2014 Wrap-Up

Okay here it is, my year-in-review post for 2014. Just a few days late, no biggie. I had a lot of fun sitting down last year (err, 2 years ago? err, Dec 2013) and thinking about all of the wonderful things that had happened to me, and that I had done over the year. I got married in 2013, so I figured that was going to be the highlight of my year, but when I sat down, I got a chance to review all of the other amazing things about the year.

So of course, I couldn't wait to do it again for 2014. I didn't get married this year, but it was still pretty damned fun. Let me tell you all about it.

In January, my husband and I got to go to Washington D.C. for a conference. We turned the whole thing into a mini-vacation that we both badly needed. We got to see the National Zoo, and more Smithsonians than you can shake a stick at. (Seriously, all of the Smithsonian museums have free admission, you're welcome). We also got to spend time with my aunt & uncle who the train up from Baltimore to spend an afternoon with us at the National Air & Space Museum.

The National Air & Space Museum, and yes, it was free!

In March I celebrated my 26th birthday (and my 1st as a married lady), and got my brand new Asus laptop (it has a touch-screen & a back-lit keyboard), that I love so so so much!

In May we went to New York to dance at my niece's wedding! It was so much fun, and so beautiful, and it was a wonderful chance to get to celebrate a happy occasion with my husband's side of the family. I also got to meet my sister-in-law (who lives in Israel) for the first time. It was a wonderful time, and I know that the "new" couple is happy because.... baby is on the way! She's due this March, and I've already got plans for a baby-blanket for her!

Of course we visited the New York Public Library!

May was also the month that I started graduate school. I'm working towards getting my Master's in Library and Information Science (yes, I want to be a librarian... shocking). This is by far the single biggest thing that happened to me in 2014. Graduate school was a big decision for me (historically, school and I have not gotten along all that well), and it took the rest of the year for me to figure out whether or not it was the right decision.
Even though it's still sucking up all of my free time, I'm 4 classes in (1/3 of the way through), and I finally know that I made the right choice. (Remind me of that in about 3.5 months when finals roll around again, will ya?)

In July we went to the 43rd Pennsic War, my second one ever. We had a blast, and got to spend time with some friends who I hadn't seen in over 5 years. I'm already making lots of plans for next Pennsic, and we'll have a lot of SCA-related projects coming up over the next few months, so keep an eye out for those.

The field battle

In August we celebrated our first anniversary. It was a very special day, and of course, we spent it at the zoo.

October brought a promotion at work. I went from being a page to being a Library Assistant. I'm working in the same department, with the same people, but more hours, more money and benefits! It's an amazing job, and I love it every single day. Even when I'm dealing with "Problem Patrons".

In November my mother and I made our own Thanksgiving for the second time ever! It was a little stressful since my in-laws were coming over, but it was a lot of fun and everything came out delicious, if I do say so myself.

These are just the leftovers!

And I think that's about for big events this year. I did a lot of crafting this year, and of course, made a lot of delicious food (I'm looking at you turkey), played some amazing video games, and over-all had a blast. I don't want to talk about every single awesome thing, 'cause that's what the last year of blogging was for! Go browse, take a look. I'll wait.

In the mean time, I'm going to go ahead and get started on making 2015 just as amazing (if not more so) than 2014 was! Bye!

10,000!

I'm just going to leave this here:

10,000 hits on the blog! I'm astonished, I'm amazed, I'm honored.

Thank you, you guys are the best!

2013 Wrap-Up

I've been thinking about doing one of these end-of-year posts for a while now, and I've decided that if I'm ever going to do one, 2013 is the year to reminisce about. In more ways than one, this has been the best year of my life.

I know that I haven't blogged much this year. If anyone out there still follows this blog, you were probably surprised to see me again, I know I'm sort of surprised to be here. But blogging has had to take a back-seat to all of the other amazing things that have been going on over the last 12 months.
Let's recap, shall we?

Last December I quit a job that I hated, and that was sucking all of the life out of me. Immediately afterward, I felt liberated and free. I called my mother as I was driving home that day, and I was giggling when I told her: "Well, I quit my job!" It was such a difficult decision to make at the time, and then afterwards I was literally asking myself what took me so long?

In March, I started working at the local library. This has been my dream job since I was a wee little thing. I started out as a page (shelving books all day!) and have since gotten a job working for the circulation department. The pay's not great, but like I said, this is my dream job. I love what I do, I love the place that I work at, and I love the people I work with. That's more than most people can say. This job has also prompted me to make a very big decision.
Are you ready?
I'm going back to school! I'm going to be applying for graduate school to get my Master's in Library Science and hopefully become a librarian one day!

In August I got married to the love of my life. It was easily the most wonderful day ever. We got married outside in front of all of our friends and family. We had beautiful weather, and wonderful guests and even got to dance to some Beatles. What more could anyone want? This has easily been the high-light of my year, and of my life. My husband (and I really love saying that) and I recently celebrated 6 years of being together. I can't wait for the next 6 years, and the 6 years after that, and then the 6 years after that. I love you Puppy. :o)

I've also been a lot craftier in the last few months. I've gotten back into my crochet and my knitting (though not always successfully). I've even posted a pattern of my very own creation. I've been putting my ravelry account to good use, and actually finishing projects that I've started. I've been making lots of scarves for my friends, I've been knitting dish-cloths for our kitchen and I've even made my very own knitting needles! It's been a crafty year, and I know that we're going to keep it up in 2014. Right now my husband and I are working on an awesome and amazingly cool project that I can't wait to share with you all. More to come!

There's also been a lot of delicious home-made food and treats that I've experimented with this year (like Chinese food for Christmas), but I haven't really been blogging about it, or keeping tabs on it at all. Hopefully that'll change next year!

And last but not least, I've been reading ALL THE BOOKS! There will be a post on this topic shortly after the new year, so I won't waste too much of your time on it now. But let's just say that working at a library has put me back in touch with my ravenous appetite for books. I've read more this year than in the last two combined. And I have the numbers to back that up.


So I think that just about wraps up 2013. What a year. It's easily been the best year of my life, and I can't wait to see what 2014 will bring!


See you all next year!

Feel Bad...

I feel really bad, I've been neglecting my blog lately. I suppose it's because I feel I don't have anything interesting to post/share.

I feel like I should have something special or fun to show people when I post something. I keep telling myself that no one wants to read about silly nonsense from my everyday life. But then I have to remind myself that I'm doing this for me, not for anyone else, and then it's okay. And then, like today, I feel bad about not posting anything...
It's an endless cycle of whining...

But I'm going to try to stop the cycle, by posting more! Yay?

Anyway, to kick off the new year (2010... when did that happen?!?) I got a new clock!

It's got The Beatles (my biggest obsession of all time) on it, and it's awesome in every way... Except that it's very very loud. So I've taken it down for now until I can switch the mechanism out for a quieter one.

But anyways, here's a picture of it:

And here's a smaller picture of it, hanging on my bedroom wall: