2010 Recap

Another year down... It feels like everyone is saying this and I have to say it too. Where did 2010 go?! Holy moly, it was gone in the blink of an eye.

My 2010 had lots of ups and lots of downs. Let's recap, shall we?

January

In January I celebrated my birthday at a Color Party and was head over heels in love. This love would be short lived, but overall I was happy. Work was going fantastic, we had a great holiday season. I had a great staff and life was good. Reading through my posts made me smile and frown at the same time, which I am aware is not possible, but I did. I was so happy and optimistic, which made me smile. What made me frown was that I knew what was coming...

February

This is the month I made the decision to start grad school. I met with a woman at Drake (that would soon be my advisor) and figured out what to do to get this going. I had to take the Praxis and complete all the steps to the application process. Also in February I read a lot more, which I tend to do in the winter anyway because there isn't much else to do. I was still so "in love" and we celebrated Valentines Day with a yummy crab leg dinner. It was so much fun to make and I can't believe I haven't done it again with friends since then!

March

Ohhhh March. March was not a good month. The person I was so "in love" with turned out to be a complete douche bag. I am not exaggerating. We broke up. I found out he was married still. (Yes, not sure if I ever told you guys that). I could not believe I was so wrong about someone. What happened to my gut instinct? Other things came out about him through friends that blew me away. Love really is blind.

April

I did not blog much during this time period, which is very like me. Usually I want to talk about this stuff but for some reason I just walled myself off and had mini pity parties for myself every night. Yep, I did. ::hangs head in shame:: During this time I tried to find things that comforted me. Like my favorite books. I re-read American Wife and strangely... it made me feel a lot better. I love the character of Alice Lindgren and her outlook on life really soothed me. When I think about it now, it sounds weird but to each their own, right? :)

My friends help me cope with the breakup... drinking a boot at Hessen Haus (not by myself! I had help...)

May

Speaking of American Wife and former first lady Laura Bush, I picked up the new memoir by Laura Bush and eagerly devoured it. I found out that she was doing a signing in Kansas City and I knew I HAD to go. Am I ever glad I did ! She is wonderful in person. Such a sweet, charming lady. I feel so lucky to have been in her company even if for just a short time. I also had an extra copy of her book so I hosted a giveaway and gave my extra copy away!

June

June was a busy month! One of my close friends at work got married so we made the trip up to her hometown three hours away in NE Iowa to attend the wedding. It was small farm wedding and it was so much fun! I may live in Iowa but I am a city girl and am rarely on farms or drive on dirt roads. It was so nice to get away for a couple days! I also made a trip down to Kansas City to see one of my close friends that moved to Scotland four years ago! We had such a great time being tourists in Kansas City, which is funny because we have both lived in KC for several years! We spent a day at Worlds of Fun and then another day at Oceans of Fun. We shopped, ate, talked and had a wonderful time. We also rode one of the scariest rides I have ever ridden in my life. We even had it documented on a video that you can watch here! :)

July

July was another busy month! I made the trip to Kansas City again to see my aunt that was in town visiting from Nevada! We had a great time with family and I can hardly believe that I haven't been back since. Makes me sad :( In July I also started working at the nursing home in activities but would soon have to give that up due to classes and work. Sad face.

(Me, my sister, my aunt Linda and my aunt Caroline. We had a great couple of days together!)

August

This month marked one of the busiest months of the year for work. With kids back to school shopping and tax free weekend, we kept super busy! In the meantime I was preparing to begin work on my masters degree and could hardly contain my excitement! This month I also started dating a new guy, who would be great for awhile, but not long term material. This month we also had our annual friends weekend at the lake. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year and 2010 was no different!

(One of my favorite places on earth, Lake Okoboji!)

(One of my former assistants that comes back occasionally to help out. We decided to try on the merchandise...)

September

Classes were going great so far, I was experiencing the joys that is group work and realizing, "uhhhh, you're in education. Get used to it!" I was putting so much effort into my classes and not necessarily neglecting my job but not enjoying it at all. I really wanted to be putting that time and effort towards my degree and bettering myself. Things with the new guy were going well and we were having fun together!

October

Ahhh, October. I blogged a lot in October due to the 30 day challenge that I gave a good go at but ended up failing halfway. Life got the better of me. I joined a bowling league with the new guy and realized that I couldn't force myself to like bowling. I still hated it. The only good thing about bowling was that it was socially acceptable to drink while doing it. This would cause me to put on about 5 lbs of weight by the end of the year. Oh, joy. Other than that, not much else happened.

November

Ohhhh, holiday season. How I love to hate you. This year was tough because I knew I would be leaving my job soon. I registered for a full load of classes at the beginning of the month for the following semester and I knew the time was coming to turn in my notice. Before doing so I made sure to get all my ducks in a row so my boss couldn't "talk me out of it." She tends to be very pushy and I was afraid she would try her hardest to get me to stay. Luckily, she didn't. She could sense for quite a while now that I was unhappy and just wanted me to be happy. I was grateful she didn't push the issue and just accepted my resignation and was thankful for my lengthy six week notice that I wasn't required to give. Thanksgiving came and went, it was fun but unfortunately work was really beginning to ruin my holiday with the staffing issues I was having in my management team. As for the rest of the staff, they were doing great and handling the volume beautifully!

(The mall I work in when it opened at midnight on Black Friday. Total and complete utter chaos. Trust me. People are nuts. )

December

December, December, December. WhatAMONTH! Omg. I have never wished away a holiday like I did this year. I really let my circumstances ruin my holiday and I am angry at myself for that. Never again! This month I wrapped up my classes and got two A's. I officially have a 4.0 GPA, and I am going to try hardest to keep it. In December I also took a 20 hour weekend class to obtain my substitute teaching license and enjoyed the class immensely! I cannot wait to get into the classroom and make money doing what I really want to do. This month the new guy and I officially called it quits. Things were not progressing how I felt they should be and I just didn't see it going anywhere. He didn't take it too well, in fact, he deleted me from Facebook. ::Sad face:: I didn't want to not be friends with him, but leading him on was wrong. In the meantime I have less and less time at the ol' job and the countdown had begun! Christmas was fantastic but super short. It was my only day off that week (nice, huh?) and I was beyond exhausted.

I can't end the year without talking about a special puppy that has entered my sister and I's lives. Her name is Lexie and she is a dapple dachsund that has special needs. She is only about 6 months old, but she is deaf due to dapples breeding with dapples. My aunt fosters dogs that she rescues from euthanization and Lexie was one of them. We took her just to help our aunt a little about two months ago and we haven't given her back... something tells me she has found her forever home. :)

So, this was my year! Big things happened in 2010 and I believe even bigger things are happening in 2011. Have a happy and safe NYE. I love you all!