Dear 2011;
HOLY CRAP a lot happened this year! Let's take a couple moments to recap.
To be honest, I don't remember much of January. I know we worked out a fair bit and I know the Spring Hello, Hialeah! happened, but that's about all I've got. We assigned each other resolutions, and the one I was given was to 'get sick less and not take it so hard when a certain mean person was mean to me.' Easier said than done on both counts..
By February I broke the first half of my resolution - in an infamous weekend, me and half the students on a trip got food poisoning (or a simultaneous flu?) and that Sunday my foot mysteriously started to hurt. Chris was in DC and that Friday was the first mention of possibly moving to Boulder.
That pain in my foot turned out to be a somewhat serious thing and led to 2 months of physical therapy starting in March, which is also the month that Chris proposed. So it wasn't so bad that I couldn't do anything active since there was suddenly a LOT to do to get ready for the wedding, which we decided would be in July. March was also the month of the Vagina Monologues. Look at a picture of our beautiful cast!
March turned into April and the insanity of planning for Commencement (and multiple failures at the second half of my resolution. eesh). Between the intensity of work and planning for the wedding, with a couple PT appointments each week there wasn't time for much more!
In May Grandpa Stenger passed away.
In June Chris went to Kansas City for work, which was a great mini-vacation for him. I don't remember much of June, so I guess I was just doing wedding stuff?
July, of course, was the wedding! What with the foot injury, here's a picture of the only day (after February) in 2011 that I wore high heels:
End of July brought a massive fail at the second half of the resolution, followed by our super-amazing and super-needed honeymoon in Belize! Also, the confirmation that Chris got the job in Boulder and that we'd be moving.
August and September were taken up with negotiating the move and preparing to leave our jobs. We had some great times (and tears..) with friends and coworkers as we said goodbye. By the 27th we were packed up and on our way. We drove from FL to CO and took our little bug to places like Georgia and Tennessee, and spent a couple days getting through Kansas.
October brought our arrival in CO, the start of new jobs and a whole lot of house hunting and exploring the area.
And of course in November we moved into the new house! Just before Thanksgiving, which gave us enough time to dig our pots and pans out from the pile and cook a beautiful meal to celebrate how thankful we have been for everything 2011 brought.
We wrapped up the year in a very different place than we started. New state, jobs, marriage, home... December allowed us time to finally breathe. After all the transition and movement, it was sure nice to have a whole month of being in one place!
Thank you, 2011, for the adventure, growth and opportunity. You certainly helped us appreciate the things we have and the family and friends that we love. We will always look back on you as 'that year we did all that crazy stuff' and it was awesome.
Here's to a great, though hopefully a little calmer, 2012!
