2013: The Recap

Everyone else is doing a recap of 2013, so I might as well too! 

(Plus, I loved reading through the last five years of the Shull Family and I know it'll be fun to go back through and do that someday on my own. You can read about 2012 here.)

2013 was another busy year for me. If I had to give it a theme, I would say it was the year that I became comfortable being me. Last year I said I thought 2012 was the year of finding myself, figuring out who I was and what I liked to do and then being that person and doing those things. So I think 2013 was the year that I kept being that person and kept doing those things. I didn't feel the need to prove anything to anyone, or doing things to please other people and I was just HAPPY! Maybe that was my theme, happiness, cause I truly am! :)

So in January I rang in the new year at a party downtown with my friends from college. It was a lot of fun. Definitely want to do something like this again in the future! I went to the movies like it was my job. I had not been to a theatre in years, and in the span of three weeks I'd seen five movies! Five! (Lincoln, Anna Karina, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Mis and Pitch Perfect). I was the third wheel on many outings with Molly and John (Big Bang Piano Bar, COSI, my first trip to a casino), but I also had fun nights out with my best girl friends. Bowie also went into heat this month and at one point I wanted to sleep so bad that I was in tears and almost went to my car to sleep!

Ringing in the New Year!

COSI dolphin movie.

Love them.

So in February, Bowie got fixed. That was fun for a few days (not), then everything went back to normal. I had the best Valentine's Day I'd had ever (no boyfriend = no chances of being disappointed) and Molly, Jill, Cara and I went out to dinner and the movies! Molly also got me lovely flowers. :) One of my favorite things of the year happened at the end of February when I flew to Florida to run in the Disney Princess Half Marathon with Erica. I accomplished so many 'firsts' on that trip that I was on cloud nine the whole time. I flew by myself, ran 13.1 miles as Snow White, went to Magic Kingdom (where I rode a roller coaster!), and went to the Gulf of Mexico. It was so much fun! And I got to experience it all with my best friend. :) I also went to a Tiesto concert. I had no idea who he was, but the people there dressed really weird and I'll probably never go again. But, hey, the tix were free!

I got a henna tattoo, too.

I was out of state every weekend for a span of three weeks and hit up seven different states. The first weekend in March I went to Chicago one last time to visit my sister and nieces. They were moving the following weekend to their new home in DC. I loved visiting them in Chicago so much. I LOVE that city. I'm excited to have another large and interesting city to visit, but I will miss not going to Chicago as often. It was great to hang out with the girls, walk to the Sweet Mandy B's one last time with Emery to get a 'special treat' and play dress up. I also went snowtubing for the first time and traveled to Northwest Arkansas to the UofA for a conference. I never blogged about this trip, but I felt like I knew what everything was and had the best time. It really is just as charming as it looks on all the blogs! And I went up in the Gateway Arch in St. Louis! So cool! And I found out that I was going to be an aunt again!! March was a full month!

Top of the Arch.

 
In April I turned 28! Twenty.Eight. That seems so old! But at the same time, I don't feel a day over 25. Ok, maybe I do. I look back to 25 year old Emily and think "I was just a baby then." So I'm definitely much happier with myself at 28, so I'll take it! :) It's just hard to believe that my 'twenties' are almost over! But I intend to live them to the fullest! I also ran my third Dogwood Festival 5K. And Bowie got worms. (yuck!)

Big Bang for my birthday.

5K with Rheadon.

May started off good with Molly's graduation from OSU. This was the first year OSU was on the semester schedule, so what was the last month of school in the past, was now the first month of summer. So it was fun to have all this 'free' time and do a lot of evening walks, happy hours, volleyball playing fun. I went to the circus with Molly, Jill, and Susie, then a few days later went to Cedar Point for the first time. I rode rollercoasters!! I was so nervous but it was so fun too! I wish I'd done more than just two looking back! I will have to go again. I also ran in the Komen Race for a Cure in memory of my Grandma Primer, got a new couch, and went to my 10 year class reunion.

June was a little more relaxing. I started it off with a fun weekend at my friend Sarah's house with a pool party with college friends (and their children) and then went to the Memorial Golf Tourney the next day. Tim Tebow was there!!! (I did not see him!) I ran in two 5k's and celebrated Jill's birthday. It was a really low key month, but still great.

But then July happened and it was busy, busy, busy. It started off with the family vacation to Myrtle Beach over Independence Day. It wasn't our best vacation. It rained a lot and Payton got a concussion on the banana boat. The next week I went to Chicago with Jill for a work conference and got to do a lot of sightseeing while we were there. Then the week after that I went on a cruise to the Bahamas! Which was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! I absolutely loved being on the private island and just floating in the clear, calm water. It was my first time out of the country. I had such a fun time with friends and can't wait to travel again. In between traveling, I worked at the Ohio State Fair, went out downtown and ran into Justin Bieber and Greg Oden. Fun!

August is kind of a blur to me, but I started it out with a trip home for the Pike County Fair and then went to my friend Lauren's wedding. My only wedding of the summer. I've graduated from having everyone getting married to now everyone having babies! In the middle of the month, Holly and the girls came to visit and we had a baby shower for Heather. My great-uncle Bob was also laid to rest, and we had our family reunion on the other side of the family. It was a full weekend of family (all sides!) School started back up at OSU, I went to a concert with my sister, sat in a dunking booth, started graduate school and got blonde highlights again (which I quickly regretted).

In September (I got really bad at blogging) I went to a few football games with the siblings, including my first Skull Session, a craft show with Mom, Molly and Mam, and made my first visit to Pittsburg. Bible Study also started back up, so I was excited to get back in that routine of regularly attending church each week. I had slacked over the summer!

Love these girls.

October started with Bargain Box and the birth of my first nephew, Cooper! I ran a 5K, helped two floats be built for OSU's homecoming parade (one of which won first place!!!) and went to a few more football games! I went to Louisville for a big national convention for work and got to hang out with my college roomie and see Dierks Bentley in concert! He was amazing and I fell in love with him all over again. ha. This month was also really busy because I had a lot of events for work, so I felt like some weeks I spent 60 plus hours at work. Ok, I did. On a sad note, Erin's Grandpa Dunham passed away. He was a neighbor of mine and I will miss visiting him when I'm home. I know he's really happy now in heaven with Grandma Millie.

My boyfriend.

How precious are they? I'm so proud to be their advisor.

In November, my godson turned one! I ran in a four mile race with Erin at Ohio State (got to finish on the field even!!) and went to Chicago with students. It was my last trip to Chicago (that I know of). On the way home we stopped at Fair Oaks Farms and got to see how they milk their cows. It was really neat. I also fell off the blogging bandwagon. Whoops.

December flew by! Other than one trip home, I didn't do any traveling, which was very rare for any month this year. My mom and I had a table at a craft show. I spent 6 wonderful days at home with the family for Christmas - including three different family gatherings! :)

 When I started my 2013 photo album on facebook, the tag line was "this is going to be my year" and I definitely think that it was! It's so good to know that this entire year - 12 months, 365 days - was so amazing because I made it that way and not because I was relying on anyone else for my happiness! :) I'm excited for 2014!

I tried to highlight most things, but definitely not everything from the past year. Let's face it, I got tired of writing! ha. And I might - might, so probably not - come back and link up to all the the posts about things I mentioned, so for now just go back through my history on the left. :)

And to those of you that are new (I put my blog address on my Christmas card this year)....WELCOME! It gets pretty exciting around here. haha.