2011 Year in Review

At the end of each year, I love looking back through my pictures to see what all we did that year. I'm pretty sure I would forget a majority of the things we do if I didn't take pictures! Bo and I also enjoy thinking back on what we've learned, what our most/least favorite thing was, and to look ahead to the next year for what we want to do, where we want to go, and how to actually make it happen. Last year I made a facebook photo album titled "2010 Year in Review" (mostly because I was lazy posting pictures all year long...), so this year I am doing a similar post to recap the year.

We started and ended the year in exactly the same place - physically, anyway, since we spent New Years Eve 2010 and 2011 both at Park Tavern in Atlanta.

In early January, we experienced our first "blizzard" - which, in Atlanta means that it snowed a few inches, melted, froze, and iced over all the roads. And it completely shut down the entire city for a few days. Bo and I were actually trapped in our home for a week since our driveway is hilly and shaded, meaning that was completely frozen solid, and was about the last place to defrost.

Later that month, I celebrated my 27th birthday with Ginny and Adrienne at our tri-birthday bash.

Ginny, me, & Adj

In February, my cousin Dawn's stepson, Jordan, passed away at age 16. Less than a year earlier, he was diagnosed with a rare blood disease, HLH, and had an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant just weeks before he passed away. He was a great kid and we all miss him so much even though we know he's in a better place where he no longer suffers.

Jordan with his siblings and cousins

As most of you know, Bo and I both worked for Big 4 Public Accounting firms, and we were both in audit (sorry, but no, we cannot do your taxes). Therefore, we spent the remaining parts of January and almost all of February/March in absolute hell busy season - which was a black hole in my life and therefore I have no pictures or stories because we really didn't do much besides work. Except for the one time I had a complete meltdown at work, followed by a meltdown on the phone with my dad (again, sorry and thank you), only to come straight home (at 10pm.... on a Saturday night) to find Bo and a bunch of friends having a party at my house. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a totally normal occurrence and I would have joined in the fun. But working 42 days straight and pulling an all-nighter at work are not normal circumstances. So I had yet another meltdown in front of everyone and kicked them all out of the house immediately. I almost kicked Bo out of the house, too. I have a newly-earned level of respect around here, but it was definitely my lowest point of the year.

Though without that lowest point, I might not be where I am today. That night, I decided that I had had enough. I had been considering a career move for a few months, but this time it was serious. I was completely burnt out and ready for something new. Something that would not require 16-20 hour work days, 7 days a week. Or anything even remotely close to that. So the next morning I updated my resume, made some phone calls, had a few lunch/dinner meetings and interviews, and on March 31 I accepted a new job offer. I am loving it and could not be happier with my decision. And after going through hell and back at my old job, I will still say that it was the best start to my career, and given the choice I would do it all over again. The experience I had taught me so much and without that background I wouldn't have been able to get my new job. So while I am grateful for everything I learned, I am just as grateful that I have moved on.

At the end of March, right before I left my old job, I surprised my friend Sonya and headed to Destin, FL for her bachelorette party in Destin, FL. We had a blast!

Sarah, Heather, me, Amy, Sonya, & Ashley

I took a few weeks off work in between jobs to sleep get my life organized and ready for my new job. Bo spent a week at Augusta National for the Masters Tournament, and since they were a client of his, he got to play the course. I am not a golfer, but I know this is a pretty big deal.

On Easter Sunday, Bo and I hosted an Easter Feast for our friends in Atlanta who are also far from their families.

Lizzy, Katie, Christy, Margaret, me, Sarah, & Lauren

Andrew, Bo, Shawn, Drew, Chris, & Josh

Later that month, we flew to Tampa to celebrate the marriage of our friends Doug and Gillian. Doug and I were in several high school classes together and have been good friends ever since. It was great to see so many old friends at their wedding.

Doug & Gillian

Jesea, me, Jackie, & Gen

In late May, after years of begging and researching and begging, Bo finally let me get a puppy and we decided on a lemon beagle. We were so excited to welcome little Molly into our family. We fell in love instantly and now have a teeny tiny understanding of those parents who say they don't remember life before their kids.

June was an exciting, yet very emotional, month. We spent a week in California to celebrate the marriage of our friends Sonya and Brandt. Sonya and I were Chi Omegas together at UF, and she met Brandt here in Atlanta. She was also my last roommate before I married Bo. Our friends Sarah and Adrienne (also Chi O's at UF) traveled with us, and we all spent a few days in San Francisco, a day in Napa Valley, and two days in Carmel for the wedding. This was one of our big vacations for the year and we had such a great trip. However, we also mourned the passing of Heather's dad and Ginny's miscarriage at the same time.

Full House scene!

Adj, Sarah, and us at Chandon

Sonya & Brandt

July was action-packed. Bo had also been considering a career move, but wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do until his friend Josh (who was seriously job searching) found a position that Bo was really interested in. I never really believed in the saying before, but it literally fell in his lap. Josh decided to take a different job, and kindly provided a reference for Bo to interview for the open position. Bo accepted the offer and started his new job in mid-July. He also loves his job. His career move made July the very first quarterly reporting period that we weren't working crazy hours (yay for new jobs!), so we took full advantage of it. We started with July 4th weekend in Blowing Rock with Bo's family.

I jumped on the blogging bandwagon, and started this here blog! It's been a lot of fun so far. Thanks for reading :)

We celebrated our second wedding anniversary at Bacchanalia, and the following weekend we drove down to Gulf Breeze with some friends for Blue Angels weekend.

I ended the month with a weekend trip to Gainesville to visit Alisha (and her son Mason!), Kelly, and Tara - friends from college. Not knowing I'd get to see ALL three of them again this year :)

Me, Alisha, Mason, Tara, Kelly, & Brittany

The first weekend in August we flew down to Palm City to see Amy (back in the states from Dubai!) and more girlfriends from college.  Love them!

Tara, Kelly, Tricia, Alana, Kim, Me, Leslie, Amy, & Kelly

me, Amy, Kelly, Leslie, & Kim

The following weekend, I met my mom and sister in DC for a mother-daughter trip. We had so much fun and hope to do a trip every year if we can.

Later that month, my parents came to visit and we attended the German Beer Festival here in Atlanta.

In September, I went to London for the first time! I was there for a week for a work trip and stayed through the weekend to go sightseeing, which was also my first time traveling alone. I loved every minute of it. I'm tentatively planning to go a few times a year, depending on my projects at work and our scheduling.

In October, we held our annual Chi Omega reunion tailgate at the Florida-Alabama football game in Gainesville. Alisha came and surprised us all so I got to see her again! It was great to see so many friends.

me, Alisha, Sarah, Susan, & Kelly

 

Dani, Kristin, Mom, Susan, me, Laura, Kelly, Katrina, Ginny, & Sarah

A few days later we flew out to New Orleans to spend three days there (here, here and here) before driving to Baton Rouge for the Florida-LSU game.

We held our annual pumpkin carving party the weekend before Halloween.

I flew to Chicago for a quick work trip, and then we ended the month in Jacksonville for the Florida-Georgia game, making us 0-for-3 in Gator football games this year. We also mourned the passing of Adrienne's dad in October.

I became addicted to joined Pinterest, Goodreads, and Twitter....love, love, love.

In November, my friend Jenna welcomed her first child, a baby boy named Cameron. He's such a cutie and I hope to meet him sometime in 2012! Later that month we celebrated Thanksgiving with friends in Atlanta, celebrated the real Thanksgiving and Bo's birthday in Blowing Rock with family, and picked out our first tree from a farm.

December was a complete whirlwind way to end the year. Bo and I enjoyed lots of holiday traditions, decorations, and parties before heading down to Florida for Christmas.

part of the Morgan family branch

Bo, Mark, & Bobby

We made a pitstop in Orlando on our drive back up to see Amy & John (back from Dubai again!), dropped off Kelly, and picked up Sarah along the way. It was a great day with great friends and we loved seeing Harry Potter World.

Kelly, John, Bo, me, Amy, Sarah, & Leslie

In early December, my friend Ashley also welcomed her first child, a baby girl named Kensington. She is such a sweetie. Leslie, Mom, and I got to visit with them the day after Christmas.

Mom & Kensi

We ended the year back in Atlanta for New Years Eve and enjoyed spending time with friends while Susan and Adrienne were in town.

Adj, Ginny, Sarah, Kelly, me, & Susan

Overall, 2011 started off not-so-great, hit rock bottom, and then turned around into a pretty awesome year for us. But as awesome as it turned out, I'm not completely sad to see it go, since we already have so much to look forward to in 2012!