The Year of Awesome: Part I

Well Christmas is behind us which means that it's time for the "best of" lists.  I love reading all the "best of" lists (especially all the different book ones!) and reading others' recaps of their year.  That said, I do understand that, for some, it's painful to recap a year.  That's how I felt last year. I didn't want to look in the rear view mirror at life and instead wanted to push forward into what was to come.  There are several people in my life who experienced so much pain and heartbreak in 2014 and my hope for them is that 2015 is far, far kinder.   

However, I am thankful that I am ending 2014 in a far better place than I was at the end of 2013 - physically, mentally, spiritually, and geographically.  2014 far and away exceeded my expectations and will forever be remembered as the year of awesome for me.  So many wonderful things came together for me, from returning to running to getting a job offer back home to rekindling my relationship with Phil.  I'm splitting my year in review into 2 posts because there's just too much to talk about for one post.  So here goes!

January featured a trip to Charleston and my return to running.  I have no pictures to document my return to running because I was crazy paranoid that my RA pain would return so I only told about 3 people that I was back to running!

In February I celebrated my 33rd birthday by flying to Austin for the weekend to meet up with my best friends from college.   

In March I ran my first race since before my stress fracture/RA diagnosis.  I felt super strong during this race and ran it far faster than I anticipated (~8:30 minute miles, I still don't know how I did that).

Towards the end of the month, I visited Savannah, which ended up being my favorite Southern city that I visited while living in the south.

April was a  huge month as I received an offer for a job back in Minneapolis and resigned from my job.  I had a paid non-compete so got to spend the ladder half of the month exploring the Charlotte area.  I did a whole lot of hiking and got to form some positive memories in the state of NC.

I also got to celebrate Easter with my brother and his family as they were in the Gatlinburg area which was a short drive from Charlotte.

May was all about the move!  My mom flew down to Charlotte and did the drive back to Minneapolis with me.  That's the most time I've ever had one-on-one with my mom so it's something I'll be forever grateful for.

At the end of May, I moved into my condo (big shout-out to my aunt Barb for helping out BIG TIME with that move) and started my new job.


In June I got to meet my niece Evelyn, who was born in January, and enjoyed a weekend with my family at the lake.

Besides that, I got settled in, soaked up time with Phil and helped him throw a house warming party in the home he purchased in February, and spent a lot of time marveling at my view.  I still marvel at it as we move through the seasons of the year.  I LOVE where I live.

Whew, it's hard to believe all of that happened in the span of 6 months... 

What were some of the best moments of the first 6 months of 2014 for you?