2014 Retrospect

I try and do a retrospect of my year (at least via my blog) every year. Here is 2014. This was a rough year for me and for my family. We had a lot of things go wrong, dear family members passed away, relationships faltered and regained footing, accidents happened, illnesses... definitely not one of my better years. I am severely depending on 2015 to be better than this!

Past retrospects:
2013
2012
2011
2010

January

We spent our New Year's Eve in Morehead City at the Crystal Coast Countdown. New Year's Day was spent watching the Capital One Bowl.

I started working out again, this time weightlifting. Also didn't last.

Then we booked our AMAZING trip around the Mediterranean. I spent many later entries blogging about it afterwards, but the trip itself was in January. It was fantastic but...

The week we returned my beautiful Aunt Joan lost her battle with cancer. Our family was devastated.

 

February

I was still reeling from my Aunt's passing and as soon as I returned to North Carolina I started rehearsals for a show at the community theatre. I honestly didn't blog the entire month save for one give away. Probably the least amount of blogging I did since I began this thing five years ago.

 

March

I spent most of March blogging about our Trip from January.

Getting There and Pisa, Italy, Florence, Italy, Monaco, Toulon France, Barcelona, Spain, Valencia, Spain, Mallorca, Spain, At Sea and Tunisia, Africa, Palermo, Sicily Italy, Naples and Pompei Italy

I was cast in a production of A Doll's House that performed in March and April.

April

I blogged about acting and the show again.
I realized how badly I was slacking on my blog and talked about it. Plus I made Pisanki.
And I worked Easter Sunday. Which kind of stunk.

May

Ryan and I celebrated our Fourth Wedding Anniversary.
We had tickets to see Lady Antebellum in Raleigh, our first country concert!
I acknowledged how awesome all the mothers in my life are, especially my mom, for Mother's Day.
Ryan and I took a trip to Duplin Winery to celebrate our anniversary.
I attended the Paraprofessional Library Conference
And my BEST FRIEND in the whole world GOT MARRIED and I got to be a bridesmaid for the first time! Plus Ryan and I had a day to play in NYC and see a Broadway show together for the first time.

 

 

 

June

 

I blogged about being frustrated.

Then, a first for me, I angrily posted about a current event... I never do that!

Hurry up and wait strikes again. The Career Planner didn't submit my husband's SDA package (it sat on his desk for two weeks) so my husband had to come up with a Plan B.
 I had my first major sickness of the year and ended up in the ER... they thought I had meningitis but luckily that was not the case.
Plus we went fishing. And had lots of Stormy Weather days.
And Josh Groban answered me on Facebook, completing my life.


July

We had my sister in law Hannah here and spent the 4th of July with friends.
Ryan asked me out for a special Date Night.
I made some Observations stemming from my job.

August

 I mention my lack of blogging again, a theme for this year.
I was shattered when my childhood icon and favorite actor Robin Williams passed away.
I QUIT SMOKING. Finally.
Then Ryan and I got into a serious accident in our truck. We were lucky to walk away with cuts and bruises but our truck was totalled. We went to the ER to get checked out to be sure we were ok, my second trip this year.


September

I turned 27.
 Ryan and I had a "redo" of our Labor Day Weekend, what we would have done originally had the accident not happened. First he had a goodbye dinner with his shop since his SDA was finally approved and then we started our time together at Battleship North Carolina.
Then we did Hungry Town Bike Tours and Fort Macon.


October

I officially mention Ryan starting his SDA and we attend Oktoberfest.
 Then I got really sick. Sick enough I was out of work and rehearsals for about a week. ER trip number three as well as Urgent Care and my regular doctor.
The Dup turned 3!
I was in another show, Dracula, over Halloween weekend playing Lady Van Helsing.


November

The Marine Corps turns 239.
I finally got some answers as to why I was so sick. My gallbladder basically stopped working.
Ryan and I spent some much needed time together.
We attend the Birthday Ball for SOI in Wilmington.
I blog about being Thankful, regardless of the rough year.
We spend Thanksgiving in South Carolina with both of our families.




December

My childhood dog Dippy crossed the Rainbow Bridge at 13 and a half years old.
I shared our Christmas Decorations.
Ryan graduates SOI Instructor School.
My surgery gets scheduled for January 28th, 2015... adios gallbladder and nausea!
We spend a cozy Christmas at home together.
And for New Year's we plan on visiting my family in the mountains. I will probably blog about that in the New Year.

I hope you all had a fabulous 2014. Our was a little rough, one of our roughest, but there were still some great high points. I don't blog about everything, most of the good and bad made it here, but some things do not need to be shared with the internet. I know many bloggers braver than I who do share everything, but I am not able to do that. Know things are getting better and I am optimistic for the year ahead. I hope 2015 strengthens my relationships, my faith and gives us more ups than downs. I know Ryan's work schedule will be absolutely INSANE but I hope I use that time constructively too. I hope I am happy. I hope when I do my 2015 retrospective I make you all positively nauseous with how amazing the year is.

 

Happy New Year everyone. Once again, thanks for sticking with me through another year.

 

Europe - Toulon

Next stop: Toulon! Part of Provence, France. Also known as the French Riviera.

The morning we were in Toulon I woke up not feeling very well. I get seasick so I was wearing a prescription strength patch that lasted three days before I had to put on another one. The rested right below my ear near my jaw and you could barely see it. Well, I didn't ever need to wear them longer than three days before so I didn't realize you needed to switch sides when you added a new patch. I didn't do that. So I woke up and ate breakfast that we got via room service and realized I couldn't see. My vision blurred so badly I could barely read the menu! Then breakfast came back up. Ryan mentioned me going to "sick bay" which I prompty shut down.

The cruise our ship did before ours had a huge norovirus outbreak. Half the ship was quarantined to their rooms. So they were big on if you had stomach problems locking them down. I knew mine were patch related (since 1, I had norovirus before, you don't forget what it feels like and 2, Ryan would have had symptoms too since it is severely contagious) so no sick bay for me. Our room was small, an interior, and the idea of not being able to leave for days made me claustrophobic, I felt better getting on deck for sure. I felt nauseous but it was doable. Plus we only had a day in each port, if I stayed in bed there was a chance I'd never see that place again! So I now knew next time to change my patch at night AND to switch sides. Sigh.

Getting air on deck before heading to shore. I stood there with Ryan for awhile getting my bearings back.

Toulon was one of the few places that provided free transport into the town. We got on a small boat that zoomed us across the river into the main port.

Once we got on shore we saw a large market taking place and decided to head straight there to walk around a bit. There was a church off to the left, St Francois de Paule, that we stopped in first.

After walking around a bit we decided to try and find somewhere to have lunch. We didn't have a map and just kind of wandered around anyplace that looked interesting. Ryan engaged himself in a very interesting conversation with some locals... :P

Near the French Navy Base

We finally stopped by a theatre for a photo and noticed a bistro nearby that seemed good for lunch. I was feeling better at this point so we stopped to peek at the menu. The waiter came out and started speaking to us in semi decent English and we really appreciated the effort! Bistrot de Cesar wins!

Ryan asked the waiter what the best thing to order was and ended up with a Hangar Steak with pepper sauce that was so unbelievably tender and delicious. I remembered being in France (about 12 years ago!) and ordering a Croque Monsieur and it changing my life, so I got it again. Oh man. Say what you want about french food but Ryan and I agreed this was probably the best meal of our entire trip.

Especially when we added dessert. Naturally Ryan had an espresso but we shared a banana nutella crepe with real whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Even between the two of us and how delicious it was we couldn't finish it. Travesty.

 

Ryan also quickly learned he was very lucky we were already married. I took pictures of basically every wedding dress shop we passed. They were so fabulous, how could I resist??

After lunch we climbed the steps of the theatre and sat in the warm sunlight digesting our food. The blue chairs in the picture below are where we ate lunch, so it wasn't far. The wedding dress shop is just behind the cafe. But after awhile we decided to get back on our feet and explore some more.

We journeyed upwards, away from the harbor and found some fun side streets, a train station and saw some pretty rolling hills and mountains in the distance.

Eventually we started to wander back and we found a pretty little park nestled in the city. We took our time strolling through there, observing locals walking dogs, lunching and picnicking.

The park also had a stunning war memorial.

After the park we walked near the Marine Museum and I persuaded Ryan to take a picture there for me. My husband is a patient man for tolerating my puns. Cause he's a Marine, get it??

Yes, I know I am obnoxious.

Sadly at this point I started not feeling well again. We found a small cafe at the harbor and as you can tell from our drink choices I was back to icky. I was hoping to bounce back but once we got on the little boat back to the ship I just felt worse. I am a terrible sick person so I sadly went back to our room and slept on and off the rest of the night. No bar hopping, clubs or dinner for me.

Next stop: Barcelona, Spain!




You can follow along with all of the entries from our trip here!