Two thousand thirteen. Ahhhh. What a wonderful year it was to me -- to us.
We celebrated one year in our own home. We celebrated the engagements and marriages of several of our good friends. We celebrated eight years together. Then we got engaged in 2013. And two months later, even we got married. Our love has never been stronger, our lives never better. Everything is coming together - finally.
As I look back on the last twelve months of my life, do I wonder about things I could have done differently? Better? Sure. But it's not exactly from a heinously critical perspective, but more a perspective of opportunity. I see where I can improve. Even more prominent though are the memories I have of adventures we've taken these last twelve months. The adventures are the best part.
In January we found ourselves taking a drive to Gainesville to relive on of our first official dates and visit the Florida Museum of Natural History. It was there we took this picture - it's funny, but not really. Black bears are not the cuddly buddies you might think they are when you see them playing on the side of the road. The museum also housed a temporary exhibit of Charles Schultz material. That was the most enjoyable part of the museum this time. When it was all laid out in black and white, it was clear Schultz truly tried to shed light some very serious and concerning topics.
In February J.M. got this really neat opportunity to take his little brother to a trampoline house and the two of them were kind enough to let me come along. Truthfully, the trampoline place is a wonderful spot for active adventures. If you want to get your physical activity on and want to play a challenging game of tag or basketball, or even practice your acrobatics this is the place to go. In a lot of ways, it's similar to an arcade - it has the pizza and sodas and prizes available, but the majority of the floor plan was dedicated to these trampolines. They're all connected by the bright green pads and, as you can see, you can even bounce off the walls. Literally. Like I said, it's pretty cool. Last time we visited with Chris (his little brother), he asked if we could go again. We talked about it - now it's a matter of making it happen again in 2014.
In March, our friends, Christina and Christian, visited from Austria. They stayed with us in Rainbow Springs and we took them on small, local adventures. The most memorable of which was snorkeling with manatees in Crystal River. Talk about euphoria. I never imagined I would have the opportunity to connect with such majestic and lovable wild animals. Manatees are compassionate, gentle, and curious. And they love to be rubbed on! This was, hands down, the best excursion of the year. And it's one I do hope to repeat in 2014. Any takers?
Then, in April, I completed my first 5K. I did it with a co-worker, Alycia, and admittedly, we walked most of it. But it was my first 5K completion, regardless. The mega grin on my face in the photo is wholly genuine - to me, this 5K was a major accomplishment. I have found something I enjoy doing, feel satisfaction from completing, AND recognize that I can improve on. After the race was over, I waited around in the grass just soaking up my self-satisfaction and I came to a realization. This accomplishment sparked a desire to get into better shape and I began frequenting the gym more consistently. I mastered long stretches on the elliptical, made work-out buddies with several people at various stages of fit, and began improving my stamina on the treadmill. I want to continue my improvements at the gym and truly see the results reflected in accomplishments in 2014 that include other completed races, weight loss, and better nutrition.
J.M. and I took vacation time in June and made absolutely no plans for it. We did lots of stuff locally, but the best part was spontaneously taking a few days to lay on the beach. We stayed in a tiny motel - maybe had 10 rooms, very quaint, family-owned place right on the water. We didn't do much more than just lay on the sand the whole time we were there. This photo is one I took on our last day there. I woke up before the day began and headed down toward the beach to be there when the sun joined the party. Saying good morning to the ocean before the daylight does is my favorite way to feel connected to the earth.
In August, we took Susan and Kenneth to see Less Than Jake for their birthdays. This is a photo of Susan, Kenneth and J.M. with Roger - a round of jello shots to celebrate! We always have a stellar time seeing Less Than Jake - they put on unforgettable performances, especially in Gainesville, but the 2013 experience was slightly more memorable for the journey home. We were the first car on the scene of a gruesome head-on collision where all parties were injured and the woman who caused it was more than three sheets to the wind and begging us to let her die. As if I needed another reason not to drink and drive ...
We celebrated one year in our own home. We celebrated the engagements and marriages of several of our good friends. We celebrated eight years together. Then we got engaged in 2013. And two months later, even we got married. Our love has never been stronger, our lives never better. Everything is coming together - finally.
As I look back on the last twelve months of my life, do I wonder about things I could have done differently? Better? Sure. But it's not exactly from a heinously critical perspective, but more a perspective of opportunity. I see where I can improve. Even more prominent though are the memories I have of adventures we've taken these last twelve months. The adventures are the best part.
In February J.M. got this really neat opportunity to take his little brother to a trampoline house and the two of them were kind enough to let me come along. Truthfully, the trampoline place is a wonderful spot for active adventures. If you want to get your physical activity on and want to play a challenging game of tag or basketball, or even practice your acrobatics this is the place to go. In a lot of ways, it's similar to an arcade - it has the pizza and sodas and prizes available, but the majority of the floor plan was dedicated to these trampolines. They're all connected by the bright green pads and, as you can see, you can even bounce off the walls. Literally. Like I said, it's pretty cool. Last time we visited with Chris (his little brother), he asked if we could go again. We talked about it - now it's a matter of making it happen again in 2014.
J.M. and I took vacation time in June and made absolutely no plans for it. We did lots of stuff locally, but the best part was spontaneously taking a few days to lay on the beach. We stayed in a tiny motel - maybe had 10 rooms, very quaint, family-owned place right on the water. We didn't do much more than just lay on the sand the whole time we were there. This photo is one I took on our last day there. I woke up before the day began and headed down toward the beach to be there when the sun joined the party. Saying good morning to the ocean before the daylight does is my favorite way to feel connected to the earth.
In August we also discovered the wonderful world of geocaching. It's pretty awesome. Simply put, it's a network of users who have hidden treasures of varying sizes, shapes, and values all over the world and recorded their locations using latitude and longitude. They then spend their time finding other peoples' treasures boxes and adding to them while also hiding more of their own. There really is a lot involved in the hobby. An aspiring geocacher needs a GPS device, a sense of adventure, an open mind and a keen eye - many caches are small, like film canisters or pill bottles. In this photo, we found a cache and brought it back to the car to look through. It had items in it from all over the country. One item was even what we call a trackable. Those are special items given a serial number and carried from one cache to another by traveling cachers.
In September, Jon-Michael and I went to Patrick and Korinne's wedding. It was up in Jacksonville, so we decided to make a weekend out if it. Stayed in a nice hotel near the venue and planned on going to the beach the morning after. We stopped at my parents' house to drop off the doggos. I wasn't aware at the time, but JM snuck off on two separate occasions to speak to my parents individually. Then on our way up to Jacksonville, we checked the weather - called for rain the morning we planned on going to the beach. I asked JM if he still wanted to go, he said "YES!" Didn't pick up on it then either, but something was definitely up. He proposed after Patrick's wedding. HE PROPOSED! We were laying in bed at the hotel talking about how beautiful Korinne looked and how happy Patrick was and he just hopped up to change really quickly and then ... there he was, down on one knee. My heart started racing, I cried uncontrollably, I couldn't make words come out in any sensible fashion, but inside I was shouting emphatically, "YES!" We stayed up all night laughing and taking pictures. He was so romantic about the proposal - I wish I could remember what he said to me. We woke up early, went out for breakfast and took our sweet time heading back home to share the story with my mom, dad, sister, brother, and Kelly. This picture is a picture JM took while we were out to breakfast at this wonderful restaurant called First Watch. So, at this point in the year 2013, this was by far the best day I had had.
The short story: we started planning a wedding ... it got really stressful and extremely far from what we had dreamed of having for ourselves. We went to look at venues in Gainesville and picked the Florida Museum of Natural History. We fell in love on sight, it had sentimental value (being the location of our first official date), and absolutely LOVED that it was too small for the massive guest list we had acquired. Then it all happened so fast -- we looked at the venue in mid-October, booked a date in mid-November and threw it all together perfectly. We had help from my entire family on everything from the dress and the accessories to the music and the favors and flowers. We made it all ourselves and did it, I think, way under budget. We invited most of the 25 guests (yes, only 25 guests) to spend the night at a local hotel the night before since we were having a breakfast wedding. The hotel hosted a free cocktail hour for all their guests, so we had ourselves a wonderfully memorable night. This photo is of me and Dad - he's wearing is googly eyed glasses -- a prank he considering pulling the day of the wedding, but only whipped out for the rehearsal and the party. I love this man.
Speaking of men I love ... here is my husband. EEEE!! That still sounds so wild to hear -- to say! This is one of our sneak-peek photos. Bonnie Estelle, our photographer, was absolutely wonderful. She has a brilliant eye for aesthetics and knows how to make her subjects feel as if she's not even there. Our wedding day turned out flawlessly. We had the best help from the moment we set the plan into action to the moment we were pronounced husband and wife .. which, by the way, we forgot to wait for. Elizabeth St. Louis officiated our wedding - she was spectacular; I could never ask for better. Before she could pronounce us husband and wife, we high-fived and kissed and hugged and kissed some more and hugged some more. We were so excited -- we still are! -- we were so excited we just couldn't wait to celebrate our love! After the wedding we spent about two hours in different spots in Gainesville doing artistic photos with Bonnie before departing for our gorgeous suite in Orlando and gearing up for ... what turned out to be the best concert of my life thus far!
Third Eye Blind. Glorious, glorious, glorious show. Absolutely glorious. I don't know how to describe it. I did something silly - I painted a poster board with the words "just married!" on it. And what's more? I tweeted to 3EB before the concert started telling them we were there to celebrate getting married that morning. They favorited the tweet and retweeted it. Then between songs, I put the sign as high up into the air as I could and Stephan Jenkins did the unspeakable. Stephan Jenkins pointed out into the audience and said four simply beautiful words: "I see you there!" Then a few heads turned, a few camera phones snapped pictures, and the concert carried on. It was a beautiful, breathlessly exciting few seconds of my life. And the rest of the two and a half hour concert just played on euphorically then and on repeat in my mind. Best. Concert. Ever.
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