The Year in Review: 2013

Remember around this time last year I told you that 2013 was going to be the Best Year Ever? Well one thing I can tell you is that I grew out of saying things like "ever." Gah, everyone, let's let that go with 2013. "I have the cutest dog ever!" "My husband is the best ever!" I am going to start hiding your Facebook posts--for-ever.  Well, maybe not that far. But I do think that people should have to say "for me" after they say "ever". Your husband may be the best ever for you but I think it's an over generalization to claim any one is really the best at anything since the beginning of time. Unless we're talking about Usain Bolt. He really is the fastest runner ever.  Although there are probably some cavemen out there that have been chased by saber-tooth tigers that wish someone had been tracking their times. They should add a "run for your life" category to the Olympics and see how the results differ.
Anyway, I'm not saying I'm not guilty of the over usage of "ever" too, but let's all agree to move past it.

Well since this is a "Year in Review" I suppose I should tell you if it was the Best Year Ever. And you know how we should do this? With a Top 13 of 2013.

1-8. The most exciting and memorable thing I did in 2013 was travel extensively.
I took many flights from OKC to Lubbock throughout the year. You just can't beat some of those Southwest deals. I also put entirely too many miles on my car driving back and forth throughout both Spring and Fall semesters. That traveling was not my cup of tea. While I immensely appreciate the blessing of attending school, that was probably the worst part of 2013.
But then there's the fun travel. I am very fortunate to be in a department which supports graduate students traveling and presenting their papers at conferences across the nation. One of which is MPSA in Chicago. I was thrilled that they accepted my paper. PaPa Lo even came and got me for a day and showed me some great parts of downtown Chicago like the top floor of the Hancock building.

And Siva got to see Chicago and we even road tripped from Lubbock to Dallas for our flights. Looking back I'm not sure that saved us any money in the end, but we had a good time seeing new things. 

First Inn N Out Burger experience for both of us. 

And then there was the time that my life dreams were fulfilled when we went to Italy (and Greece and Malta and Croatia--which we didn't realize until about 2 weeks before we left). We flew into Genoa, Italy and took a cruise around the boot. This was an incredible experience and I am so glad I shared it with Matt. It turns out he enjoys travel more than I ever expected. 

The famous aquarium in Genoa, Italy. It really was incredible. 

Dubrovnik, Croatia. 

 I have always, always wanted to see Venice and I finally did. It really was as cool as I had expected. I feel so truly blessed that I got to have this experience.

GONDOLA RIDE! GONDOLA RIDE!!!!!

Over the summer we also went to Durango, CO (and Silverton) for John and Shana's wedding. It was like out of a magazine. We had a great time and it was great to be part of their day. 

Then we went on our annual lake trip. This year we went to Broken Bow, OK. I think it is such a blessing to get that many people together for a weekend. It is a little difficult to organize, but totally worth it. I hope we do it every year for-EVER.

And then Matt and I spent a large part of the fall meeting each other at conferences and other events across the country to spend time together. First stop: Houston, TX.

Fortunately, my big (Krissy) and her husband, Scott live in Houston so we had even more incentive to go to the first game of the year down in Houston. It was a great time even if my shoe did break as I was walking into the stadium. 

Next Stop: Portland, OR.

Portland was an extremely cool city. If you haven't been, stop what you're doing and start looking up good deals now. Rent a car and drive to the coast. Just do it. Do it sometime soon. Maybe 2014??

On to: New Orleans, LA.

We had a good time, but New Orleans is also kind of nuts and smells bad.
We (OSU) also lost to WVU which was supremely irritating and I thought I was going to get kicked out of the hotel for yelling at the TV.


And then there was Nashville, TN.
My little brother Joe and I presented a sustainability paper at a conference which led me to my dissertation topic which in and of itself was a HUGE portion of my year. HUGE. Like, pathway to graduating early and changing my life huge. It was an incredible trip and I can't understate the blessing of the whole thing. Spending time with my little brother was a memory that I will never, EVER forget.

Country Music Hall of Fame

And yes, I jumped on the opportunity to sing on stage. 

Like Brother, Like Sister

So those were the big trips for the year. Those are really the top 8 of the year because we would be here all day if I counted that as just one thing. We all have stuff to do and I need to work on that dissertation I was telling you about. Oh, and study for comps. Can we all take a moment to say a quick silent prayer for Shanna and her upcoming comprehensive exams? It's actually really irresponsible that I am even blogging right now. See you in February after it's all over.

9. Finishing Classes

As I try to continually express, I think being in school is such a blessing. I am grateful for my education. That I can pursue it, hell, that women are no longer oppressed in that way and that women are able to achieve what ever they want, including education. It wasn't that long ago that a woman pursuing her PhD was just unheard of. Especially not a woman from a traditional upbringing in the south. I should have probably had several kids by now and waiting for when my husband gets home. I also have great resources at my institution (like an advisor who understands what the hell I am trying to do--and also redirects me when I start going down a crazy path). What I am getting at is that I am grateful for the whole thing. I am also grateful that I am no longer traveling back and forth to school because it was exhausting and I don't think great for my overall well-being. I had no routine. I missed my husband. Some days I didn't see sunlight. I drank too much aspartame. I saw this view basically all the time. Now I can look at my computer from home with my adorable dog in my lap who is apparently starving for attention.

10. This Girl Moved Back

I missed Lo so much and she finally quit that living all over creation nonsense (like I am one to talk). She is back in the great state of Oklahoma and I couldn't be happier. She is one of my most favorite human beings and I am so happy to see more of her.

Oh and she is standing in front of me in most of these pictures because we both think our left side is out best side and we are both stubborn and wont give up the left side. How anyone tolerates us, I don't know. 

11. And she got married. 

Oh Hef. Move back to Oklahoma already! It was so great to have her back for a couple of visits. We are the strangest trio of friends, but we just work. It was a high light of the fall to get to see my dear friend. 

12. My friendship with this guy grew

Siva is such a good friend. I just can't understate it. He helped me so much this year from school stuff to life advice. It has been so much fun being his friend. He also married the lovely Yamuna this year and now that she will be living with him come January I can feel better about the leaving him in Lubbock part while I stay here in OKC. I will try to visit them as often as I can. 

13. So deeply blessed and loved by God

I can't tell you how many times I felt God pushing me forward this year. He blessed me with an incredible husband who doesn't simply tolerate all of this craziness, but embraces it and supports me in ways that would have made all of this nearly impossible without him. God picked the perfect mate, not EVER, but For Me.

I did a pretty good job of avoiding work on Sundays even though some days that seemed entirely impossible. I thought, "If I give up Sunday there is no way I will accomplish this task." Every single time, not only did I accomplish it, but I thrived with what ever task I was concerned with and God proved that He is always faithful when I put my trust in Him. We had several financial benefits as well as hard ships. I was in 2 car accidents within 1 month in January. Both of which were my fault and I paid for them. I HATE to waste money. I also broke my phone and various other slip ups. We did some work on our home which were excellent improvements, but also uncovered some not so quality work of the previous owner which of course cost us more money. I hope that now I am home and we can have more routine I can better help in money management which is something I think people should continually pursue. 

I didn't really meet any fitness goals this year like I wanted (and want every year). I did discover Yoga and I love it. It really helps with a lot of upper back pain that I get from sitting in front of a computer all day paired with traveling long distances. 

 I think I became a much better academic this year. I learned SO much. 

I had to take cover for a tornado this year which was terrifying. I also witnessed so  much loss from the Moore tornado which really impacted our state. It also showed the resilience of our state, and a place I am so proud to live in. 

I got 2 B's this year. 1 I deserved and the other I didn't. I aim for the 4.0 each semester. I also learned to let it go. Some things aren't worth worrying so much over. 

I could go on and on about this year but I better move on to another project. I am having a tacky sweater party/ornament exchange tonight because we had to reschedule it due to the weather last week. I think it will be a fun way to wrap up the year. We did a lot of party planning in 2013. We have had a great time, and gosh spending time with friend is such a blessing. One day we are all going to be too busy to get together regularly and so we should cherish this time while we can. I don't mind planning the parties so much as I am tired of chasing people down to RSVP. Let's all resolve in 2014 that if we're invited to a party we are going to be the sort of people who RSVP. Maybe I'll buy a stack of etiquette books and send them to people who don't RSVP after the event. I'll let you know if my Facebook friends start declining, haha. 

So was it the best year ever? I don't know. Since I'm not sure, I don't think so. As much as 2013 had a lot of great things, it was also really hard and too stressful. It was exciting, but I think I am ready for things to slow down a bit. My view of happiness is an unpacked bag, a dog in my lap, and my husband next to me in the chair and a half. It's home cooked meals. It's a glass of wine on the patio. Maybe 2013 aged me. Actually, I'm almost certain it has. I raise my glass to you 2014, let's see what happens. Maybe you'll be the best year EVER.

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Euro Trip: Top Ten List

I have been meaning to make this blog post for about a week now. That's how long we have been back. But jet lag... not something I've really experienced before and it can really put a damper on things! Now I have FINALLY returned to a normal schedule and ready to hit the ground running!

So this is my post about our trip. However, I can think of few topics less boring for a blog post than every tiny detail of some one's vacation. Remember the old top ten lists that we all know and love? Well here's the Euro Trip edition.

Speaking of which, Matt hasn't ever watched EuroTrip which really made all of my references a lot less fun. Some people.

Top 10 EuroTrip Experiences 2010:

1) Finally crossing a huge item off the baby bucket list. I swear one day I'll actually explain what this is, but I think it's sort of self explanatory. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Italy. It just seemed so charming and just a whole other world. Especially Venice. Streets of water? Count me in!

So we made the plans (oh, and this is the 3rd time we have tried to plan this trip), made our payments, and set off for a MUCH needed vacation and time together after a crazy semester.

Did you know that Delta Airlines gave out free beer and wine on international flights?? Me either!

 

Did you know that Delta gave you a not so delicious meal on international flights?? Me either! But I was sort of impressed with the multiple courses even if they did taste terrible. 

 

 

2) The ATM

 

When we got to Genoa we thought we should probably get some Euros. Especially to pay the cab fare. We found this bright big yellow ATM. We put in our card. Nothing. Where do you type in your pin? Swipe again. Nothing. Around that time I was getting offended because people were staring at us. First American, huh? Get some culture, why don't ya?? Then we look at the top. "Pay Parking Here"

 

We're off to a great start. Then we humbly went over to the wall where the ATM was. Key pad and all.

 

 



 



3) The Genoa, Italy Aquarium.

 

We spent a night in Genoa before departing on our cruise out of Savona to make sure that even if there were flight delays we would be alright getting on our cruise. We walked around and checked out the city (as you can see below it was a little chilly outside!). The morning before our cruise we wanted to make the most of it so we walked down by the port. Matt had never been to an aquarium and we had seen on several sites that it was "Something to See" in Genoa, designed by some famous architect so we decided to go for it.

 

 

 

 

I have been to a few aquariums, but this one really was impressive. They had huge eels, manatees (YES MANATEES!!), sharks, seals, dolphins, and PENGUINS! Every time we saw a display I thought, well that's it, it can't get any better, and then it did!!

 

It was like the penguins knew we were there and were showing off and swimming. It really was the perfect morning. Well... mostly, we had a rough time finding a cab and the man kept trying to test my Italian. As it turns out, you can't go to Italy hoping to lean on your Spanish skills. It's like going to Mexico hoping to lean on your English skills. No dice.

 



4) Pompeii

 

We had a port in Naples. Not a nice city. There are much cooler things to see in Italy. However, if you go to Naples then it's a quick drive over to Pompeii which is a really cool experience. Archaeologists dug all of this stuff up when the entire city was covered in ash from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. There's so much history and just imagining all of the work put into this is really incredible.

 

 

This is me in an extremely over sized shirt which made me self conscious all day. I wore it though because I thought it made me look like an archaeologist which was appropriate for Pompeii. No one came up to me asking questions about the site which was a little disappointing. It may have been the little radio I was wearing around my neck so I could hear the tour guide.

5) Malta

Before our trip, I honestly didn't know anything about Malta. Up until a few weeks before we left, I didn't even know we were going to Malta. It turned out to be one of my favorite places. We got to the port and everything in the city was.... up. I wasn't sure how we were going to get there. We stumbled upon this huge elevator. You could pay 1 Euro and it would take you...up. This didn't even show the whole elevator. It was pretty tall.

 

We found a restaurant on a rooftop so we could check out the views. It also had free wifi, so we finally got to call our parents. We split a bottle of wine and ate delicious cuisine. Also, in Malta their national languages are Maltese and English. It was really nice to speak English with some one. 

 

 

Matt loves olives, and all things pickled. Europe was a good spot for him. He essentially ate a collection of appetizers for lunch.

 

 

 

Their national beer was "Cisk" and they were walk-in-the-street-with-a-beer-friendly, so Matt approved.

 

We walked around and checked things out and even did a little shopping. The city was really clean and nice. Really great architecture every where.

 

They also appeared to have affinity for cats. This was a cat feeding station. Strange. We also didn't see any Maltese dogs which was a little disappointing.

 

 

 

 

 

6) Mellasani Lake

 

Matt had watched some special on Greece and learned about Mellasani lake. It was a "must see" for Greece. We signed up originally for the English trip, but there weren't enough people so they cancelled it. We found a local tour company and fortunately the tour guide did not speak anything but English. Yay for us! We signed up and killed a little time in Argostoli before we left. We found some beer and an ice cream and sat near the dock and hung out. 

 

To get down to Mellasani lake you have to go down through a tunnel. Like my Grecian head band? I know I know, I can't help myself...

 



 

Look at how blue that water is! It was so clear no matter the depth (up to 40 ft) you could see the bottom.

 

 

It was a really neat experience to ride around in an under ground lake.

 

When we got back, we stopped for a snack. My friend Anna's family is from Greece and she has been several times. She told me that I had to try the octopus. So I went for it, several times! They sure do love olive oil down there too.

 

 

7) Taking a dip in the Adriatic Sea.

This wasn't necessarily a good experience but I am glad we did it. When we went on a excursion in Corfu, Greece and we got to spend some time on the beach. It was soooo cold. But I had to swim in it, right? So I got all the way in. I even put my head in, thinking it would feel better like it does in a pool. False. It was soo cold. It was like all the heat left my body. After a couple of strokes I got out of there.

 

 

 

8) This Guy.

 

 

I called him the French Robin Williams. Pretty decent comparison. It may look like a towel he is laying on. However, it is a decoration for the bed from his room. A very thin decoration. That looks very unpleasant. It also doubled as a rain coat when it was sprinkling on the way back. For some reason that just really tickled me.

 

 

What do you mean a decoration? See, it just decorates the end of your bed. Adds a little color if you will.

 

 But it turns out it has multiple purposes that we Americans are not privy to.

 After this excursion the man was every where. EVERY WHERE. He even walked in on Matt in the bathroom.

9). Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is in Croatia and the entire city is surrounded by a fortress. Someone who was a true business man came up with a great idea. Take an existing structure that was built oh say 500 years ago, and charge people $14/person (90 Kuna) to walk around it. Genius. And we did it. It was really beautiful though.

Perhaps not one of the greatest pictures of us....

This was one of the many views from the fortress.

 

 

 

After walking around the entire city (literally, there was no getting off the ride. Once you started, you kept going around the city).  We had a nice lunch which at what was sort of a remodeled alley. We had Octopus (again) and tried the local beer. Matt had olives (again). And we had cheese (for the hundredth time).

 

We wished we had more time there. The city had all cobblestone streets and everything was so uniform. It was also pretty clean.

 

10. And the one we have all been waiting for. The reason why we took this trip: Venice.

 

After our boat made it's final stop in Trieste, Italy, we got off to get our luggage. It turns out that Matt and I weren't actually authorized to get off of the boat, we just walked through like we owned the place. We kept getting funny looks, but I guess the language barrier kept people from stopping us. We took a bus ride to Venice and we got to see some more rural areas of Italy.  Many vineyards. It looked like a little slice of heaven. From our stop we took a cab to the hotel. About 12 km. Which is like 7 miles. 47 Euros. Currently the value of a Euro to the US Dollar is 1.33. So 47 X 1.33= $62.51. Shocking.

 

We quickly realized that Venice was going to be expensive. At least it was our last stop!

 

We took a bus to the actual city part (we stayed close to the air port to save money....).

 

30 km. 1.3 Euros. $1.73. Now we're talking. It was a nice bus too!

 

We really needed to eat, so what else? Pizza!

 

Oh... and beer. You know us.

 



 

 

I know the Italians invented it, but Matt and I think the Americans perfected it...

We stumbled upon this really cool place where you could bring in your own containers and buy wine by the liter. Eco friendly + wine + great prices. Why is this the first time I have seen such a thing!?!? You could also get a glass for one Euro. We were looking for a deal after that cab experience.

It started to rain so we found ourselves a nice little cafe and split a half carafe of wine while Matt apparently stole some internet. It was all actually quite charming.

 

On a side note, did you know that if you download the Skype app, you can add a denomination of money (I chose $5) and you can make international calls home for super crazy cheap as long as you have a wifi connection? Learned that several years ago and it has saved us a ton of money and hassle. Just sharing the wealth.

 

 

This was how the marked the restrooms in several restaurants. I guess some things are universal...

 

 

And what is a trip to Venice without a gondola ride?? It was stupidly expensive, but something you just gotta do.

It really was a nice ride. Every now and then I would sing bits and pieces of "That's Amore"

 

 

 

Matt ripped his pants getting out. Haha, whoops.

We wrapped up the evening with some shopping. We had a nice dinner along the canal. Then we took a bus back to the hotel. We slept a few hours and then off to the air port. We had a lay over in Amsterdam. Super cool airport. If you get the option of laying over in Paris or Amsterdam, TAKE AMSTERDAM!! Paris... yuck.

All in all, it was a really nice trip. I really enjoyed just being far away from the internet, home, and all distractions. Time to just spend with my husband. Time to discover new things. Last semester was rough and I reallly needed to detox. Now back to the grind! I have some fun summer posts coming soon!

 

 

 

 

 

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