A year in review

Well here we are! The end of another year. Where the FERK did 2012 go? Assuming the world really does end in 3 days, I put together a little recap of the year. Enjoy.

The year started off with a BANG! (those who were there will know of what I speak). It was actually a pretty terrible evening! This is no exaggeration, Shannon and I were just discussing the other day how it ranks in the top 3 of worst nights in our lives. I'm a firm believer in how you start your new year is an indicator of how the year will turn out. If that had really held true, the year would've been a disaster. Here were are BEFORE the night took a turn for the worse.

That didn't really hinder too much though. I went through my last formal recruitment and geared up to become a GDI once more. 

As of this year, my branch of the Cherry Tree is officially caputs. Maybe this is a good thing, maybe now we can start our own family, The Tribe. Maybe this has been my plan all along....no jk sorry little cherries :( We had a good run.

I went golfing with some sisters in -10 degree weather...cold but fun. I couldn't tell you who won.

Annelyse and I are members of the Forever Alone club and we decided to invite others experience it too. Our special Galentine's Day became a huge hit and now everyone is doing it!

My high school best friends Emily, Wardah, and my coworker Katherine all went to San Francisco/Sacramento for Spring Break. My Aunt Kathy let us all crash with her in Sac and we stayed in a sweet little hostel in San Francisco. We even got to hit up the casinos at Lake Tahoe and we ran into a crazy group of UVA boys. Our last night in SF, we stayed in the hostel and played games/chatted with people from all over the world until the early morning. 

Spring semester, Annelyse and I had our weekly "Wacky Wednesday" lunches where we invited people to eat with us as a networking type deal. After the lunch, we'd rank our guests on a scale of 1-10, all based on the amount of smiles and laughs we had during the meal. It turned into quite the event. I miss Wacky Wednesdays :(

I turned 22 in style with a big potluck dinner and DT outing. Wardah came down!

Around this time I also got retweeted by Chris Pratt from Parks and Rec and was very proud of myself.

April came and so did Pi Lam formals. This was a super fun/sad event because my guy friends in Pi Lam were all graduating and they're the most fun people you'll ever meet. We all got TFTC shirts and partied all weekend in cabins in Gatlinburg, TN. The picture below is my good friend Tyler and me. Before or after we stayed up until 4 drinking tequila and straight margarita mix, I'm not quite sure.

I said goodbye to sorority life and took alumni status. Even got to rock letters on the butt for once. 

We had our senior crawl and got awarded superlatives...super proud of mine.

And some of my sisters aka Katy and Abby mustered up the courage to sing karaoke at TOTS for the first time. Here we are serenading the crowd with Livin On A Prayer. 

Went to the safari park and got the living daylights scared out of me by 10 foot tall camels...twice

Lived in a pretty amazing place with really cool people. You haven't lived until you've spent a year in bottom floor 503. 

(Bre's missing...ferkin rho gammas)

Said goodbye to many graduating friends and even got to relive some old memories...

Finally it was the summer! I went kayaking a few times.

Bub graduated high school:

I worked at openbox9 for half the summer....

...and the Digital Media Academy/lived at my grandparents in DC for the second half.

Took Caroline and Julia to the One Direction concert at the Patriot Center :) Turns out I did end up being the oldest person at a 1D concert.

OMG HARRY! hatechu you taylor swift

Summer 2012 was the summer that we gained Cuzzin Shannon. She lived with us all summer. Welcome to the fam! Here is Shanny, Emily and me in a family pic. 

We hosted a Fourth of July party and had SPARKLERS. o.O

Went to quite a few Nats games...and pretty much the ones we didn't go to were all watched on tv/listened to on the radio. 

Went out on Spencer's boat

Caught Spencer in great poses (without him knowing) and developed a brand new fragrance line around him. 

Played approximately 89 games of Scrabble. 

Went white water rafting in Pennsylvania, almost died NBD!

look at the sheer terror on Caroline's face

Went camping, had to get news of this Nats win on my phone:

Went to Pittsburgh, saw a Pirates vs Dodgers game, saw Matt Kemp get thrown out!

Spent many nights in DC...

...winning free happy hours right and left

Summer ended and my fifth year here at Tech began. Football games (the bubs came down)...

2 Color runs, 1 in Richmond and 1 in Blacksburg...

and lots of visits from friends happened pretty quick:

Katherine, James, Jennifer and I went to Las Vegas to present at a technology conference:

 I ran my second half marathon:

got to dress up as Old Folks at Brett's olympic games...

And my intramural soccer team won the championship!

I spent lots and lots of time at work with some of my favorite people ever. Here are a few of us after we accidentally crashed an engineering banquet:

and then climbed on top of a weiner mobile:

All in all, 2012 was pretty awesome.  Full of Ouija boards, free food, One Direction (complete with an attempt to get Brett into the band), family, new friends, old friends, and even a Children of the Corn experience, where a bunch of us were chased screaming down a street by a young drunk boy named Buck. I also sort of acted in a movie that aired at a film festival. View it here. Also, I got a job after I graduate! 

The best part is there's still more to come! This post is all assuming the world ends on Friday.

Here's to 2013 and hoping I get a superlative as good as this one: