Year in Review - 2019
Going into 2019, I identified my one word theme of the year as POSITIVITY, but at the end of 2019 I think the more appropriate word would have been MOVE.
There was so much movement consistently throughout the year in every aspect of life, whether it was racking up miles on the pavement or crossing multiple state boundaries on a road trip, we managed to never stay still for too long. Here’s all the movement, month by month:
JANUARY found us ringing in the New Year together in Seoul, which was a big deal since Mark and I hadn’t lived together since he moved to South Korea in June of 2018. This month my brother and I finished our first marathon while our dedicated friends cheered us on at every turn on the coldest day in Houston, Texas. It was something I never thought I would do, so I dedicated a whole post to this experience. The month ended with my roommate (aka Mom) and I dancing along to Andrew McMahon’s Upside Down Flowers tour on my birthday.
Rest and recovery was the theme of FEBRUARY, though the roommates and I had a couple of outings to the Houston Rodeo BBQ and to a winery owned by one of their friends.
It was all cowboy hats and boots in MARCH, as the roommates and I spent a couple of nights at the rodeo to see Zedd and Zac Brown Band. I was shocked at how much the roommates enjoyed Zedd since that’s more my style. I also convinced the entire family to road trip to Dallas, Texas to watch my VGK beat the Stars. Some of us were more into the hockey than others, but we all had a great time watching the Fort Worth cattle drive and sipping wine the rest of the weekend.
My roommates were the true MVPs in APRIL, battling severe thunderstorms so I could see the glory of bluebonnet season. They also babysat the puppies for a full week while I went to see friends in Las Vegas, Nevada. We had a great time hiking around the state border and spending way too much money cheering on our VGK in round one, game three of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The month ended with me taking the Austin kids to Snow Patrol, getting disappointed by the bat bridge and cheering on the Astros with capacious amounts of Crawford Bock.
MAY marked the beginning of the end as I celebrated one full year of living in Texas. I hosted my last on-air shift with Mix and did all things Houston with my roommates. The Austin kids took me camping in Colorado Bend State Park and I scored us reservations at Hamilton Pool Preserve, one of the most famous Texas swimming holes. The month ended with our annual girls trip, this year hitting Chicago, Illinois over Memorial Day weekend.
Hands down, my favorite month of the entire year was JUNE. My friends kept me distracted with a whole week in Yellowstone and Grand Teton after we finished the Grand Teton half marathon. By the end of the month, everything felt normal again as Mark returned home and my roommates took one last grand road trip with us as we made our way from Houston to our new home in Washington DC.
We spent all of JULY adjusting to living together again, setting up our house and doing all things DC. We watched the 4th of July fireworks from the Pentagon lawn, went to our first Nats game, sipped cocktails all around the district, caught the Apollo 50 on the Washington monument, and cooled off with the help of Lil Red on Lake Anna.
In the heat of AUGUST, I took a road trip to Virginia Beach to pound White Claws and hit a 5K with my bestie. I’m so happy we’re within driving distance again. Mark and I ended the month exploring a new state — Massachusetts. We had a great time walking the Freedom Trail in Boston and getting spooky in Salem.
SEPTEMBER tested our flexibility, as I spent a week in Virginia Beach for work, and then sped home to meet my Mom and show her around DC for a week. We ended the month with an unexpected, quick trip back to Nebraska, the first time either of us had been back in several years.
This year, I decided to really dig into my favorite season by trying Design Your Fall, so most of the entire month of OCTOBER was dedicated to my basicness. We first tested out our new camping gear with a weekend in Pennsylvania at Ohiopyle State Park. We then took it a step further and spent a long weekend camping and leaf peeping in Vermont. We ended the month sipping ciders and handing out candy to trick or treaters on our front porch.
Things didn’t slow down much in NOVEMBER. We started the month cheering on our VGK against the Caps at Capital One Arena. The following weekend we road tripped to Richmond, Virginia so I could PR in my sixth half marathon. The month ended with us collecting a stamp in our brand new passports with 10 days in Germany, drinking all of the glühwein at the Christmas markets in Berlin and Dresden. November was also when we found out that our days were numbered in the district and that we would be moving to Montgomery, Alabama in the summer of 2020.
Since we knew our time in the district was limited, we decided to stay put (for the most part) for DECEMBER and have a very DC Christmas, though right before the holidays, I made a quick trip to Denver, Colorado to see one of our squad get her MBA.
This past year was pretty busy. Probably the busiest it has been for the past few years, and it’s looking like things won’t slow down much in 2020. While it may seem like the only constant is change, we’re so lucky to have so many amazing people in our lives and look forward to buzzing all around the world to see them in the years to come.