A blog year in review

2012 saw an egocentric review, so I thought 2013 deserved one too. Here goes.

The beginning of 2013 brought on an ambitious 10-day juice cleanse that ended as quickly as the relationship I jumped into. At the going away party for my BFF Emma (who moved to SF a few months before me) I remember describing the juice cleanse as my second great fail of 2013, but I held onto the belief that I’d soon be making my way to the West coast and started my “Making Things Happen in 2013” board on Pinterest. Oh, and I started a new relationship.. with myself.

Ziggy turned three years old and my sister and I convinced the entire family (including Grandma) to take pulls from a bottle of Jager at my cousin Katie’s wedding. I embarrassed my exes and started Whole30 cleanse numero dos.

I set out to destroy my Florida bucket list (having decided that April was go time for my cross-country trip) by seeing mermaids at Weeki Wachi, attending my first basket ball game and going to St. Augustine. 

This month I introduced my drunk alter ego, Rose, and set off on my road trip to California with my sister and sausage dog. We hit up Bourbon Street in New Orleans, braved tornados in Texas, survived wolves chomping on my car in Arizona, explored the Grand Canyon and finally arrived in California where we got shwasted with my cousin slash new roommate.

May saw the beginning of Operation: Shakira Bod and non-stop job hunting (and the realization that it’s a lot like dating). Then one of my BFFs from College Liz came visit and we biked across the Golden Gate Bridge! Oh, and we saw lots of naked people running while we ran in sheep costumes at Bay to Breakers.

I completed my sixth half marathon with Emma and it was absolutely the hardest and most beautiful race I’ve ever done. I started a babysitting job which led to a goat eating my hair (and eventually a full-time office job). Then I decided as a single lady it was my duty to give out some unsolicited dating advice.

After completing Operation: Shakira Bod, I spent a week in Lake Tahoe where I pretty much destroyed any progress I made in my month of healthy eating and exercise (worth it!). The rest of the month was spent trying to adjust to a normal 8-5 job with the occasional hang out with Jon Mulaney and cringe-worthy song lyrics post.

The end of July/beginning of August was crazy. My parents flew to California the same day I moved into my new apartment. While they were here, we experienced the tour guide from hell in Yosemite, an awesome winery tour, my 24th birthday and a trip to San Diego to watch my sorority big sis get married (this trip also contains a story that has yet to be told around these parts..).

I saw the best Fun. concert yet, experienced my most epic running fail so far and realized how TV has been setting me up for relationship failure for years.

In October I flew to New York for a friend’s wedding and reunited with my family for the first time in about six months. Then I completed my first mud run with Emma, carved pumpkins and enjoyed my first Halloween in California. 

This was my first Thanksgiving away from home. It was a weird feeling being away from family at this time of year, but a good friend from college came to visit and we made the best of it. It was actually a pretty epic Thanksgiving. My sister also did an awesome DIY post about wooden center pieces and I wrote about douchey song lyrics that make me lol.

December ended several chapters in my life and prepared me for the start of new ones in 2014. It brought the end of one job and the start of a couple others. I wrote my first freelance article for one of my favorite websites, visited Florida for the first time in 8 months, chopped off my hair and saw a bunch of awesome bands in concert.

It’s been an eventful and sometimes completely terrifying year. It blows my mind that I’ve lived in California for the better part of a year, but I still love it here and I’m still completely proud of myself for actually making things happen in 2013. Now it’s time to make even bigger things happen in 2014. Look out, world.

Happy new year!