A Look Back

2011.  It was a heck of a year.  In January, I had my "last first day of school" as I organized syllabi and filled in my color-coded planner for the last time.  I played intramural basketball for the first time and even have one basket to my name.  I attended a formal dance, with a date, and got to cross that off my bucket list.

March brought the most wonderful spring break I could have imagined, spending 10 days traveling to/being in Mexico with a group of people who quickly became some of my dearest friends.

I wouldn't have wanted to spend my spring break with anyone else.

And oh yeah.  2nd Floor South won Balyo Battles.  NBD.

We are the champions of the world.  Or at least of Balyo.

April wrapped up the end of my undergrad career and my time as an RA.  It was a good thing I had a pretty easy last semester because I spent most of my time trying to cram as many memories as possible into that last month, and didn't spend much time studying.  And it all worked out.  I didn't fail my Bible & Egypt class, so I got to graduate.  

Senior RAs.

May was graduation.  It was totally bittersweet - it felt good to have accomplished something like college, but I wasn't sure if I was quite ready to have to be an adult and not be an RA anymore.  Plus I really like school.  I lived in the dorms as the "summer RA" for the athletes for a while after graduation, then moved into my first apartment and got a job at a gym.

Class of 2011

During June I tried to survive on my part-time income from the gym, and got really good at dumpster diving for bottles and cans to recycle at WinCo.  It was a blast.  

My precious roommates.

Halfway through July I got a full-time job though, and had to move back to Washington.  A week after I started my new job, I took a week off, put my camp shorts on, and got to spend five days being the children's camp director.  After camp, I roadtripped to almost Canada with my ex-roommates to attend the first BAD Team wedding.  One down, nine to go.

Kids Camp!

In August, I fulfilled another item on the bucket list by attending a Seattle Seahawks game.  They even won.

I love my Seahawks.

September brought the second BAD Team wedding.  Two down, eight to go.

The roommates again.

October, November, and December consisted of working during the week and making the trip to Salem on a lot of weekends.  The weeks tended to suck.  The weekends recharged me to face another week.

Which brings me to January.  It's been 2012 for all of 3 1/2 hours or so, and I'm not even going to pretend that I have any clue of what this year might bring.  I would love it if it brought a change of location (Oregon would be ideal, but I'm not gonna be picky; Africa would also be fine) or a change of relationship status (tall, dark, and handsome please) or a change in my educational future (I'm ready to start grad school yesterday).  But even if none of those things happen, I want to make the most of wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, and not sit around waiting for my life to start.  So 2012?
Bring. It. On.