2014 Year in Review

It’s so funny how life works out sometimes.  At the beginning of the year, I remember whining to myself saying ‘this year is going to be SO boring, we don’t have anything planned, whah whah whah!’.  Yep, I’m a whiner.  And yet, it turned out to be one of our best years yet!  That’s usually how it works, right?

Here’s Our 2014 in Review:

January/February – My sister-in-law, niece and nephew came for a visit.

This was definitely a highlight and a great way to begin the year.  We had such a good time.

February – we moved to a new building at work

I am spoiled.  It takes me no more than 10 minutes to get to and from work and I can go home for lunch every day to take the dogs out.

March – Lost Max

This was definitely the lowest point of our year.  It broke our hearts.  Max was a fantastic dog and we miss him every day.

We also went up to the Sandia Crest

This was my first time driving up to the top of the mountains.  I’ve been up there before, but we took the tram.  Driving is a whole different experience!  We took Hannah with us.  It was chilly but there were great views!

I also took and passed my CCA test.  It was a whirlwind eight days.  I am using my certification at work by writing a lot of our appeal letters.

April – Adopted Watson

Definitely a highlight.  He is a ball of energy and keeps us on our toes and we love him to pieces. 

We also celebrated our 4^th anniversary.  Four years have flown by.  Love love love my husband.  He’s my favorite.  Can’t believe in April it will be FIVE years already!

May – Workaversary

Four years at my current job (same position too!).  I still like it.

June – Josh got a new job

Josh got a new job at a law firm here in town.  He traveled to San Diego for a week for training.  He likes it and it’s low stress!

July – Tucson, Arizona

In July we (including my mother-in-law) traveled to Tucson, Arizona, for our Regional Convention.  We brought our dogs (and would do it again in a heartbeat).  The convention was wonderful!

  

July – We came back and two weeks later hosted a gathering at our clubhouse for about 80 people.  It was a hit!

August – Manitou Springs, Colorado

We met most of my family in Manitou Springs for a long weekend.  It was wonderful!  The only one missing was my sister.  Next time!!!!

August – we both auxiliary pioneered in August and got 30 hours in.  It was nice!  

We also held our Fantasy Football draft.  This was the first year we did it online.  It went pretty quickly, although next year we’re going to shoot for an ‘in-person’ draft. 

September – In September we started an informal French class.  A sister in our group is teaching it on Mondays.  It has really helped and is so nice to get together with friends each week.

October – October was Balloon Fiesta.  The building where I work is right next to Balloon Fiesta park, so each morning I would walk through the parking lot and take loads of pictures of the balloons.  I never get tired of looking at them!  

We also had our Circuit Assembly.    

November – Hubby had a work conference in San Diego, so I tagged along.  We were there for 6 days.  It was awesome!  We went to the beach, went to a football game, shopped and did whatever we wanted for 6 days.

I also went out on Black Friday with my friend again…our annual tradition!

December – December has been pretty busy so far.  Today we are relaxing a bit and getting a few things done around the house.

We got to pin two more new places on our map of places we’ve been TOGETHER:

Tucson & San Diego.

Places traveled:

Tucson, AZ

San Diego, CA (Pacific Beach, Escondido, La Jolla, Le Mesa)

Manitou Springs, CO

Colorado Springs, CO

I read a few books.  My favorite of the year?  The Martian by Andy Weir.  Amazing.

We went to a few movies.  There were some REALLY good movies this year.  My favorites?  The Fault in Our Stars, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Mockingjay Part 1.

Many French parts were given….talks, Draw Close book, highlights, etc.

I slowly cleaned out (reclaimed!) almost every room in our house.

Looking back at my old blog post about my goals for 2014, I did pretty good!  I am getting healthier.  I am keeping up on my Watchtowers and Awakes.  I am blogging a little more.  The only goal that I didn’t complete was reading the Bible in it’s entirety.  L  I failed miserably.  However, I am going to not give up and try my hardest to do it in 2015.  

2015 should be an exciting year:  we will celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary, go to an International Convention in Europe, my husband will give his first public talk in French, and much more.  We are going to kick off the year in Nebraska for my nephews wedding.  I can’t even believe I just said ‘my nephew’s wedding’.  Unreal!!  It should be a good time, and a great year!

Planning

I am a planner.  I love lists, calendars, folders, you name it.  I love being all planned out and organized.  Probably a little bit too much.

As soon as I found out we were going to Belgium, I started a folder.  Anything that is Belgium related goes into the folder (rocket science, huh?).

Forms, lists, everything goes into this folder.

Here is my ongoing to-do list:

*Book hotel in Belgium - DONE!  We are confirmed delegates.  I received our stamped confirmation form from our hotel in Ghent. Yay!

*Renew passport - DONE!
     -get certified copy of marriage license from Nebraska to include with      passport application
     -take passport photos
     -copy and mail passport renewal paperwork

*Find a 'watchdog' app for flights that will alert you when flights go on sale

*Research cheapest cities to fly in/out of.  We are going to Belgium first, but it may be cheaper to fly into/out of a different city.  Like London or Paris and then take a train to Ghent.

*Decide on a 'pull-the-trigger' amount for purchasing plane tickets - DONE!

*Register with the Belgium branch
     -arrange a day trip to Brussels
     -arrange a day trip to Bruges
     -tour the Belgium branch
     -ask about transportation, meals, etc.

*Start contacting friends in France to see if we can stay with them for part of our trip - IN PROGRESS (our friends are working on this)

*Plan side trips
     -Paris
          ~day trip to Normandy
          ~day trip to Versailles - purchase tickets online to get discount
          ~purchase Louvre tickets online to get discount 
     -Possibly London
     -Maybe Amsterdam
     -Maybe Germany (!)
     -Maybe Switzerland (!)
     -Possibly southern France (!)

*Attend a free European packing class at Liebers Luggage

*Start gathering gifts for our house/dog sitter (gift cards, wine, etc.) - IN PROGRESS

*Finalize budget for the next six months - IN PROGRESS

1-2 months before we leave:

*Order Euros from the bank to have some actual cash on hand

1 week before we leave:

*Contact bank/credit card companies to alert them where and when we will be gone

*Confirm hotel reservations in Ghent

*Write out detailed instruction sheet for our house/dog sitter

There is still so much up in the air, particularly with our side-trips.  If we end up going to the south of France for a few days, then most likely we will stay in France the rest of our trip.  But if we stay north near Paris most of the time, then we may take more side trips to other countries.  I am fine with either one!

I also have a new planner for 2015.

Apparently I am into gray this year.  My calendar plan did not go well last year.  I had a pocket calendar for my purse with just general stuff on there, another pocket calendar for paying bills, and another wall calendar for keeping track of our French assignments.  I don't know why I thought that having 3 separate calendars was a good idea.  So this year, I bought one larger monthly calendar that can fit in my purse and combined everything: when our bills are due, when our meetings and assignments are, and just other general dates to remember.  It has a pocket in the back, which I keep the bills to be paid.  I got it at Office Depot, the brand is 'Foray'.  It has a very sturdy cover.  I've been using it for 2 months now and I love it so far!

2015 is going to be crazy, busy, and very exciting and I hope that my planning abilities will be put to good use!

You Get What You Pay For

We've been in the market for a new coat for our dog.  Yes, I know that sounds kind of ridiculous.  But it's getting colder here and last year's coat for her just isn't cutting it.  Chihuahua's and the cold do not mix.  They shake like little leaves when they get cold, it's actually pretty sad.

So I bit the bullet and ordered her a nice coat online.

Now, these coats are not cheap.  So I was a little hesitant when I hit the 'order' button and submitted my payment info.

However, the box arrived today and I was immediately impressed.

It came very nicely packaged.

This little envelope had all of the papers in it, my receipt, the return information PLUS a pre-printed return label just in case things didn't work out.  

So we left the tags on and tried it on right away.  Hannah is very good with clothes....she likes her sweaters and stands very still when we dress her.

I was a little worried because I thought it would be too big, but it fit perfectly, with plenty of room if she has a sweater on (which she will).  It was long enough too.  And puffy and warm!  Oh, and it's reversible (light pink and hot pink).

And one of my favorite features is that there are no tags on the inside.  They included them, but in a separate ziplock bag attached to the coat.  Genius!  There is nothing more annoying than an irritating tag in your clothes.

I think she has a coat now for the next few years.  You definitely get what you pay for - quality!!

California

A couple weeks ago, we flew to San Diego for a week.  It was kind of a working-trip for my husband, but I tagged a long anyways.

First off, I would like to say that THIS is why I try to choose a window seat on the plane:

There are just so many beautiful things to see!

We got a great deal on a hotel in Pacific Beach.  I tried to snap a few pictures of our room before we brought all of our junk in.

It was a nice room, very beachy and VERY close to the beach!  About a 60 second walk to this:

The beaches were nearly empty.  It was so great!

We ate some good food including custom ice cream sandwiches:

We relaxed.

We shopped.

We walked a lot and went to the beach.

We went to Point Loma, the southwestern most part of the United States.

We watched the Husker game.

We went to a Chargers game.

There's Philip Rivers (#17).

And we watched the sunset every night.

We had such a great time.  I hope we can make this a yearly trip!