Personal Reflection on 2018
Last year at this time, I said that 2018 would be The Year of Becoming Homeowners. And, it was! But if there was a second theme to our year, it was also The Year of Surprise Travels. Two of 2018′s big trips (Utah and Mumbai) were not planned very far in advance and just sort of fell into our laps. I’m grateful that we had the flexibility to seize on those opportunities when they came our way. It’s fun to plan and look forward to big trips for a long time (like with our honeymoon), but there’s a certain thrill in taking on a last-minute adventure.
Yesterday was my 29th birthday so naturally I got coffee with Ashley (free drink at Starbucks!) and then we hosted a housewarming party where I got to eat a bunch of dips and hang out with all my friends 👍🏻
Professional Reflection on 2018
There’s no beating around the bush: 2018 was a tumultuous year at work. The highs were high and the lows were low. I came the closest I’ve ever come to leaving the company. I cried in front of my old manager, my new manager, and my director (individually). I finally received my long-overdue promotion. I got the opportunity to travel to Mumbai. I watched teammate after teammate leave the company. I honed my teaching & mentoring skills as new people joined our team. I’m ending the year in a good place, but was a bumpy ride.
12.31.18
Short report for New Year’s Eve: we drove to Grand Rapids for the second year in a row to ring in the new year with our parents at the Ballroom Bashes. We also watched Michigan State lose in the Redbox Bowl, and got to see a bunch of Page’s drumline friends who decided to party it up in GR along with us.
We’re liking this tradition we’ve started of getting together with both sets of parents for NYE!
New Places I Traveled to in 2018
Italy: Naples, Sorrento, Positano, and Florence. We had an amazing honeymoon and we ate a lot of delicious things. (March 8-18)
Utah: Salt Lake City, Park City, Solitude Mountain Resort, and Antelope Island State Park. I didn’t do a great job posting photos of this trip, but we did celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary while we were there. (July 20-24)
India: Mumbai! I had the incredible opportunity to travel to the other side of the world to meet my colleagues there. I was also spoiled rotten by the experience of flying business class for the whole trip. (November 10-18)
Despite the wedding being over, we still came back to Michigan a ton in 2018. I averaged once a month toward the end of the year: August to see family & friends, September for recruiting, October for an SMB wedding, November for Thanksgiving and December for the holidays. There was also the annual Memorial Day Weekend UP roadtrip, and a last-minute Chicago weekend getaway.
My travel predictions from last year at this time only partly came true… the honeymoon happened of course, but the Texas and Nashville trips didn’t materialize due mostly to scheduling/timing issues. They’re still places I want to get to (so I can see good friends who live there!) but I’m not sure if they’ll happen in 2019 either because we have BIG travel plans for this coming summer. I’m taking a sabbatical from work and we’re going to bop around Europe for 6-8 weeks! Not many details are planned out yet, but we’ll start tackling that project shortly.
If I had to predict, I’ll just say: Morocco, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and Poland ;)
12.30.18
My mom invited her friend Jaclyn over this morning so I could help her start her scrapbook. Maybe I should start charging a fee for scrapbooking lessons?
We went on a walk in the afternoon because it was sunny and 38, then I showered and started an epic game of Ballz, this silly game on my phone that I’ve become sort of addicted to. My previous high score was 214, but today I got to 412!!!
Made dinner with the fam: Dad grilled pork and fish, and I made roasted cauliflower and salad with my Mom. We played a ton of games after dinner: Headbandz, Bubble Talk, Rat A Tat Cat, Yahtzee and Jenga. Closed out the night drinking eggnog and watching the final two Hunger Games movies on TV.
so. many. cookies.
There were definitely not enough cookies at my in-laws’ house.
Left to right:
- Cookie tin made by my mother and I.
- Cookies from my MIL… some that she made and some from the cookie exchange she attends. My faves from that platter were the raspberry bars, 7 layer bars (my weakness) and the gingerbread thumbprints in front with the white icing drizzle.
- Cookies made by my SIL! She has a good handle on the classics.
12.29.18
No big plans today, so I just got to relax and hang out with the fam. I didn’t get out of bed until 11 (which is super lazy for me), then hung around the house in my pajamas all afternoon watching a Netflix Christmas movie with my brother and helping my Mom order photo prints for her scrapbook. Finally put some real clothes on so I could go to mass with Mom at 4:30, then came home and made Southwest Sweet Potato Tater Tot Hotdish for dinner. I’m pretty sure that the only time my parents’ cast iron skillet gets used is when I come home and cook things in it.
Been laying around all evening, mostly reading Crazy Rich Asians. I also got inspired by everyone’s Instagram story 2018 highlight roundups and ended up re-watching a ton of my IG story videos from this year. I cooked a lot of things :) Excited to start working on my year-end reflections… I really love taking the time to look back on the year.
12.28.18
It was Devan & Kait day with @edukaition! The weather was unseasonably warm so we went on a long walk by the lake at Kensington. Sooo nice to get outside and move around after multiple days where the main activities were sitting around and eating ;)
Afterward we wandered around downtown Milford, stopping to split a “White Wines around the World” wine flight at The Wine Studio and grab lunch at Blue Grill. Plus we exchanged Christmas presents - she got me a scratch-off map of Europe so Page & I can display our travel adventures this summer.
On Friday nights my parents usually do Date Night, but they invited my brother and I to come out to eat with them so we checked out the new BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse in Livonia. Then I convinced my Mom to watch Burnt with me, a chef-themed drama starring Bradley Cooper.