Not quite sure how it happened, but it seems another year has come and gone. It's true what they say... the older you get the faster time goes by. Since it seems I missed blogging about almost half our year and since everyone loves a good year end review, here is a little month by month summary of our year.
January
We sent out a New Year's card since we didn't get a chance to send out Christmas cards. We went to Birmingham to ring in 2011. We had a really nice time visiting Chase and Megan. On the way home, Jonathan got his first speeding ticket ever. It was supposedly reduced speeds due to a "construction zone," the officer who gave him the ticket was less than pleasant. It snowed, alot, and I had to go to work in the snow. The traffic was horrid, and I learned to HATE snow. Snow and I are broken-up, and we may never get back together. Jonathan went to his annual conference in San Fran. We went out to a really nice dinner at The Acorn when he got home because I missed him. I chopped off 11 inches of my hair and gave it to Locks of Love- this had been one of my life's ambitions!
my new haircut
February
I finally changed my attitude about my new job, and it helped. I finally started to like my job and the life we are trying to enjoy here in TN even though I still miss home some times. My mom came to visit for her birthday, and we saw Sanctum- not my favorite movie and went to Margaritaville. We spent our first married Valentine's Day together. I cooked us a dinner in, and we discovered the awesomeness that is pan fried steak with whiskey cream sauce a la The Pioneer Woman! For people who can't have a grill, it was an amazing discovery! I think this was also the month were we attempted geocaching- epic fail! Jonathan and I saw Darius Rucker and Brad Paisley in concert. It was Jonathan's first concert ever, and boy was it a good one! Scout got a bladder infection.
Brad Paisley
March
I turned 27. I got to celebrate with my husband and my mama, and we got to try a new restaurant together. I think I got everything on my birthday wish list, and finally enjoyed the wonder that is Gigi's cupcakes. Jonathan and I joined the iphone revolution. I think this was also the month I discover Pinterest!
Happy Birthday to me!
April
Jonathan and I enjoyed our first married Easter. We went to church together and then we headed out to his grandparents house for hamburgers per my request. They were so good! We took the eggs we had dyed ourselves and the special cupcakes with a cadbury egg in the middle we whipped up ourselves. I drove down to Birmingham to help my friend Edith celebrate her 50th birthday. It was epic. Jonathan and I went to the drive-in for the first time this year. Terrible, awful tornadoes blew through our home state. Both of our parents were left without power but were safe with no property damage. We were thankful to have so many friends and family members safe! Our church sent down supplies, and we contributed water and other supplies. I crawled out of bed SUPER early to watch William and Kate tie the knot. Jonathan and I started running. Scout got another bladder infection.
our Cadbury Cupcake
May
Jonathan and I took the first of many vacations for the year. We met up with Chase and Megan in Birmingham, and we drove down to Gulf Shores together. We spent 6 days there enjoying perfect beach weather, yummy dinners out at night, a little putt putt competition, and the best ice cream in the world. Jonathan and I were still running weekly and amazingly I was enjoying it.
Gulf Shores with my sweetie
June
This was a busy month for us. We took another trip down to Gulf Shores. This time for the wedding of our friends Josh and Aimee. It was great wedding, and a fun trip down to enjoy the beach again. I discovered the used book store here, just down the road from our house, and I am still in LOVE- I give you my old books and then I get new ones and never pay a dime, yes please! Kourt, her sister, and Brittany came to visit, and we all went to see the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys in concert. I got to fulfill a lifelong dream- I touched a New Kids' arm. I was screaming 6 year old all over again. Jonathan turned 27. I surprised him with a birthday celebration at Arrington Vineyards, a local winery, with a picnic lunch and a cookie cake. We had our 1 year wedding anniversary. Jonathan planned a fun night for us at Bombasha where there were men with swords of meat! It was a unique dining experience :) We gave each other traditional paper gifts, and then we bought a new fancy camera as a gift to one another so we could document our up coming trips! Scout got another bladder infection, and she got xrays to make sure she didn't have bladder stones.
Happy Birthday Jonathan
July
I was off of work for the 4th of July for the first time ever in my working life. Jonathan and I went out to his grandparents house to have a meal and see the fireworks. Jackie, Jonathan's grandma's penpal from England, skyped in to see the fireworks as well :) I took my first transatlantic plane trip, and we enjoyed a "working" vacation to Florence, Italy. It was amazing. I really worried before we left about so many different things, but all the worry just sort of melted away once we arrived. It was so cool to experience a different culture in a new part of the world! We found out Dean, our friend and Jonathan's labmate, had cancer. We changed Scout's food, and she hasn't had another bladder infection :)
My favorite picture of us in Italy
August
I didn't work over half of this month. I had vacation granted for 2 weeks of this month, so of course we had to go somewhere. This was actually the only vacation we had planned out from the beginning of the year. We went on a cruise to Alaska. We left from Seattle, so we took a little tour around there before we left. We got to order a drink from the original Starbucks, and we saw the Public Market- you know where they throw the fish. Then we left on our boat The Rhapsody of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. Alaska was gorgeous, but very wet (we went at the end of the summer and the beginning of the rainy season)! We went to Juneau and Skagway and then Victoria, BC Canada. We saw an eagle, salmon, a Glacier, and whales. Sadly we never saw a moose or a bear even though I walked around calling them. We had fried halibut- if you ever go to Alaska order the Fish and Chips with halibut, it will change you life! The cruise was an experience. Unfortunately, I still get sea sick :( So it's pretty safe to say we may not try a cruise again unless we will be going with a certain brother in-law of mine!
Glaicer
September
Jonathan and I were still running, and we really enjoyed the Fall weather. It helped us both do a bit better with our endurance. One of Jonathan's coworkers/labmates got married. It was one of the most interesting/fun/fancy weddings we have ever attended. There was a party on Friday before the wedding which was a tradition from the bride's culture. There was yummy Indian food and dancing to beats that combined traditional Indian beats with today's pop culture songs. The wedding was a mix of today's standard ceremony with some extra cultural traditions added from the bride's Indian Christian church. Then the reception included a seated dinner in a gorgeous banquet hall! It was a really cool experience. Chase and Megan came up to visit us in Nashville. We ventured over to Lynchburg to take a tour of the Jack Daniel's Distillery. It was a really interesting tour and at the end they serve you lemonade since Lynchburg is in a dry county. Ha! We also took Chase and Megan out to Burger Up and Las Paletas. This was my first visit to Las Paletas, a popsicle store, and I think it might me one of my new favorite things in life! No joke. If you come visit me in Nashville, I will take you there. Meredith got engaged, and I got asked to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. I'm so happy and excited for her :)
Jack Daniel's Distillery
October
We went down to Madison to visit the family on the weekend of the 14th. We ran the 5K down there that we run every year, the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run. Jonathan and I both did great. We both beat our time from last year, and this was the first time I really felt like I was able to run most of it thanks to all the running we did most of the Spring and Summer. Jonathan's mom got married and we got to see Nicholas before he shipped out. Nicholas even came up and stayed with us a day before he left! It was good to visit with him! Jackie came to visit Jonathan's Grandma all the way from England, and we enjoyed time with her. Jonathan and I carved pumpkins for Halloween :) I think Jonathan asked me to make chili everyday. Ha!
Jonathan almost finished with the race
November
We drove to North Carolina to visit my Uncle Jim, Aunt Erica, and cousins. It was the first time I had seen any of them in almost 2 years. The kids had grown so much! We enjoyed a day out with Braxton at the local Natural History Museum. We raked up leaves and watched the kids run through them, and we visited with my Grandma, Aunt, and Uncle. It was a nice visit, and I was so glad we finally got the time to go! We brought my Grandma home with us, so she could have a little break from being care provider for my uncle. We celebrated Thanksgiving here in Nashville. We enjoyed a meal with Jonathan's extended family with food cooked by his Aunt Patricia. OOOhhh it was so good! Jonathan had a scary day that caused us some worry for a while, but all is well now. PTL :) My mom came to visit and we did some Christmas shopping.
December
Early in December, we found out Dean wasn't doing well with his cancer treatments. Jonathan and some friends drove up to Ohio to visit with him. We had 2 weeks of ups and downs hoping and praying for the best, but knowing things didn't look very good. On Tuesday December 13 our sweet friend went to be with Jesus. We drove up to the funeral and enjoyed a freak snow storm! Dean's mom promised us he sent it, so all us southern folks could see what real snow looked like :) It was a sad day, but thankfully several of Jonathan's labmates planned a party to remember Dean just the way he would have wanted. We enjoyed Guitar Hero, Chipotle burritos, and Kentucky bourbon all things Deano would have enjoyed! It was our second married Christmas season together. We enjoyed putting up to tree and other decorations, cooking some yummy holiday treats, and shopping for gifts for each other as well as our families. We spent Christmas Eve with Jonathan's family. I was pretty tired as I had worked the night before, but after a nap I felt better. We enjoyed a HUGE meal cooked by his grandma and had fun giving and getting gifts! We especially enjoyed giving Jonathan's mom a Coach gift certificate and letting her run wild in the local outlet store. Wish I could have been there while she shopped (She and Jonathan went while I napped). Then Christmas morning we drove down to Anniston to enjoy Christmas with my family! We had 3 great days there visiting with my Mom, Dad, Grandparents, and Great Aunts and Great Uncle. We were sad to have my aunt, uncle, and cousins missing again, but hope maybe 2012 will be my uncle's year for better health. After we got home from Anniston Jonathan and I enjoyed some time at home just hanging around together. Our dryer died, and so we made our first major new appliance purchase. It was going to be a very sad NYE, as it was to be the first we had ever spend apart in all our dating/married years, but I got a call from work saying I could be off! We enjoyed dinner together at Amerigo's, a local Italian place, rented a red box, and toasted in 2012 with some sparkling grape juice (because I was still on call for work)!
While I wouldn't say 2011 was my favorite year ever, I will say that I am so proud of what I accomplished during the year. I kept at least 2 of my resolutions from last year- cooking more new dishes and learning to be happy where I'm at. We did lots of traveling, and it was exciting to see so much of the world. I felt healthier because of all the running we did, and it was fun because we got to do it together. I finally learned to do more than a single crochet, and I hope that very soon I'm going to finish my first baby blanket! I guess that's our 2011 in a nutshell, now on to 2012!
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