2014 Year Recap

Woohoo!! Happy New Years Eve friends!! I can't fathom that this year is already ending, but I'm ready and excited for what is to come in 2015, so bring it on! I failed at typing this post up earlier and getting it all ready, whoops, I'll try to work on that in the new year and posting more regularly. Anywho, let's recap this past year (p.s. this was so much fun to do and look back at all that has happened, another resolution, document more with pictures in 2015!!)

 

p.p.s. Brace yourselves this is a long post, but I put plenty of pictures to give you visuals :)!

 

January:

 

-Explored and visited my cousin and her family out in Colorado Springs, CO. Also got to play with my nugget nephews and celebrated the younger one turning 1!.

 

Colorado Trip Recap 1 // Colorado Trip Recap 2

 

 

-I bit the bullet and joined match.com yet again. I was super skeptical from my past experiences, but I knew I had to do something to get myself out there. I spoke about some of my dating blunders and fails and did a mini online dating stories series, it was quite entertaining if I don't say so myself. You can read all of them:

 

here // here // here // here

 Dating no-no

 

-My precious nephew, D, turned 1 and looked adorable doing so.

 

 

February:

 

-Posted about the kind of girl I am

 

-'Met' the love of my life, ironically through match.com (I am proof it does work sometimes). The first post where I talk about our relationship and all of that made me smile because it sounded promising and positive. I actually had serious plans of canceling my subscription the first week of Feb because of all the creeps I met on there (see above dating stories), but I'm glad I held out for another week because 2 days before Valentines Day, A emailed me. Neither him or I knew how far a simple email would have gone...you can read about my giddiness here!

 

 

March:

 

-Participated in the Blogmopolitan Quiz

 

 

-Celebrated St. Patricks Day in the city

 

 

-Had an Astrology chart reading

 

 

April:

 

-Posted about my Dream home essentials

 

-My bestie got engaged!!!

 

 

-Celebrated my momma's birthday!

 

 

 

May:

 

-Witnessed my best friend getting legally married at the city courthouse.

 

 

 -Celebrating that legal marriage with dinner and drinks!

 

 

 

-Won an awesome giveaway for $200 to Stella & Dot, picked up some awesome loot.

 

 

Showcasing the rings, swoon!

-Threw a bridal shower for my now former friend.

 

-Watched my baby sister graduate college!!

 

 

 

June:

 

-Attended my cousin's big fat Indian wedding

 

 

-New Orleans aka the best trip ever!!

 

 

 

July:

 

-Attended my former friends' wedding/was a bridesmaid for the first time (unfortunately it was a horrible experience. Still I had fun with my other best friends who were in attendance as well.

 

 

-Took my licensing exam (and passed) to become a certified medical assistant!

 

 

-Explored Wisconsin Dells (waterpark capital of the world) with my cousins and sis!

 

 

 

August:

 

-Got asked by my bestie to be one of her bridesmaids (and it was in the cutest way too!)

 

 

-Took my gramps out for his birthday at Cheesecake Factory.

 

 

 

-Went to the One Direction concert at Soldier Field (not even ashamed to admit this because I had a blast, plus it was my 26th birthday!)

 

SO.CLOSE!

 

 

-Of course, I turned 26!! I read somewhere that it's the morbidity year (where you start thinking more about death) and even with some health scares this year and some lifestyle changes, I couldn't be happier and more myself this year! 26 feels and looks good on me!

 

 

 

September:

 

-I totally failed at blogging this month. I had plans to, but I had a serious case of writer's block this month.

 

-A came to Chicago for the first time in his life. I had a blast showing him around the city and even exploring the suburbs and going on dates like a normal couple (pretending we weren't doing the long distance thing for 4 days).

 

 

-I did manage to film a makeup routine vlog in between the sucking at blogging thing (p.s. these are so incredibly hard to do, I don't know how to edit video so I had like 30 different takes on my computer, I commend vloggers!!)

 

 

-I finally had the opportunity to have a blate with Kate & Emily and we had delicious deep dish pizza and yummy drinks. We soaked in the gorgeous weather and chatted, they are such sweethearts and I can't wait to hopefully visit them down in Florida sometime soon!!

 

 

 

October:

 

-I started the month off by having my first interview in almost 3 years. Needless to say the interview went well and I'm in that current job now. I was a ball of nerves because I wasn't sure what they were going to ask/expect/etc.

 

 

-Celebrated my cousin's baby at her adorable baby shower!

 

 

Selfies with the fam

 

-I blogged almost every single day in October with Helene & Taylor I absolutely loved their prompts and it was fun so it made posting and linking up fun and easy!

 

-Totally (didn't) celebrate Halloween, but I threw on my cat ears and drew some whiskers on my face to head to Chipotle to get my boorito!

 

My go-to Halloween outfit

 

November:

 

-I ran my very first 5K with minimul (see:none) training and got to indulge in hot chocolate and fondue after it was done!

 

My running buddies!

-I flew to Houston {1}{2} to visit A, explore his city and met his parents! (The first visit with his parents didn't exactly go as well as I would like, I ended up getting sick half way through dinner and decided not to tell anyone until it was too late...stubborness in me, but the second time around went wayyy better).

 

 

-I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and even scored some stuff on sale on Black Thursday Friday (I didn't shop until after midnight).

 

 

 

December:

 

-I started by getting my Christmas decor up (it actually happened in Nov, but whose keeping track).

 

 

-I picked songs for best & worst of 2014. Can't wait to see what the world of music has in store for 2015, but I hear the Biebs is making a comeback, I hope that's just a nasty rumor!

 

-I made a DIY ugly sweater, wrapped/shipped gifts, and received gifts!

 

-Celebrated a late Friendsgiving.

 

 

 

-Missed these two nuggets so much!

 

 

 

-Got to meet my favorite new baby, Niam!

 

 

 

2014 was such a worldwind roller coaster ride, but I wouldn't have changed a thing. I learned so much about myself and grew as a result of it. I got rid of some toxic 'friendships' and met an incredible human being that I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with (soon enough). All the highs and the lows have gotten me to where I am today and I know I am ready to start 2015 and see what it has up it's sleeve for me!

 

 

Be Your Own Zoltar!

Hey guys! Can you seriously believe it'll be 2015 at the end of this week?!?! I need to get crackin' on my recap post, hopefully before the new year. When I was reading my feed on Bloglovin, I came across one of my favorite bloggers to read Juliette's post about how she couldn't have dreamed of predicting what happened in 2014 for her. That got the wheels in my brain thinking about my 2014 and how crazy it was. I met the love of my life and though I lost a few friends along the way (they were toxic anyway) I gained more security in already existing friendships and that's a huge thing for me. It's tough to think right now all that has happened in 2014 (hence the need for a recap post, if only for my sanity), but to think of all the exciting things ahead in 2015 is pretty cool. So Juliette is allowing everyone to predict their 2015 year aka be your own Zoltar predicting not only what you think will happen in your life, but in our world and link up with her for today only!

 

Predictions for 2015:

 

For the world.

I hope there are no more Ebola scares in the U.S., that ish can stay in 2014 along with all the missing airplanes, etc.

 

Get engaged!

A & I have already talked about this and it's going to happen in 2015, the real surprise is going to be when, and trust me that part is driving me nuts. I have a feeling though that it will happen either in April (my family will be meeting his family) or June (the "special" month for us when we first met in New Orleans aka the month that will live in infamy for us). I guess I'm making June a hugeee deal, but honestly that's the month I fell in love with A and knew 100% that I wanted to marry this guy and live happily ever after. Ok enough of the mushy gushy, but I predict June (if we end up making a trip and seeing each other then) because he has also asked me 4-5 times what dates did we go to New Orleans so kind of makes it an obvious for me, but who knows he can go and complete surprise me and propose in Jan when he comes (a girl could dream).

 

Party in Vegas!!

My best friend is getting married at the end of July & I cannot wait for her wedding celebration to get started. This girl is my forever friend and my lobster so I know it's going to be a huge change from the last wedding I was in (to get the jist of that fiasco read here ). I consider this wedding to be the one where I get to be a real bridesmaid because this friend actually respects me and doesn't try to control things (oh hey am I talking about a particular person here). End rant. Anywho, we picked Vegas to be the destination for her bachelorette party in May and I cannot wait!! I haven't been to vegas in over 2 years, plus the group of girls going are some of the best so you know that means an absolute blast! Although my party animal ways (HA!) are past me now, I know a weekend in Vegas will ignite that even for a few days!

 

Have an engagement party.

Ok this is another given, A and I have discussed this one as well. Since we talked about getting engaged in 2015, it's just obvious that we'll have an engagement party. This will be as small as I can possibly make it (with an over 250+ invite list for my wedding, this is no small feat). Although I don't have much of it planned (might sound crazy, but there is so much that goes into planning an Indian event, you need months and months to prepare) what I do know is it'll be in Houston, probably around the Fall time and I'm aiming for 150-200 guests (small,HA!).

 

Leave my job.

Now I haven't really posted much about work on the blog, but as of October I started a new job at a brand new heart failure clinic. These bad boys are popping up all over the place because it's crucial to keep patients out of the hospital (and insurance to actually pay the hospital). So when I took on this job, I took quite a few risks. First off, it was only part-time (which was my status at my previous job), but I didn't know the unstability that would come along with that. There are some days (see:almost all) that we are practically done by 11 am, now granted this is great for my blog because it means I can post and give my blog the attention it so greatly craves. At this point, I'm hardly making my part-time hours because of the lack of patients, but I knew this was going to happen when we first started out. The good thing on my end is that I kept my old job, until I become full-time at the new job. The other bad thing about a brand new job is the lack of paid time off. I have to wait 6 whole months to acquire PTO, which blows because I have a ton of things happening in this coming year where I need some time off (see:above excitement). Ok, so I think that's enough talking, didn't think this tidbit would get so long, but basically I don't know how happy I'll be here at the current moment. The nice part is I have my old job still on deck so I could technically go right back into that, however I know I will be moving to Houston in 2016, so do I just stick it out at the new place until then and grab some new knowledge?!

 

Oh and I also predict 2015 will be the year for world peace, no war, and clean water for all!

 

 

Ok so maybe I did this wrong, but that's all I got for ya folks. Don't know if some of those are really predictions or things I already know will be happening, oh well. At least I predicted when some of these events will take place, kinda. Don't hate me Juliette if I did this wrong. I'm curious to see what others are predicting and hoping for in 2015.

 

 

 

Weekend Recap: Christmas Edition!!

I can't believe how quickly Christmas came and went! I think all the anticipation and holiday cheer (that quite frankly started in October) got everyone in the holiday spirit and the day after Christmas was just like 'oh, that's is'. Well at least that's how it felt for me. I had zero expectations for this Christmas, like most, but I was pleasantly surprised to get spoiled this year by my friends and family. Since I don't 'celebrate' in the traditional sense with mass and all of that, my family sort of stopped with the gift giving loooong ago, minus the secret santa between cousins. I think this year was more special because even my dad who can be quite the grinch got into the holiday spirit and gave my sister and I our very first Christmas gift that was completely and entirely from him (in the past, my mom would be the gift getter and wrapper, my dad's name would only make an appearance on the gift thanks to her). This not only shocked my sister & I, but it made me realize this will be the second to the last Christmas I will be spending unmarried and with my family. I got kind of sad at that, even though I know I will likely try to make it home for the holidays if possible. I also got spoiled by my lovely boyfriend and my amazing little sister. I wasn't expecting a single thing from my wishlist, but i secretly wanted everything on my list. So when I found out that they both got me things off my wishlist behind my back I was shocked and humbled that I have such great people in my life. Ok enough talking, here are the pictures of what I scored for Christmas this year!

 

beats solo2 from le boyfriend

 

Sissy's gift
 Alex & Ani / Lululemon / Stila / Lush

 

Dad's gift, he was even so nice he put my mom's name first. Also not sure who my other "dad" is, immigrant parents will definitely keep you on your toes!

I spent Christmas eve with this brand new love bug, Niam. It's one of my cousins first baby and he is absolutely perfect!!

 

The very first time he cried with me, but he was also very hungry.

The second time was much more successful, plus he knocked out after his feeding.

Ready for bed on Christmas Eve!

 

Christmas morning was spent eating homemade chocolate chip pancakes with my sister and cuddling with her Christmas gift, Olaf while watching movies all morning.

 

 

That afternoon/evening was spent at my cousins getting to play with Niam again. Talk about best Christmas gift ever.

 

Way more alert, he must have eaten already

Woohoo I actually got a smiling baby in my hands! <3 a="" and="" definitely="" framer="" me="" niam="" of="" pic="" td="" this="">

He loves having his cheeks rubbed and gives you a smirk to let you know to keep going, so I totally did!

I.Love.Baby.Toes!!!

After having crazy insane baby fever all Christmas long, I had a few detox days. Friday was spent mostly in bed watching movies basically all day #hermitstatus. Saturday I started to feel the onset of cold symptoms, so I nipped that in the bud asap and headed out to the movies to watch Into the Woods. I really really liked the movie and didn't really know it would be a musical type movie, I must have missed that clue from the trailers. But the cast was pretty amazing and it almost felt like a satire which is pretty awesome considering it was a Disney movie. If you get the chance, definitely check this movie out!

 

 

Sunday was pretty much spent vegging out and dreading the fact that my long weekend was over, but glad this week is a short week again!!

 

Phew, that was a long recap considering there were more days to this "weekend", but I'm linking up with Biana for weekending and Lisa & Bella for weekend recap!