Saying goodbye to another year (and DECADE, so weird) is bittersweet... so exciting see what the next adventures and hurdles life will throw at us what good would any of that be if be never stopped to reflect on what we LOVED about the past year!? Being thankful for the past years blessings & good times is important and I wanted to list my personal fav's of 2010.. if only for myself even to look back on some time! It's a good new tradish for the new year so you look back and can see that no matter what is going on in your life there are countless blessings for everyone if we could only manage to count THOSE things instead of our misfortunes:) So here are mine!
1. Getting to live in California again for 3 months near Napa Valley & San Fran - even if it was for work! My mom came to visit me & we sipped our way through wine country and explored San Fran together.. memories I'll always love of her:) Also loved getting to hang out with my cousin down town in San Fran and random other adventures during my time there will. I def learned here how to be more independent, and that I really could make it and have fun across the country all by myself! Also getting back to Cali after living in San Diego for a perfect and unforgettable summer in '08 was a dream..
2. Also getting to live in the DC and Annapolis, Maryland area for 4 months (also for work, but still!!) Annapolis is the sailing capitol of the US and also home of the Naval Academy. Anyone who knows me knows the significance of that to me and what a DREAM COME TRUE it was for me literally. I thank God for that adventure in a big way! I will always remember going sailing w/ Lil Lo, exploring DC at night, running around the Naval Academy, seeing the Blue Angels fly over the bay, Arlington National Cemetery to see my Mimi and Jojos grave on Easter, and the dog park outside one of my vet clinics that Sawyer, Jack, and I went to pretty much everyday after all my vet visits!
3. Standing next to my best friend, Lauren, as her Maid of Honor this March as she married the man of her dreams<3 Growing up with her, and having known the depths of her heart, been there through the BEST times and worst, being middle & high school besties, college roomies, and sorority functions dates even at times, family vacation attendee, and dating consultants since forever... well, she really was just the best friend a girl could ever ask for. And it just was a moment I will always hold dear. Talking, praying, and laughing with her before she walked down the aisle and then seeing her light up while saying her vows meant the world.
4. New Orleans Trip with Joey:) My boyfriend and I got to attend a wedding in this city which I had never been to before, and fell in love with unexpectedly! Easy to do on any trip to any city with the Joby as he has a way of making everything exciting and fun! The wedding was unforgettable as it ended in a jazz band led parade down Bourbon Street ~ and continued all night downtown. We also got to stay longer and go exploring on our own and hit Cafe Du Monde, other local restaurants for jumbalaya & those little lobster things, and walk down the famous streets to hear the street musicians who I must say were some of the best I've ever heard! My favorite moment was probably deciding last minute to go on the Haunted Vampires of New Orleans Tour on our last night and drinking our way around the city with our funny tour guide taking us to supposed haunted old bars, and telling spooky stories and histories of the city, and of course teasing me for my obsession with Twilight... he tried to convince me that vampires don't actually SPARKLE. Idiot. :) It was so random and SO fun. I love that Joey is so up for doing the spontaneous, funny things like that with me and get so excited about them, too:)
5. Dolphin Island ~ Need I say more? The name alone = my personal paradise of course! But, no, there were no dolphins here, its actually a beach that Joey & I got to take our dogs to was almost totally secluded, had beautiful sand beaches and bays for us to play in, and the most perfect weather ever. It was just one of those days for the books. Joey, Sawyer, Jack, and I ran around for hours playing in the water and chasing each other around the beaches! It felt like a cheesey music video, but to like an All 4 One song that you still really like.. haha! If dogs can remember in the way that I think they can, I think that will be one of their forever favorite days, too. One moment in particular was when the dogs were chasing Joey through the water and lost track of how deep the next "puddle" was and just dove in to a 5 foot deep pool basically.. going down pretty deep and scrambling back to the top I thought I would die laughing!
6. There were a few days/weekends dedicated completely to my best friends this year that were all completely unforgettable! I can't go further without explaining the complete & total BLESSINGS of life that my friends are to me. They ARE family and I couldn't be more thankful for them all and what they each mean to me in different ways. It has been the year of weddings for us this year (only to be continued into 2011!! Wooo!) which is the perfect excuse for my girls and I to plan parties, showers, bachelorette weekends, and anything else possible to get together. The weddings of course were all a blast ~ from Lauras at the beginning of the year to Joannas at the very end.. and all in between! I mean who doesnt love weddings..anytime I can get to see a flower girl dancing the cupid shuffle with her grandpa is perfection. Anyways, the bachelorette w/e in Long Boat for Joanna was one of the tops! Wadding around in the wave-less gulf drinking whatever Dianna concocted on the beach and catching up with everyone was just priceless... and the EPCOT Food and WIne Festival also has to be mentioned! Lordy, we won't even go into the good times in Dade City this past month staying all together w/ our boys/fiances/husbands in the villas! Golf carts, bloody toes, sign game, eleged fights, locked doors...A-m-a-z-i-n-g. I LOVE all the times I am with my friends. Dinners, movie nights, going out, trips, whatever it is we always make it memorable<3
7. Joeys b-day gift to me--> FSU / UF game Tally! It was my first time back since I graduated, and was Joeys first home game since being a (going back to school to finish online) student! Needless to say this was my most favorite football game I ever went to! We had really good seats and got to see our Seminoles WHOOOOP the Gators!!!:) Also got to see some college friends/sorority sisters, walk the campus w/ Joey and the dogs (yes, they're like my kids and I liked showing them my old stomping ground), and got to hit up GORDOS & my other fav places! Heck ya.
8. This one is random but simply must be in my top 10 highlights of 2010 -- after a long year of traveling the country and living on my own for work, growing up, and all of that.... my biggest revelation was getting to know God again so much more. While growing up, I had every opportunity placed right before me to be around God. From being born and spending my first years literally right across from the First Baptist Church of Windermere.. walking to church and growing up in youth and chorus groups... to TFA, my beloved middle/high school totally centered around God, to summer camps.. I then found myself sort of thrown out there like a fish in the big ocean to figure out how to continue that all important relationship with God by myself. How easy it can be to fill that void with things that seem important, duties, and schedules, and bla bla bla. Yet it never seems fulfilled no matter how enriched your life is... once you've known the love of God & a personal relationship with Him, nothing and no one else can "fill you up" in comparison. And its unfair to expect others to do so. Anyway, it was an awesome way for God to use this time that I was away from the hussle n bussle to sort of slap me back into my reality which was that as much as He still meant to me, and as much as I thought I had all my ducks in a row... I forgot to keep that real God relationship alive and keep it the whole meaning of why I am here. Discovering this has helped to shape my perspective on life tremendously. I now remember that I am not here for myself, or to fulfill my own happiness, but to make others happy and help them along the way. From that perspective, of course, you get a much happier view of life and relaxed nature... making me more happy in return. I kind of found myself again and remembered not to take life so dang seriously. I used to be so carefree and easy breezey.. what happened? Work and responsibilities. Well, 2011, I am going to be balancing that better. Starting with a whole new career apparently! My last day of work with my Animal Health Pharma company was Dec. 31! I decided to take a leap of FAITH and see where God will take me. SCARY and EXCITING! But, I already feel more free and more "me" again. And definitely my fav moment as far as this highlight goes, would be a plane ride where I was reading a book called "Crazy Love" about having a REAL relationship w/ God & prayed that God would be with me again and that I could feel Him like I used to. I looked outside my window while still praying and saw what was actually the shadow of the plane but contorted b/c of the landscape to look like a perfect cross... flying right beside me out side my window where I could see it. Sounds silly probably unless you were there, but still meant everything to me!
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9. Being home for the holidays! I got to be home for nearly 2 weeks over Christmas, and live in my parents house again, wear PJs all day, go Christmas shopping with mom, play putt putt golf with dad, go to lunch with my grandparents, be with all the extended fam for C-mas Eve and C-mas Day, play corn hole with the relatives:), and just enjoy being home. I am so so so so so SO thankful for the family that God put me in. I just couldn't love them more. Some of the best times and memories of my life are just goofing off with them and having fun. I am truly blessed & was so happy to be able to have that time with them over Christmas. Also.... my big brother got engaged Christmas Day to the most perfect girl I could ever dream up for him! BETTER even! I am so excited to get a SISTER for Christmas this year & so happy my brother found his match completely!! :)
10. Bringing in 2011 with Joey after the FSU/USC bowl game... running to the tallest hotel in the western hemisphere and paying an obscene amount of money to get to the top to the "spinning restaurant" that overlooks the city! We got to drink fine champagne (in our FSU gear ;) and watch the fireworks from over the top of them, have a band playing corny new years music and yes and sweet New Years kiss!! Finally after 4 years, we are together for it!:) 
