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.

 

The Accident

 

I have gone back and forth about whether or not I wanted to blog about this... I eventually came to the decision that to be true to this blog (which is about my life, marriage, and me) it is something that happened and I can do it and be done with it. Mostly. I will not discuss the details since the investigation and evertrhing is still pending but the basics can be known.

 

Labor Day Weekend was going to be a big weekend out for Ryan and I. His SDA starts at the end of September (something else I have yet to blog about) and I am currently cast in another show (ditto to previous parentheses) so we knew we would be entering a chaotic time and wanted to use this long weekend to spend time together. We had plans to go places in North Carolina we haven't visited yet and just spend it working on our relationship and stockpiling the joy for later use. Friday night after I got home from work we decided to go out for a drink, play some pool and then call it an early night... which we did. Saturday we wanted to wake up early and hit the road. Neither of us set an alarm and we woke up later than we planned, around ten am.

 

We got up, got dressed, packed a bag and got in the truck to drive about an hour to our first planned day trip, Fort Macon State Park. Well, we never made it to the state park. On our way we had a rather awful car accident that left our truck totaled, another truck damaged, and a car slightly damaged. We were the most hurt out of everyone and we were fortunate that our injuries were not severe. Looking at the truck at the accident and at the storage place later I cannot believe we walked away as unhurt as we did. Ryan's arm wen't through the driver's side window and left cuts up and down his left arm. The airbag burned his wrist (friction burn) and nearly cut his other arm. His toe was jammed/possibly broken and his leg was bruised. All of my injuries came from the airbag or the seat belt, which both did their jobs and saved our lives. Both my knees were badly bruised from the airbag deploying and the cover whacking into me, and my seatbelt left a string of bruises across my stomach, chest and shoulder.

 

But, like I said, we are so lucky that we walked away with just minor injuries. I debated posting the pictures of our truck but I will, just so I remember how awful this accident was and how lucky Ryan and I truly are.

 

At the scene.

At the storage facility later on.

Some of you may know this truck once belonged to Ryan's grandfather. After he passed away we purchased the truck from his grandmother. Ryan was very, very proud of this truck and took really good care of it and this accident was awful in every way, but adding the fact that it was his grandfather's truck on top of it all really hurt. I am convinced we had a special guardian angel watching over us.

 

My friend Donna picked us up after the accident, which I am very grateful for, and took us home. The rest of the day was spent mostly on the couch, icing our bruises and watching Star Wars.

 

 

One of the few strokes of luck we did have was that my parents happened to be nearby when this all happened. They decided to take a random, last minute trip to the beach for the weekend and we were able to meet up with them for dinner that evening. Ryan and I made sure we both took a turn getting into a vehicle and driving again even though we were a bundle of nerves. My parents offered to let us keep their minivan (since they have four cars for three people at home, the van has been kept for long road trips basically) until we get a new vehicle. We agreed and my parents rented a car to drive home Monday... a red Mustang that went my parents pulled up to meet my brother had him green with envy!

 

 

 Sunday we decided to go to the ER on base to get checked out... and by we decided I mean Ryan had to for work and said if he was getting checked out I had to be as well. It was a long, long visit, nearly seven hours but we both checked out alright. We had to be seen in separate rooms but we passed the time texting eachother, watching TV (Alton Brown and then Indiana Jones) until we got to be sent home.

I never knew how sore you could feel after a car accident. Sunday, when we woke up, my entire body ached. It felt like I had done a strenuous, full body workout the day before... every muscle and joint was just aching. Ryan and I were limping around for a few days following the accident as our bodies turned multi colored from our various bruises.

My big seatbelt bruise

Like I mentioned, we were very very lucky to walk away in the state we did. I have never been in an accident like this before and it was the loudest, most terrifying thing. We knew it was happening and there was nothing to be done at the time to stop it. All I could do was close my eyes and hold my breath and pray in my head until it was over. Our weekend did not turn out at all like we expected. Since then it has been nothing but talking to insurance companies, figuring out our next steps, looking for another vehicle, and waiting to see what the next step is. Our nerves our frayed and our tempers are a bit shorter than usual, but we will get through this. This too shall pass.

Thank you to everyone who checked in with us, asked if we were alright, and sent good karma and prayers in our direction. We really, really appreciate it.

Well, She's Not Boring

Life with Rylie will certainly never be boring.

Last night Carrie and I went to do laundry and Adam kept an eye on Rylie for me. Well she was bad with Adam having not one but TWO accidents in his apartment (mind you it has been a long time since she has peed in mine). Mortified Mommy. Adam said it was no big deal but I still felt awful. Plus at the vet the other night she got a deworming dose and of course that night I notice she had a worm :( The vet said since she JUST had a dose it was fine, but if in a day or two I still saw them to bring her in.

Eww.

Well Carrie and I get home pretty late from laundry so Rylie is chilling unsupervised (I am trying in SMALL doses here) in the living room. As I get the last clothes put away I hear a CRASH, almost like dishes falling. Well I use paper plates most nights when it just me so I was very confused on the sound. I step into the living room in time to see Rylie speed by me and fly into the bedroom. She won't even look at me.

Uh oh.



SOMEONE climbed on the table and pulled the Scentsy down. Normally I don't have it on when she is in the apartment having free reign but silly me turned it on before going to do laundry and forgot to turn it off. Sigh. Hot Welcome Home scented wax all over my wooden floor. And wall. And lamp.

I get a scrubby sponge from the kitchen and begin to try and remove it when I realize Rylie has not left the bedroom yet. I go check on her and I see my puppy is half purple. Apparently some of it got her on the way down so her back side, back paws and tail were purple. PURPLE. And waxy. So I abandon my scrubbing and try to get it off her with my hands. No dice. I get out the brush and did a little better but not enough.

So into the tub pup pup goes. She did better this time but she kept drinking the water! I usually do not give her water after 8 or so as it prevents her from waking up in the middle of the night. Here she is drinking gross, waxy, soapy bathwater! Ugh! I tried to hold her head up but I couldn't do that and scrub her and brush her at the same time. Between the shampoo, washcloth and brush I got most of it off. She only has slightly faint purple looking fur on the back and a few dots on her legs I couldn't get off.

I toweled her off and blow dried her as much as she'd let me and then took her on a LONG walk outside. It is after 11 at this point. Then I showered since I smelled like wet puppy and passed out in my bed near midnight. Just as I started to doze the husband called a little after midnight. Needless to say we just said good night instead of our usual phone call.

Sigh indeed.

Rylie pup... you make my life interesting if nothing else!

Oh what a weekend...

My brain is fried right now. Work was super busy yesterday and the weekend was jam packed with happenings and today the phones went down at work so blogging definitely hopped into the backseat! I don't even know where to begin. The only think keeping me sane right now is that I am listening to Josh Groban's new album Illuminations and it is of course fabulous (and has the same name as the EPCOT fireworks show, which I love!).

Where to begin?

Let's start with this:


That is my car. Remember my car accident a few weeks ago? Well Saturday I go to Geico to get an estimate done. Well Ryan decides to meet me there because we are going to go to Great Falls after. Long story short we decide to leave my car there and come back for it later, but my husband apparently does not know how to back out of a garage and my driver's side is now banged up. I have no door handle. To get in my car I have to open my back door or passenger door!

And what is his reaction?

He laughs. It is soooo ironic. The door I am claiming damages on gets more damages... at the claims place! Needless to say I punched him. In the arm. Hard. I was so mad at him! More so that he kept laughing at it, he eventually apologized, but this is my car! If it had been his I doubt he would have laughed. He keeps saying this is why I need to learn how to drive stick (NO) so I can use his car. UGH.


We had a blast at Great Falls with Russell and Lauren. I will post pictures later as I have something else important to mention.



The D-Word has arisen.

Deployment. It is still something he is looking in to, but he wants to go. Again. 8th and I is a nondeployable unit. The way to deploy from there is on a Security Task Force, which is what Ryan did last year when he went to Iraq. It is not a fleet deployment (with him being infantry I SO do not want) but a security task force. Basically they stand post on the FOBs and Bases and do relocations and maneuvers outside the wire in MRAPPS.

When Ryan was on duty and I visited him his friend Randy was there. He was like, "Hey did you hear about the task force starting to train up?" I turned around with my massiva bag of laundry and looked Ryan dead in the eye and said, "No. No. No No No."

"But I didn't even get to talk to you about it yet!"

Ugh.

So we've talked. It is a good time for him to go. No kids. No pets even. We're in an area that is close to family (ish) and I wouldn't have to move. We love the area we are in. I have a good, steady job. His re-enlistment bonus could be tax free if he does it in Afghanistan. He can pick up Sgt quickly. He has done this Security Task Force before. He knows the protocols and what to do and when to do it. We would help out our savings quite a bit. He wouldn't be fighting with a fleet unit right up front.

All the positives.

The negative?

He will be gone seven ish months and I will miss him and don't want him to go.

Can't compare right? I am a military wife. This is what I agreed to. It is almost petty to try and talk him out of this, that is not what we do. I just didn't think it would be happening again so soon. He was going to re-enlist, go to CID (six months on the job training then five months at school) .. then maybe deploy. I had over a year just to be with him and start our lives. By the time he deployed, in my mind, we'd have been married nearly two years. Now it may not even be a year. Or just barely.

Nothing is definite yet. He is still looking into it, investigating. Then there will be a work up for however many months then he could go.

Gosh, even the possibility just makes my stomach hurt.

Ugh.

See why the brain has been fried? I will keep you all posted, as per usual.


On a brighter note, we watched all six Harry Potter movies and are all caught up for Friday. I am bummed being a working adult means I cannot go to a midnight showing, but we are all going right after work Friday. Have tickets already too! SO excited!

Long Weekend, Long Survey.

Oh what a long, long weekend.

27 of the last 48 hours were spent in a dark theatre hunched over a tech table and a score in a binder that weights a good ten pounds. Light cues. Media cues. Fly cues. Calling the show. Writing cues. "HOLD!" Music stops. Caffeine. Doughnuts. Pizza. McDonalds. Quiznos. Sugarfree Redbull. Sneaked cigarettes. Bleary eyes. Not enough sleep. Hard theatre seat from the 1970s. Neck cramp. Back ache (what else is new?). Dragging heavy platforms. Yelling at late singers. Cursing.... Listening to the Queen of the Night nail her famous aria. Seeing the stage look like it is a rolling ball of flames in the temple of fire. Laughing at the comedic characters' reveal and romance. Seeing the serpent slink out to open the show. Watching the leads find one another and be safe and together for a happily ever after. The stage positively ringing as 55 amazing voices sing out into a darkened theatre in perfect harmony.

That is tech weekend.

There is the good, the bad, the exhausting, and the tedious. But it usually ends up being worth it. Being in the theatre was adventure enough, but let us compare evening notes, post-rehearsal.

Friday Night

I went and watched another run through, pre-tech. I was supposed to get light cues but as usual we were way wayyy behind schedule. At least I got to see it again. I go home a little after 11. I get home around 11:45 or so. I sit down and make Ryan his "honey do list" (as he calls it) for the weekend. He had his first dinner with the Masons the night before (yes THE masons, he wants to join) and really wanted to tell me about it. I was exhausted and knew I had to be up super early but I knew he was excited so I agreed to go with him for ONE cigarette. We sit and talk for a bit about it and he goes to have another one. I am freezing in some baggy sweats and slippers and totally exhausted so I stop him. We get up to go inside and he looks at me and goes...

"Do you have your keys?"

No keys. No phones. No answer at the leasing office. Buzzing our ONE neighbor who has her doorbell hooked to her home 3 times and one hour later we get back inside at 1:30am.

I was ready to kill him. I may have punched him hard in the arm once. Or twice. I was so cold and tired and I had to be up at 8 to run errands pre-rehearsal. He got to sleep in.

He did try and help me fix my back though (sitting on a stoop for an hour did not help back pain) since it was too late for me to take my medicine and still wake up in the morning.

Flash forward 14 hours to Saturday Night

Long long day in the theatre. I finall get to go home at 11:30pm after being there since 9:30am. I am driving on North Capital St in the center lane. I am going slow as I know it is a sucky place to drive so I am being careful. Guy in the left lane was not. All of a sudden I lurch to the right as his front bumper hits me and scrapes the entire side of my car. I try to get out of the way and nearly get hit by a bus on the other side who honks at me as the guy who hit me tries to gesture at me to pull over.

My first car accident.

We pull over on the side of the road and I get out of my car shaking and crying. Damage is all cosmetic and I am shaken up but fine. The guy claimed full responsibility from the start and gave me all his information as he apologized. We both have GEICO so we call and get the claims in and finally after midnight I get to go home again. My mom was on the phone with me when I got hit (in a hands free device down in the middle counsel, promise!) so I called her back and filled her in. Then I had to call Ryan. You know any phone call that starts, "I am ok..." usually is not good. But he told me if I was ok and the car was ok just to come home. I walk in the door and he just stood and gave me a hug and I cried for about twenty minutes.

I really never want to go through that again.

It also made tech yesterday feel very long. But Ryan came and sat with me on dinner break and then stayed to watch us tech act two. He shocked me more when he said he couldn't wait to come back and see the show finished! Not bad since he sat there three hours and watched them sing in German with no translation.... he also did all the grocery shopping, a huge clean of the entire apartment, and laundry. I love him!

Two more minutes working here than off to the theatre til 11:30pm again.

This time next week it is done! Cannot wait to sleep.


I did this earlier to stay awake, feel free to do it if you're bored! I got it from Bella N Chief's blog.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disney World
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - not the top but lower level....
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill not in this new job though
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors one of them anyway, sort of
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing

What happened to 49?

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie stud
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving in a windtunnel....
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person - does from an airplane count?
80. Published a book - I had a poem published in one?
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House - not inside, but outside?
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - fish count?
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee


55 definite dones and 5 maybe. I want to do a lot of the things on this list so who knows what the future will bring? Somethings I definitely can go the rest of my life without doing, like bouncing a check, but most of the travel related ones I definitely want to do!