2K15

This weekend I did something out of the ordinary (dare we say, {extra}ordinary*) by my standards...I went to see a movie. In the theater. With snacks and everything! What a luxury to have enough patience to do this. (That's what 2 weeks off of work will do for you). Anyway, Wild was my first movie for 2015, and damn Gina did it make me miss blogging. It also made me miss: camping, pushing yourself, mountains, no makeup, and generally kicking ass in all sorts of ways. But it did make me miss this little blog that has run the gamut from "sentimental explorations" to "embarrassing vignettes that should probably be erased from the interwebs". I'm 100% sure no one even looks at it anymore. So fine. I'm back for me then.

Since the calendar flipped, I've been reflecting a lot on 2014...it was interesting in that it wasn't wrought with change, nothing terrible happened, and I took some fun trips in between. The end. JUST KIDDING I just started blogging again, I'm ready to typppppe! 

2014, in short:

• The new job - Beginning here. I've learned a ridiculous amount during my job change - the easiest nut to crack was that *HUZZAH* working in the nonprofit world is definitely the right field for me. Such a reassurance, considering it was the crux of my motivation to switch industries. In another post, I'll answer riveting questions such as, How much work is too much? Can I strangle the next person who says "lean in"? Will you define a "hostile work environment"? Is the grass indeed greener? Good things have happened too, I promise. 

• The new cats - One year ago today, we traipsed out into a snowmageddon to see if there were any kitties in the world that needed to be living in our house instead. Five minutes after we saw a tabby tween named Judo running across the room at a local shelter, we were filling out adoption papers...especially because he came with a brother, Sumo, who cuddled up to me immediately. They came home an hour later, and our lives immediately lit up! I feel so sorry for people who don't know the joy of animals. A strange, sad blip in the storyline is that Sumo came down with an incurable disease in June...within 4 days he was gone. It was such a shock. The only positive thing was that we were glad he lived with us instead of on the street while he felt so sick (unbeknownst to us, because dammit cats are good at hiding being sick). 

Sumo the Wolf (front) and Judo sharing the new cat tree.
Note: this tree is so big that it prompted a guest to ask "So like, do you have 17 cats?"

• By September, it was clear that Judo needed a companion or else because we simply weren't entertaining enough for him. Enter: Pixel the Kitten, another fantastic shelter find. I hope she's with us forever+ever because she truly completes our little four-some! She's the friendliest, spunkiest little thing I've ever met, chock-full of tortitude and ready to wrestle much-larger Judo at any moment. They are perfect playmates. 

  

  Pixel likes to jump on your back whenever possible and immediately lay down. Because your back is her property.  

  
  

  

  Judo is all grown up now, teaching Pixel to sit in the window

  
  

  

  Pixel, sacked out

• More church - I mean really, can you ever get enough of God?! Kidding / not kidding. I skulked into Community Christian Church in Spring 2011 and managed to fly under the radar for about six months before the pastor, heretofore known as Tammy, started to wonder who the wanderer was. Since then I've slowly become more involved, joining the "First Impressions" team (serving during service), joining a small group, and even nearly taking a full time marketing/communications job there. This year I starting overseeing the service team and accepted taking over our small group in the coming months...something I'm nervous about but really think it's going to do wonders for me and my walk of faith.

Hanging with church peeps. Out of church. PROOF.

• Domestic travel at its best - As per usual, we had a lot of weekends away, starting with visiting Jackie in St. Louis, our camping "party of bizz" in Wisconsin, Port Aransas girls trip, Texas for my mom's birthday and later Thanksgiving, Austin for the triathlon, Vegas for funsies, and Florida for a beachy Christmas (with a night in Biloxi mixed in). That's a lot of Southwest drink tickets. And perhaps more gambling than is necessary. But overall, such an amazing time connecting with friends and family...as grateful as ever for the ability to travel.

I hope the year ahead contains more yoga, less clutter, more nature, less cat hair, more writing, less days under 30 degrees, more green smoothies, less DVR...it's a tall order for 2015!

*blog jokes are the best