Farewell 2011

2011 was a good GREAT year. It brought some of the most wonderful moments of my life, but also some of the roughest. There were definitely highs and lows (although mostly highs), but you take the bad with the good and I am so grateful for all that has happened this year. I truly have never been happier. It's strange to think of where we were and who we were a year ago. So much can change in a year. Let's talk a walk down memory lane via a ridiculous amount of pictures shall we?

 

New Years Eve 2010. What's wrong with my face? (Champagne probably.)

January:

January was an exciting month for us because we had both just graduated and had a whole semester to just work, play, and wedding plan. Well, mainly I did the wedding planning. We had so much in this next year to look forward to, it was like the calm before the storm.

 Post interview at UT, already a longhorn he just didn't know it yet.

Oh and a certain someone had interviews at pharmacy schools. In January he had his first interview at UT, obviously it went well. I had a panic attack while Brendon was interviewing (alone, outside, next to the student union if you're wondering), we wanted this so badly! After I calmed down a bit, I explored the campus (for a good 5 hours) and walked along the drag, who knew I would end up working there in half a year?

February:

February was really cold. We had lots of snow and Denton shut down for a week. Well, except for our respective employers, we still had to go to work of course. I had to get a ride to work everyday since I couldn't get my poor car out of the parking lot.

Snowpocolypse 2011

We also had a little road trip to Houston so Brendon could interview at U of H (where he was also accepted!!! sorry, I'm a proud wife). We extended our trip a bit and stopped by Galveston for a night. Unfortunately it was Mardi Gras weekend and it was insane. We were clueless. A lovely fog also rolled in just as we checked into our room and stayed for the duration of our trip. You could literally not see across the street at some points.

 In Galveston after Brendon's Houston interview. Cute fog huh?

 Why are we so weird?

 Also, Brendon turned 23! What an old fart!

March:

Along with March began the craziness that was our last three months in Denton. SO MUCH GOING ON. I turned 23, we saw friends get married, we worked a lot, oh and wedding planning, wedding planning, wedding planning.

These love birds tied the knot a month before we did!

At the riverwalk pretending we're fancy! If you haven't noticed, we love to pretend we're fancy.

April:

The month of the wedding. Craziest but most fun month ever. So much goodness. Also at some point we found out that Brendon got into UT and that we were moving to Austin! I told him when he found out to call me wherever I was no matter what. He called me at work one day and I was like, "uh whats up?" totally clueless and like why are you bothering me I'm trying to make that money (jk), and he said, "Remember that thing you told me to call you immediately about?" and then I started screaming and jumping up and down and crying. At work. Next to the front door. April was a good month. Also the month I started blogging! (So from this point, most everything has been covered in more detail in past posts, feel free to check them out if this run through of the year is not quite enough for you. Ha ha.)

 My wedding shower with my beautiful ladies! Oh how I miss you all so much!!

 Bachelorette party! I have no idea why half of us are making sad faces. But this is the only picture of all of us (and the soberest). Also, THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING SUCH BADASSES. LOVE YOU!

A little Kennedy turned 1! And ate the crap out of/bathed in that cake.

Oh and this happened:

Reading my vows. Not as well as Brendon read his.

We got married! I bet y'all forgot huh? (kidding) Hands down the most awesome day ever. EVER. Blew all of my expectations out of the water. It was perfect. Getting married is so much fun. One day I'll make a proper blog post about it. There is just so much to say! And so many beautiful pictures thanks to Breanna!

May:

I don't know which month was crazier, April or May. We started off May by spending two weeks on our honeymoon in Vancouver and Alaska. Basically the coolest trip ever with the best new husband ever. And when we got home we had a couple weeks to work, pack up our Denton lives, and spend as much time as possible with our friends before we headed down to Austin.

Alaska is wild and it is beautiful.

 Our fabulous seats after a rain delay at the Rangers game!

 Our cake our sweet friends surprised us with!

Leaving Denton was hard. One of the hardest things I've ever done. I still miss it so much.

June:

June was a toughy. Our first month in Austin was anything but smooth. I spent the whole month unemployed. In hindsight a month is really not that long, but at the time everyday seemed to last eternity. Not only was being unemployed incredibly hard financially, I was also left alone while Brendon was working 75% of the time. I was sad. I might even go as far to say depressed. I was away from all my friends, spent most of my time alone, and unable to find a job. And then I got pneumonia. That was the pinnacle of the terribleness. I thought I was going to die (and could have haha, thank god for doctors. And pharmacists of course!). It was a ROUGH month. BUT, I got a job, even while interviewing with pneumonia. Honestly I was tripping so bad on a fever I barely remember the interview. But my sweet boss must have had pity on me and hired me. I kid, I kid. Once I knew I was going to be working, things got better. Also, being close to family helped A LOT.

 Even though I might have hated it at first, I had to admit, Austin is pretty.

I kinda look like a hot mess huh? That's because I WAS.

July:

There are not very many pictures of July. I started working, hallelujah. It was HOT. Hottest and driest summer I've ever experienced. I did a lot of hanging out in ac and by the pool. And I baked a lot.

Irish oatmeal bread. Pretty damn good.

August:

August was very similar to July. It was unbelievably hot outside and I worked as much as a could. We had a wonderful visit from family and Brendon started pharmacy school!

My sweet sister-in-law Lisa and my niece Gracelyn stayed with us for a few days! Miss y'all!!

 Brendon after being "White-Coated", in 105 degree weather. Little did he know what he was getting into.

September:

September became the month of sewing! I decided to get back into sewing and lined myself up with a few projects for the upcoming months. September also became the month of pharmacy school is hard. It was a big adjustment for both of us. I had to learn not to be a whiny wife and Brendon had to just be a badass all the time, which is obviously stressful and tiring.

I'm sure this looks familiar.

October:

This spooky month flew by! I honestly can't remember most of it. I went to work and Brendon went to school. We carved pumpkins with family and I went to work dressed up like a fool on Halloween.

Pumpkin carvin' creeper.

Marie Antoinette will be your barista today.

November:

This month we dressed up a lot. It was a fun month. I stole Brendon away from school for a weekend which was perfect because from then on out until the end of the semester he was basically dead to the world. Pharmacy school is evil! We also got some good family time in and ate way too much food on Thanksgiving. Which I think is my new favorite holiday. Sorry Christmas! I still love you a lot!

Scottish lad and lass.

Couple of Germans this time. We're good at this sort of pose.

FEAST!

December:

This last month has been very good to us. Brendon finished up his first semester of pharmacy school with wonderful grades and we were actually able to hang out like normal married people. I got a promotion at work and moved to a new store, which I love. And of course with December comes the holidays! Our many Christmases were wonderful, full of family and food.

Hey! It's the Christmas card version of us!

Things about 2011 that are not pictured but need to be mentioned; My lovely family being there for me and us through all the craziness 2011 brought. I love you all and am so lucky to have you. I cannot say that enough. I am so glad to be closer to you all. My cats for being fat, lazy, and endlessly entertaining all year. My northern Texan friends for making my last months in Denton so good and making it so hard to leave, I miss you so much. I promise to visit soon. And of course my dear Brendon. You have been so good to me all year, as you always are. I don't know how it's possible to love someone more and more everyday after all these years, but you've got me hooked (ahem, possible UT reference). Thank you for marrying me.

So here we are on the last day of 2011. So surreal how quickly it has flown by and how much has happened. What a wild year it has been! Am I sad to see it go? Nope. It was a wonderful year full of changes and growing, but since every year seems to get better than the last I am excited to see what 2012 holds for us. Another year full of life, love, and who knows what else. 2012 brings us another adventure!