Farewell 2013

I'm a little behind on blogging my year in review, because life. LIFE.

So 2013, huh? Lets call it the Year of Working My Butt Off. Never have I ever worked as hard as I did this year. My promotion at the end of 2012 to big boss meant a whole lot more work. Rewarding and fun, but girl... those hours! And because I am masochistic, I added a (very) part time second job to the mix, which has been 200% worth it. I love love love it and I get to sew on fancy fabric and machines and learn all sorts of things. So in 2013 I worked and worked and worked. And worked. And Brendon did too. He has been splitting his time between two jobs for the majority of the year as well as taking on a teaching assistant position and oh yeah, kicking serious ass in pharmacy school. It was a really good year for both of us. And because we worked our tails off, we paid off a good chunk of debt and although we're still living that broke college kid lifestyle, it's a tad more comfortable. And we're a tad bit more able to have some fun in our free time. So cheers to hard work paying off!

Speaking of financial fun, in Feburary, my sweet beloved Xterra's engine blew up on I35 (during rush hour) which was terrible and traumatic. Repairing her would have cost more than she was worth, so as much as it still hurts today to even think about, we sold her. The whole thing was unexpected and unfortunate and definitely no bueno all around. But the Bruce Wayne entered our family, and she has been such a blessing. Praise the car gods for good gas mileage. And as hard as it was letting go of the Xterra, I love having a new car. Materialistic as it may be, it is just lovely. I mean, it has AC, y'all! This was our first BIG purchase as a couple and it was exciting and scary and expensive but I think we did good. 

Now how about something nice that happened in February? We took a weekend trip to Fredericksburg and it was perfectly wonderful and a welcomed escape from work and school. It was romantic and fun and we needed it badly. Then Brendon and I both turned 25 in February and March respectively, and didn't notice a change from 24. Our gray hairs are becoming more numerous and our knees hurt, but that's about it.

I stopped eating meat gradually oh a whim in the spring and gave it up completely in the summer, and solved my decade long health problem of insane stomach pain! Talk about life changing. Still in awe, really.

We spent the summer traveling to all the small central Texas towns we could, dubbing the summer of 2013 "small town summer". It was seriously a blast and such an inexpensive way to have fun. I recommend it to everyone. We ended the summer with an AMAZING trip to New Mexico to play around in the mountains, where my heart is happy. One of my favorite vacations, ever. And a tent versus a hotel = cheap cheap cheap (and also BEAUTIFUL)! We are getting good at this traveling on a budget thing. 

Brendon had a relatively easy first month or so of school, it was a nice ease into the chaos that was to ensue. In September I moved stores at work and for a couple weeks did the most insane thing ever, ran two stores at once. Which was seriously, insane, but definitely a learning experience. And with September began the fall of craziness. It got more nuts month by month, but it was kind of fun and boy did time fly. So I am NOT complaining. December was full of holiday goodness as well as a heaping helping of insanity. But we survived! Brendon finished another very successful semester of pharmacy school, putting him half way through his third year and three semesters away from graduating (!!). The last week of the year was pretty wonderful with a combination of work slowing down and Brendon being out of school, plus Christmas, duh. 

It has been an excellent year. Now, here's an obscene amount of photos. Sorry about the frequent occurrence of my face, it's my blog after all.

JANUARY

FEBURARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

So hip-hip-hurray for 2013 and all the good times it brought along. For all the challenges it threw our way and how much we learned muddling through them. I'm a happy, although worn out, camper and ready to face the New Year. 2014, bring yoself on.

If you're interested in waltzing down memory lane, here's Farewell 2012 and 2011.