2019 In Review
Happy almost New Year! And New Decade!! Wow, a lot can change in a decade! Is it just me or did it seem like we didn’t give the “new decade” much thought or social media attention back in 2009/2010?? I’ve also felt like some people have gotten a little confused on how many years it takes to make up a decade… some people on the wild interwebs keep talking about 1999 like that was the last time we were in this situation… I hate to break to those of you in this boat, but that was 20 years ago……. Two decades ago… lol.
Regardless, I have enjoyed looking back over this decade on my Facebook memories this morning. It made me wish I had recorded some sort of recap every year and not just the handful of years I didn’t feel like it was too cheesy to do or just got bored enough to write. The older I get the more I appreciate looking back. Not only does it paint a beautiful picture of God’s love and blessings in my life but it shows me just how much I have to be grateful for and it is an excellent reminder of just how far I’ve come in a number of areas of my life. It is so easy to get caught up in the next thing we’re chasing or to beat yourself up over your perceived lack of progress or worse your perceived sense of failure. And while it’s important to not allow ourselves to live in the past and stay stuck in romanticizing “the good ole days,” it can be a great tool in demystifying our purpose in this life.
2019 has been a whirlwind of year. Where to even begin?!
I started off the year standing in Times Square with the love of my life, freezing and doused in rain watching confetti fall from a skyscraper. Then I sat in a homeless man’s pee puddle on the subway. Highs and lows, people. Life has lots of highs and lows. And boy do they come at you fast.
Not only did this year have lots of exciting adventures… NYC, Indianapolis, Columbus, my first cruise / trip leaving the country to Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico; a wedding in North Carolina, a camping trip in Tennessee, and a long weekend in Chicago… It also had a lot of tough decisions and struggles.
While I love to share parts of my life with friends on the internet in the form of this blog, it doesn’t mean I tell all and when it comes to struggles, I don’t mean to gloss over the hard parts in life but I also hope readers respect that I don’t necessarily want to share the private details of my personal life.
From family health struggles to career choices, to the hard parts in relationships of all sorts, and all the decision making that comes with planning a wedding, I’ve felt a lot of growing pains in 2019.
As close friends know, it was a scary and challenging year for my dad as he suffered a stroke this summer that has left him with many obstacles to overcome. I’m so blessed to have my dad and that he had access to medical professionals who were able to figure out what was happening to his body. I’m so grateful to the folks at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington! He has come a long way in the past 6 months, and while he still has a ways to go, he and my mom have seen a tremendous outpouring of love and support, financially and other ways that have made a world of difference in the uphill battle they’ve been fighting. Thank the good Lord above for community!
Darrell has seen his fair share of health issues this year as well, both personally and within his family. It has been a year of lots of doctors visits and piecing together a growing puzzle, but again, what a blessing it is to have access to so many caring and dedicated medical professionals. Darrell has come a long way with his allergy shot schedule and continues to see improvements!
As my relationship with Darrell has grown over 2019, we found ourselves having to make several decisions together as a team and while that is new and exciting, it has brought it’s own set of challenges that we’ve taken in stride. It’s definitely not been easy or always fun, but we are stronger together because of it.
Wedding planning instantly hits you with a gazillion choices but even prior to that, we were planning our future (prior to our engagement) knowing we wanted to get married soon and being faced with my career decisions as opportunities came my way toward the middle of the year that significantly shifted the trajectory of my career and my means of making money. Combining your life with someone else’s brings SO MANY decisions, especially at our age already somewhat established in our separate lives, and then you add changing your job/career. Shew! It was really intense there for a while. What am I talking about? This is still tough, y’all. Then just throw in everyone wanting to give you their opinion and you’ll really start feeling frazzled!
Growing up gets crazier and crazier and this year was a wild ride watching so many major events happen in dear friends’ lives. One friend had a baby at the beginning of the year, another got married toward the end of the year, one moved across the world for a few months, one moved a few states over. Several experienced big changes either in their job or company or changed careers entirely. It is so special to have lifelong friendships and to cheer on your girlfriends as they chase their dreams and build such beautiful lives! I am forever inspired and motivated by y’all!
As we continue on this recap of highs and lows in 2019, let us not forget sweet Penny. Darrell adopted her on December 1, 2018 but she’s been “our” dog all along. Sweet baby had her spay surgery early in 2019 and it wrecked us. She almost died on the table and then had a bit of a rough recovery that took us to the emergency vet. She’s strong and feisty as ever now. She got a little chubby through the year and then went on a diet. She’s at a healthy weight now and still can’t be trusted with cloth toys. But she loves sticks, treats and snuggling. This rambunctious little rascal has taught me so much in 2019, including a thing or two about patience!! We celebrated her first birthday in August. This year, Penny experienced the dog park for the first time (huge fan), took some car rides (also a favorite hobby of hers), took lots of walks, tried to scare off a opossum. Chased lots of squirrels and bunnies. Barked at lots of birds. Became best friends with Dallas and Brooks Turley. Still trying to befriend Sully Howell, Ellie Branes, Tucker, Maggie and Mia Rowlette. Thinks Tucker Price is pretty cool. Asparagus is one of her favorites. She’ll never turn down pepperoni. She even traveled a bit this year!
Earlier this year, I discovered the library’s e-book and audiobook app Libby and Darrell introduced me to Goodreads. I set a goal to try to read 12 books this year. I am excited to share I’m closing out 2019 with 24 books read!!! I am so excited to crack open all the books on my 2020 list and I can’t wait to set my new goal.
Beyond learning lots about myself through this year’s life lessons, I also learned a lot through discovering my enneagram type (seriously so insightful not only for yourself but honestly more so for better understanding those closest to you!) I already knew my Myers-Briggs personality type and loved learning others, just curious to better understand myself and others. (I’m an ESFJ.) But earlier this year, I began hearing all this buzz about the Enneagram on Instagram, blogs I read, and podcasts. At first, I was pretty skeptical but eventually decided to learn more. I took the test and learned I’m a 4w3, which I immediately did not accept as accurate. I listened to a podcast explaining 4’s and was like “Eww! No way! I don’t want to be someone that sounds like that?!” But then then more I listened I realized, “Ouch, this is most definitely me, my most inner me, the flaws and imperfections and reasons for what makes me tick.” It was the kind of realization that makes you cry because it all makes sense. Actually I think I did cry. I felt understood. And as a 4, that’s especially enlightening. I’m no expert on the enneagram so I can’t give you the nitty gritty but basically I’m a 4 which means I’m an “individualist” and I need to explore my emotions and feel that I am heard/seen/understood fully. It has helped me better understand how I process news, change, conflict, emotions, etc. and why I react the way I do. I highly recommend learning more about your enneagram type or taking the test because the insight is positively life-changing. A great resource for learning more about the enneagram is Your Enneagram Coach. Beth McCord takes a gospel-centered approach to the Enneagram. She and her husband Pastor Jeff McCord recently released a book for couples, either married or looking to be married in the future, called Becoming Us which helps couples better understand their partner’s perspective, what makes them tick and provides tools for better communication so that they can build a healthy Christian marriage. Darrell and I have ordered this book and plan to read it together in the coming months!
Another major point in 2019 for me personally was being diagnosed with Inattentive ADHD this fall. This has been a huge discovery for me. The weirdest part is how I came to this discovery. I saw a Facebook video from a woman about my age describing what issues she faced in her productivity, attention, ability to focus, self-esteem, etc. I began researching this and made an appointment to discuss it with my doctor. I have been very forthcoming on my previous blog about my battle with anxiety and mental health and feel this is something important for me to share because I was completely unaware of Inattentive ADHD prior. This diagnosis has helped me better understand my shortcomings in life and I have begun working with my doctor to manage it. It’s obviously a pretty big topic and I think it’s something I’d like to write about in-depth in the future, if readers are interested. At this point I’m very new into discovering this about myself and don’t have a lot of insight to share but felt it important to continue my discussion around mental health in this arena. I’m not a medical professional and therefore can’t offer any medical advice but will share the link to a web article that provided some insight for me. Some of the questions in the article helped me understand what Inattentive ADHD looks like because it’s different in women and often harder to see.
Onto a more exciting topic… It’s always interesting to look back on how far I’ve come on my food journey, not only now because of the blog, but because as a very picky eater growing up and then learning about my gluten intolerance as an adult and just being a complete amateur in the kitchen, I have come a long way over the years. One of my Facebook memories from today in 2014 recalls some of the foods I tried that year. I want to keep a better record of that moving forward as it might become a challenge of sorts. So, looking back over the year, here are the foods I can recall trying for the first time this year:
Red and Green Peppers
Red Pepper Flakes
Shallots
Chutney
Eggplant
Grana Padano
Coconut Aminos
Radish
Spaghetti Squash
Acorn Squash
Chia Seeds
Rabbit Tongue
And now for one last bit of fun to close out this long post!!
10 Bloopers of 2019…
TEN: Sitting in a homeless man’s pee puddle after leaving Times Square on the subway.
NINE: Whitewater rafting in a raft with a hole. We survived and honestly, thrived.
EIGHT: That time Darrell TRADED A FREEZER in his garage for his friends to photograph our proposal!!
SEVEN: That time we decided to get matching PJs for opening gifts on the Rowlette side and therefore decided Penny needed to match too. Well we followed the size guide. But Penn’s buffalo check PJs fit more like a straight jacket. She does not recommend. However, she’s never sat so still for so long in her life!!
SIX: That time I went to Chicago in December and forgot my coat and gloves at home… Had to buy one. It’s quite possibly the warmest coat I’ve ever owned!!
FIVE: This one is all Darrell… That time he wrecked a scooter in downtown Indianapolis - flipped over the handlebars, ate dirt, skinned his knee which ripped his jeans and tore one Sperry in half - bahaha!
FOUR: That time Darrell and I left Cincinnati and got to talking and next thing we knew we were somewhere in Indiana, not headed toward Lexington! (Yes, I was driving…) We got some McD’s Coca-Cola’s and turned around!
THREE: Running into a wood beam full force after telling a joke to Shelby at Sarah’s wedding in North Carolina. We were laughing and I abruptly turn around in my full face of airbrush makeup, hair did up all fancy and my bridesmaid robe, and WHACK. Major bruise. Big knot on my forehead. It bled. No stitches were needed. Just a big ole klutz!!! Thank goodness I had short bangs to hide the goose egg!!! Also bruised my (opposite??) knee and foot in the collision. #talented
TWO: That time I freaked out on Darrell for a solid week about when he was going to propose only to find out he was proposing at the end of said week and had masterminded a plan to keep me busy every day leading up to the big event, including my friend taking me to get my nails done and me protesting “I KNOW HE’S NOT GOING TO PROPOSE TOMORROW, YOU’RE WASTING YOUR MONEY!” (She was in on the whole thing) ;)
ONE: That time I had to be sewn into a Rent the Runway dress because it busted like a can of biscuits moments before we were supposed to go to a gala. Shout out to Krystal Johnson for two solid hours of sewing me into the dress, Darrell for holding the lamp so Krystal could see to sew in a poorly lit room and Holiday Inn front desk for sewing kits. We were 2.5 hours late.