The end of 2012 to the start of 2013 was a tough year for me in more ways than one! I ended a 5 year relationship, moved to a different part of town and started a new job as a technical recruiter. I've always heard 13 is an unlucky number and it sure was for me. While there was a lot of stress, I still managed to have some fun...
In late December/January I flew home instead of driving for the first time in years and spent some quality time with friends I hadn't seen in a long time.
When we showed up to Carlton's house and found him gutting fish on a Saturday night, we had some fun with his gear.
In January, a guy from Scottsdale I met in the Middle East last year hooked us up front row tickets to see Billy Currington and Jerrod Niemann at the state fair. Billy Currington brought his chocolate lab out to sing "I want you to love me like my dog".
We attended a murder mystery dinner.
No, I wasn't actually that close to her ass, but Jacinda got a great picture. Mother Nature is kinder to some people when she creates their bodies than others, what can I say?
And Dallas taught me how to play Craps. I am addicted.
And took this terrible picture.
And in February I headed to San Diego to visit Mike. We took a whale watching cruise.
And, Ellie and London met the Saint Bernard that is always out on the San Diego beach walk.
A couple weeks later I scored awesome passes to the PGA Waste Management Open.
Break-ups are worse than death because they are reversible...
So, anyone who knows me well knows that my life is completely...crazy. But in a good way. No, really, in a good way. I have this interesting, busy, compassionate, crazy and downright, awesome life. And, I don't know how I got so lucky. I have the best, most amazing group of friends anyone could have. The kind of friends that you ask to come and they are there before...you ask them to come, friends that call you when they remember what you are doing that day and think you had a hard time. I know people all over the country. I know people all over the world, actually...I know people that I have met in far away places that feel like I should have known them my entire life. Most of all, people that have come in and changed the course of my life.
So I have this amazing life... no one can argue that. And then there is the fact that I have horrible relationship taste. Find me the biggest douche bag in the room, pin a ribbon on him and there I go...gawking at him like some Barbie Girl that saw a Ken doll for the first time. You treat a girl like dirt and she sticks to you like mud. What the heck is up with that?
Find me a nice guy, and I blow him off like a beach volleyball when everyone is drunk. For some reason I don't even remember that nice guy's name, or playing beach volleyball.
No, you think I am joking...But I am not. Let's talk about the guy I dated for 5 years, the guy I never really thought about marrying but always knew I would...I don't expect this to make sense.
Sometimes things just don't work out and you don't know why. It's not anyone's fault. You just grow apart. And, let me tell you first hand, it sucks.
Either way, let's talk about the guy that broke my heart...the guy that broke my heart in a way I didn't know could break my heart. Let's talk about the guy that I ended up breaking his heart two-fold and didn't mean to. The guy who showed up for a year at my door balling his eyes out uncontrollably, the guy who begged for forgiveness and I couldn't give it to. The guy who realized he made the biggest mistake of his life and I still couldn't forgive. The guy I couldn't see trusting my heart with forever and always...
Now, let's talk about the fact that I don't believe in love like I used to. I am terrified of it. I don't see myself falling like that ever again. I don't see myself moving for someone, or letting them control my life's plans without asking. I find myself doing what I have always done, making the most out of the worst and pretending like it is all okay.
2013, I see myself reserved, I see myself taking care of myself more than ever because I have to, I see myself thinking of myself more and my future.
I see myself...here:
Nikol and I signed up for the Lozilu Womens Mud Run for charity with some other friends.
I spent Easter in San Diego with Jacinda and the kids and we put on an Easter egg hunt for Mike and his Marine buddies. The eggs were full of inappropriate images Jacinda and I were up late trying to track down at all the local adult shops.
Thanks to a great idea from Jacinda, we had dinner with Shamu at Sea World one night. It was really cool to have dinner so close to a killer whale and surprising how many things they can teach them to do.
It's crazy to think about how fast time passes. I remember knocking over little plastic military guys with this kid, now I have one bigger than me!
My friend Dan and I have been keeping in touch for over ten years as he bounced around with his Navy family growing up. We've been talking about planning a trip and reconnecting for years but life has gotten in the way. Finally, we decided it was just time to do it. Dan and I picked Boston for a weekend because neither one of us had been there and we had always wanted to go. Little did we know three weeks later the bombing at the Boston Marathon would happen. It was a sad time to visit the city but the people living there really are "Boston Strong". In May, for a quick 3 day weekend away from work, I headed to Boston.
There was a lady who flew with her two big black labs right in the row with her. I wish they would let me take my Saints like that.
The hotels are so expensive in Boston that we settled for the cheapest one we could find with access to the subway. We stayed at The Abercrombie Inn which looks like an old bed and breakfast. There wasn't any breakfast but it wasn't bad.
Reunited and it feels SO good!
The park by all the historical sites was filled with uplifting messages.
Stopped and had a beer at one of the Cheers locations in Boston.
We toured Paul Revere's house.
Paul Revere December 21, 1734 O.S. – May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, early industrialist, and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting the Colonial militia to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride."
Revere was a prosperous and prominent Boston silversmith, who helped organize an intelligence and alarm system to keep watch on the British military. Revere later served as a Massachusetts militia officer, though his service culminated after the Penobscot Expedition, one of the most disastrous campaigns of theAmerican Revolutionary War, for which he was absolved of blame. Following the war, Revere returned to his silversmith trade and used the profits from his expanding business to finance his work in iron casting, bronze bell and cannon casting, and the forging of copper bolts and spikes. Finally in 1800 he became the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing on naval vessels.
Much of the furniture was actually his.
Learning how they did things in the colonial times!
Hanging out at the bar that originally inspired Cheers. It looks like it inside and upstairs there is a gift shop and a reenactment.
This just totally cracked me up so I had to take a picture. Hahaha
The smaller of the two Boston Bombing memorials. At this one, people were hanging pieces of fabric with their personal messages on them. Dan and I joined in.
"What to do with the time that is given to us?"
View of Boston Downtown
We went to the Boston Tea Party Museum.
Dan was thrilled when I made him take this picture.
The Boston Tea Party (initially referred to by John Adams as "the Destruction of the Tea in Boston" was a nonviolent political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. Disguised as Indians, the demonstrators destroyed the entire supply of tea sent by the East India Company in defiance of the American boycott of tea carrying a tax the Americans had not authorized. They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor, ruining the tea. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution. The Tea Party became an iconic event of American history, and other political protests often refer to it.
Then we took a break for lunch and ate at the Barking Crab, which was my favorite spot in Boston.
We met some locals there and told them we were going to walk to the Red Sox stadium. They told us it was five miles and that we were crazy but we decided to do it anyway. Boston is a very walkable city and we saw a lot on the way that we wouldn't have in a cab.
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Standing on the famous Beacon Street
There were some real characters in the city park that day.
I couldn't tell you what they were protesting.
The second (and larger) Boston memorial was very moving. There were people walking all over and you could feel the intense energy from all the hurt Boston was going through.
We went to check out Harvard Square and walked right into an early Memorial Day festival.
We checked out some of the local shops and found ourselves in a comic store with a bunch of grown men playing Pokemon and Magic cards. Didn't those go out of style in 1999?
Hahaha!
Although we are very different people living very different lives these days, Dan and I picked up right where we left off like it hadn't been over ten years. I'm sure that we won't let that much time go by again. Getting to see Dan and visit a city as cool as Boston was definitely a highlight of my year!
Over Memorial Day, for a long weekend Aaron and I headed to Rocky Point/ Puerto Penasco, Mexico for a long weekend. We took the dogs and spent a weekend at the beach. Crossing the border was easier than expected and they barely checked our passports and didn't even ask for any information on the pups. The drive took about 3.5 hours and Aaron drove so I could drink mimosas and read my girly magazines on the way there!
The weather was perfect and the drinks were cheap!
On a booze cruise one night we saw a pirate ship? It was a beautiful sunset.
The whole trip was a refreshing break. The only downer was that we left Mexico in the middle of the day and because it was a holiday weekend, it took almost 5 hours at a stand still to get across the border.
When I was in the Middle East the year before, Charynn and Larry Marshall because fast friends. They mentioned to me that they had a son that lived in Arizona and that they would be planning a Vegas/Arizona trip in June. They insisted that I come...twist my arm!
Lisa and I made a girls weekend out of it and met them for the weekend.
Larry wasn't happy when I put this photo on Facebook a few days later!
It's funny how life brings people together from all over the world for a reason. Las Vegas would not be the only time I would see the Marshalls this year.
Fourth of July was spent by the beach. Aaron and I took off to LA and San Diego for four days. We went to San Diego so he could see an old friend and golf Tory Pines LA so that we could stay at the Beverly Hilton. I had my very first celebrity style weekend.
This is the theater where the Golden Globes are held every year at the Beverly Hilton. Doesn't look so glamorous during the wrong time of year.
Hanging out in Mission Beach, San Diego
After a long hot summer, I finally moved closer to work into a larger apartment in Arcadia. The commute was brutal and it was a long time coming. I love the area and it's so nice to be able to walk places again.
"To laugh often, to love much...to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others...to leave the world a little bit better, and to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded"
I got beyond sad news in the beginning of November when the world lost one of the most caring and generous people I have ever met. I am so grateful that I got the pleasure of growing up with Krystal Thomsen and spending as much time with her as I did. I will forever remember the Easter egg hunts as kids, Thanksgiving at the lake house, and spending our 21st birthdays together.
The news rocked my world and devastated many of my favorite people. Coming home for the holidays will never be the same. Wherever life has taken you, Krystal, I hope you are getting everything you wish for and more.
When Jasmin and I met Charynn and Larry Marshall in the Middle East last September, it was decided that I would spend Thanksgiving with them this year. So I obliged and had my very first east coast Thanksgiving! Aaron had never spent much time on the east coast either so he decided to come along. The Marshalls picked us up at the DC airport and we headed out the see the sites.
The views from the bell tower in the old post office we visited.
The back of the White House
Barack Obama was in office when we visited the White House located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.
Pictures...
You know something I learned about pictures in 2013?
Pictures really do say a million words. Pictures show your happy, your bliss, your excitement, your sad, your mad, and your discontent all in the same frame sometimes.
Charynn and Larry are two of my favorite people in the whole world, I have already expressed this. There are not very many people I would travel across the country coming to see for a holiday. No doubt Charynn and Larry will dance at my wedding someday, and I am looking forward to it...
Another thing Charynn and Larry taught me: Love is worth it. Hold out. It comes around when you least expect it. And when it does, it's worth waiting for.
(Aaron and I broke up a few months later)
The front of the White House:
When we got back that night I was thrilled to see that I made the Marshall family calendar two years running! Not everyone can be that lucky!
The next day we headed to Annapolis, MD and it was definitely the coldest day of the week we were there. The wind chill by the water was brutal.
Touring the Naval Academy:
Photo Bomb!
Touring the church at the Naval Academy
John Paul Jones (July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish sailor and the United States's first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolution. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to this day. As such he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the United States Navy" (an epithet he shares with John Barry). He later served in the Imperial Russian Navy.
The main street in Annapolis
After a nice (warm) break for a meal we headed to the inner-harbor in Baltimore.
The next morning we went solo and headed back to DC to tour the Smithsonians and have lunch with an old friend. We started at the Holocaust Museum and then I got dragged to the Air and Space one. Both had their high points but the Holocaust one was certainly humbling.
Charynn is a travel agent and she has a Sandals Resorts car for business. She was nice enough to let us use it when we went touring on our own.
Nothing warms my heart more than catching up with old friends. Kelsey Ransik and I went to middle school together. Her parents still live 4 blocks from mine but she lives on the east coast now and I hadn't seen her and been able to catch up in over ten years. An hour for lunch just wasn't enough but it sure was great to see her. We went to a trendy place called Bussboys and Poets in DC. We asked Kelsey for the "must sees" in the DC area and she suggested George Washington's estate about 30 minutes outside of DC which is where he is also buried. It is know as Mt. Vernon and it was one of the highlights of my trip!
The house was handed down to Washington by his father and was originally four main rooms on the first floor and an attic which served as the living quarters. The rooms consisted of a bedroom, two seating areas and a dining room. Over time he added on the two side wings and built up to make it three stories. There is a basement underneath the house which falling apart due to age.
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| George and Martha Washington's mansion view from the front |
George Washington loved his massive garden and the attached wings were where his slaves lived.
Washington loved his gardens and was constantly changing the plants used at Mount Vernon. There is little evidence to suggest, however, that he was the one gardening. There were many gardeners who worked at Mount Vernon, several of whom were indentured servants. For example, letters written from Washington to his estate manager, Lund Washington, and to John Washington, an acquaintance from King George City, Virginia, reveal that Philip Bateman served as the primary gardener at Mount Vernon between 1773 and 1785.
The famous tree that was noted when he was alive and the view over the Potomac from Washington's backyard.
First floor bedroom. All of the rooms were painted with very bright colored paint which was the most expensive at the time. There are a total of 9 bedrooms in the house and this is the only one on the first floor. The entire second and third floor consists of bedrooms. George Washington's house was built to be so big because he used it as a hotel much of the time. His children and grandchildren lived in the house at one point or another. He was also known to entertain everyone from future presidents to people passing through who needed a place to stay. The bed George Washington died in is still on the middle floor in the room he slept in.
The downstairs larger parlor.
This is Washington's study which is where he was known to spend the majority of his time, run the household and also conduct his military business.
The kitchen and pantry were attached in a wing outside the house where the slaves prepared the meals and washed the dishes.
There was no running water, plumbing or electric back then and the house has never been restored with any to this day. The outhouse everyone used was a brisk walk down the lane in the winter time.
He was buried in an older tomb while his new one still under constriction. He was moved to the newer tomb years later and is still buried on the property along with 19 of his other relatives behind he and his wife.
I took note of how grand his tomb was compared to the one his wife is buried in.
The property consisted of an "apartment" house for his main gardener, a smoke house for meat, a wash house and plenty of room for livestock. I was surprised to see that there was also a slave graveyard on Mt. Vernon.
One thing we hadn't gotten to earlier in the day because we wanted to make it a point to get to Mt. Vernon was the famous Arlington Cemetery. I didn't have much of a desire at first but when we got there it was pretty impressive. I also learned a lot about the history that I didn't know.
This is JFK's eternal flame. Jackie O is buried right next to him and his two deceased babies are on each side of them. They had a still born little girl and a boy that lived two days.
We had to literally run...but we made it just in time for the last changing of the guards when Arlington closed at 5:30.
During the day in summer months from April 1 to September 30, the guard is changed every half hour. During the winter months, from October 1 to March 31, the guard is changed every hour. After the cemetery closes to the public (7 p.m. to 8 a.m. April through September, and 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. October through March), the guard is changed every 2 hours. The ceremony can be witnessed by the public whenever Arlington National Cemetery is open.
The guard change is very symbolic, but also conducted in accordance with Army regulations. The relief commander or assistant relief commander, along with the oncoming guard, are both required for a guard change to take place. The guard being relieved will say to the oncoming guard, "Post and orders remain as directed." The oncoming guard's response is always, "Orders acknowledged."
The guard is put in place to protect the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier"
The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified. It is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; it has never been officially named. It is located in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, United States of America. The World War I "Unknown" is a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the Victoria Cross, and several other foreign nations' highest service awards. The U.S. Unknowns who were interred are also recipients of the Medal of Honor, presented by the U.S. presidents who presided over their funerals.
Before I had this printed, later in 2014 I would learn from a new coworker that grew up in DC that one of the tombs of the "Unknown" is no longer unknown and at the request of the mother, it was moved to another location.
The next morning Aaron and I headed to see Amish Country. I hadn't been since I was young and I wanted him to see it in person. It was cold and there weren't many people out which was a bummer but it was still neat to see.
For the afternoon, we headed to Philadelphia to check out one of the oldest cities in the country.
And, when in Philly...
Yummm!
Checking out the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall
Ben Franklin's grave was covered in cash and coins.
Reading Terminal Market was a huge hit for me! I loved looking at all the local goods!
The Amish come in on Tuesdays from Lancaster to sell their food.
The Amish come in on Tuesdays from Lancaster to sell their food.
We went to the oldest known ally in the US. The houses are very tall and narrow on the inside and have been kept up in the same condition they were originally built.
This is the Betsy Ross house where she made the first flag of the United States
The famous steps outside the Philadelphia Art Museum where Rocky ran.
Very classy Philadelphia:
On our way out of town we stopped and had a drink at the oldest bar in Philly. It's the longest one to have maintained a liquor license in the city.
The next morning we had a more local day. While Charynn and Larry slaved over the stove and did some family stuff, Aaron and I went wine tasting with Vic and Gayle Doe who came all the way from Australia to share an American Thanksgiving. We went to four wineries that day but the first one was the very best.
Boordy Vinyards
In between, we stopped and had lunch at a staple Maryland restaurant in the area called the Manor Tavern. It was fantastic and gave us the official east coast tastes of the area.
Gayle and Vic were thrilled to see snow because they don't get any where they live in Australia.
Thanksgiving came fast enough and we were happy for a day to relax.
Charynn, Larry and Jacy
Since Kari is in Israel teaching for almost a year, we had to celebrate via Skype. This is the unofficial Marshall Family holiday photo of 2013!
What a great way to spend Thanksgiving! Charynn and Larry are some of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever met.
Kari even watched the Ravens game with us!
I think we had a great time...
My big 25th birthday was spent at Gallo Blanco in downtown Phoenix with some good friends. Great margaritas and great food made for a great night!
Jeff from high school lives out in Phoenix now so I was excited to have him join us. It was a blast from the past!
Mom flew out before Christmas and we went to Vegas for a couple days before heading back to Denver. We had a great time catching up and playing Craps.
