2013: A Year in Review

2013: the year that was. That's how a friend described it to me the other day, as a sort of depressing and sad 365 day span. However, I think that's a tad extremely inaccurate. Sure, the whole year was a big transition. I started the year happy-as-a-clam as a fifth year senior, living in the best town in Virginia and loving every second of working at my on campus job, the mountains, free burger Mondays, and my friends. Now, 12 months later, I’m happy-as-a-clam in this 9-5 work routine and have pretty much gotten over the fact that I’m not in school anymore. Guys, out in the real world, there's MONEY! You get vacation days. Maybe its not a full 4 months out of the year, but honestly, my winter breaks were usually spent watching entire TV shows and basically being an unproductive slug. Now when we have days off, be it the weekend or a holiday, I savor every last drop. The real world has work happy hours and the opportunity to do what you love to do. It forces you to figure out who your true friends are since you can't just bump into them on campus anymore. It keeps you in check with money and keeps you working towards a goal - a promotion, another job, whatever. When it comes down to it, 2013 was a year that was half in the amazing bubble that was school and half in the working world, and guys, it was fantastic.

Reasons I’m looking forward to 2014: 

-moving out into my own place

-travel! Lots of travel!
-the Olympics, especially, ski jumping
-the World Cup. I cannot begin to put into words my excitement.
-the Nats coming back, better than ever!

-setting goals and accomplishing them

Without further ado:

The Reasons Why 2013 was Awesome 

(and also, a couple of reasons why it was not): 

Rang in the new year for cheap aka free with Sks and high school friends. The year before was full of fiery emotions, lunch meat and metro rides spent in solitude. This new years was an innocent display of friendship and the camaraderie of people who don’t like spending money. Hooray!

Went on a Grouper date and made some lifelong friends! None of these new friends are pictured here. I will probably never see them again. 

2013 was the year I could send people things that I really love, via Snapchat:

NOT AWESOME: walked into a party full of naked people!

AWESOME: Almost snuck into the Mumford and Sons concert at the Patriot Center. ALMOST. 

NOT AWESOME: got pulled over twice in one hour! That’s what happens when you’re laughing so hard you forget you’re driving…maybe that just means you shouldn’t drive with people you really like. 

Spring Break was pure, delicious chaos. Melbourne Beach, Florida will always be in my heart.

My name appeared in the WaPo again. 

There’s not many photos of me ringing in my 23rd year, so I’ll paint you a picture: I walked into my apartment, got beer sprayed all over me and I ran full force into a table. The bruise was about the size of my foot and didn’t leave my leg for about 2 months. Super sexy. Also, I rode the mechanical bull at O’s Lounge for at least 7 seconds. I got the eye of the tiger y’all.

I got convinced to go to Ring Dance…for the first time…my fifth year. I think I spent more time in the air than dancing on the ground. Thank you, Grant.

In one big, sweeping weekend, I went to my first Nats game of the season and to my cousin’s wedding. Fun for the whole family! If you ever want to be truly entertained, watch your parents try to dance like “us kids at the club”. They spanked the air like their lives depended on it!

I wrote my own book!

I graduated. Left my job at the IS. Decided I loved Blacksburg a whole ton. When I’m older and rolling in the dough (I can dream, okay?!) I will establish some sort of residency there, mark my words… 

Bought my bright orange Chevy Sonic, Lil Chip! Its cute as a button and is exactly what I need: no more, no less. Plus, he is orange and that, my friends, is sheer beauty.

Spent a rainy, cold May day in NYC with some cuties. This is a public service announcement: always check the weather before you go anywhere! Also, I’ve now been on that dang Chinatown bus 5 times. It smells more and more like pee with each passing visit. 

Went to the biggest waterfall in Virginia! 80ft tall and literally right off the highway in Covington. I suggest you all go.

Finally, I started my full time job. From here on out, this takes up ALL MY TIME. Honestly though, its great.  Ladies and gents, I like being here. I’m not sure how I stumbled upon this gem (okay yes I do, LinkedIn), but it has been very, very good to me and I couldn’t be more thankful or happy to be here. Its even in Maryland! Maryland sucks! Bethesda is very nice, though. I think I’ve eaten at 80% of the restaurants here, which is sayin something since Bethesda has more restaurants per square capita than any other place in the country (supposedly). My coworkers are hilarious and our office holiday party last Thursday was off. da. chain. At one point, I was sliding an Oreo from my forehead to my mouth with no hands. That was just the beginning...here's a pic of my team:

Lived with my grandparents for 4 months, biking to work every day and playing Scrabble nearly every evening. 

Saw the most cuddly man alive, the lead singer from Of Monsters and Men in concert, thereby kicking off my 6 months of concert going.

Spent a week in the promised land: Oregon. Saw some beautiful sights, ate scrumptious food, drank the nectar of the gods, beer, and basically derped around the whole time. Read more about it here:

Went to Blacksburg approximately 8 times in the course of 4 months. Basically dug my heels into the ground when I had to leave every Sunday. There's something about that place...:

Went to 15 or so Nats games (only saw 1 loss! was on the jumbotron 4 times!)

I fulfilled my lifelong dream of telling Denard Span that he should make a promotional campaign with Spancakes. He told me he'd talk to his marketing people:

Had a day that is in contention for top day of my life (hiking, paddle boarding, Thai food and huge fireworks all in one day? All in perfectly spaced out succession? You just trrrryyyy and top it). 

Got tickets to FreeFest! Saw Vampire Weekend, Chvrches, Sky Ferriera, Icona Pop, MGMT, and more during the rainiest day of my entire life. Highlight of the day included watching people slip and fall headfirst down a muddy hill:

Basically cried of happiness for 3 straight hours when we saw LOTR FOTR with a live symphony at Wolf Trap:

Did a 65 mile bike ride out in Salisbury, MD. I got super tan. My neck got super hurt. Also, I had the best meal of my entire life during this weekend: jumbo crabs, crocodile on a stick, oysters, lobster bisque, and a refreshing iced tea. Thanks Kent Island!:

Spent Halloween as either a shooting star, Ke$ha, or Scooby Doo...depending on who you asked.

Spent a day in Richmond literally eating as many raw/steamed oysters as my heart desired. 

Also, there was a 205 pound pig.

Ran my third half marathon. Mile 1: This is awesome, I'll do a half marathon every week from here on out! Mile 7: ugh wtf get me out of here. Mile 11: WHY WHY WHY. Mile 13: MY HIP OWW. Mile 13.3 (aka over) Hmmm that wasn't so bad... Needless to say, I'm running #4 in March:

Two Tech football games:

Got together with old (and new?) friends at way too many Dupont happy hours:

Ran the Jingle All the Way 8k with coworkers:

Spent too much money at work happy hours (no photos...oops?)

And finally, the holiday season spent at home, cuddling with my baby sisters and Mike Trout:

All in all, I'd say 2013 was unique. About as unique as the Doby song from Anchorman 2 (I'd see it again just for that one part). Unique is a good thing, by the way. An awesome thing. I went out there, took a few risks, jumped headfirst into the working world, and even started paying (lots of) bills. I saw some cool bands (Alt-J, Naked and Famous, Lord Huron, STRFKR, to name a few), got $30 for writing a Yelp review,  and hung out with great people. If you've read all the way down to the bottom of this post, congrats, and thx for being a pal. 2014 will be even better, I can FEEL it.