t think that through at all when we invited a friend to stay with us. We were a bit naive you could say. But the pressure of learning each others language and communication was a lot for us to handle. We set time aside on Sundays to spend together just the two of us. We call Sunday date day! I introduced Sarah to Gelato and boy is it ever yummy! I start really getting into cooking this month and trying new things. I started Italian lessons and reading some books I brought from home.

October I turned 23 on the 4th and was sick. I had a fever! Bah. I started going swimming often and still going on my walks. I started to crochet again. So soothing to me! I also started my Job teaching English as a foreign language! Probably the coolest students ever. I learned that Rachel was someone that I could talk to and look up to. This month was also full of hardships, but in the end Brendan and I both new that we needed to look to God for help. After sleeping for over a month on our couch Sarah changed her flight to the 29th and went home. Brendan and I both learned a lot about each other and love each other more because of it. I gained a best friend and lost a friend.

November we went to Rome! Just what the doctor ordered! A nice little vacation with my hubbie! So much fun! Definitely a whole lot warmer south. Rachel and Courtney came over for a Wii/Wine night and we had a blast!! Marj and Wayne came to visit us for 10 days and stayed in a cute little hotel right down the street from us. We basically went to Christmas markets a ton of times and got to go shopping in Innsbruck. It snowed a lot and I also got to snowboard for the first time in 5 years! I spent Thanksgiving at one of Brendan’s hockey games, but had an amazingly yummy dinner with Marj and Wayne! Pasta!

December went buy soooo fast! Rachel and I have become so close! Marj and Wayne took us to Innsbruck,Austria for some shopping. We also went on a 1.5 hour hike up a mountain 30 minutes outside of Bruneck. We then sled the whole way down! The most fun ever! They flew out on the 9th. I basically used the rest of the month just finishing up art projects, reading or listening to audio books and taking it easy. I really enjoyed shopping for Brendan’s gifts and I bought a few things for myself as well! We had a big Christmas eve dinner and went out with some friends from the team. What a year! Can you believe it!