A Year in Review & 2010 Resolution

Over the past week, being away from work, I've had some time to think about New Year's Resolutions. I typically don't like to do New Years Resolutions that are critical, but rather resolve to add something to my life. This year's resolution is to become a more consistent blogger!

Kicking off the resolution, I decided what better time to summarize the wonderful year that was 2009! Looking back over the year, I have to say that I really am a very fortunate girl to have such amazing friends, family and celebrations to review.

January 2009: Kicked off the new year with a New Years Party at my house!

Then, we had Kate's birthday party at the end of January - which also happens to be the birthdate of our affinity for luxury. Here's a funny picture of the "3 best friends" doing a photo shoot:

February 2009: We celebrated Katherine's 25th birthday in VAIL. Such a wonderful weekend of skiing and hanging out with good friends. Every time that I go to Colorado, I'm even more convinced that I'm meant to live in the mountains. There really is a reason that they call it "God's Country"

With Danielle, Vanessa and Kitty for our photo shoot at Blue Sky Basin:

March 2009: We got a puppy - Charles! I have wanted a dog for a long time, and when I saw a poster in my office building for a puggle puppy looking for a good home, I told Matt that I just wanted to "meet him" and see from there. Of course, about 30 seconds after meeting him, I was making arrangements for him to stay permanently. With a face, this cute - how was I supposed to say no? (Side note: It's that exact phrase that gets me into trouble with actually training him)

April 2009: My girlfriends and I went to visit San Francisco! When I first graduated from college I had this group of friends in Columbus that definitely formed my first fun post-college years. Sadly, 3 of the 6 got new jobs in New York and San Fran and our group in Columbus spread across the country. The best part about them moving, is that we're really good about planning yearly trips to see each other. This year we had 2 reunions! The first was in San Fran, where the entire weekend was spent telling everyone what time it was on the East Coast:

Also, this trip was in the midst of training for a half marathon - so that weekend included a killer 11 mile run with crazy hills, AND a short 3 miler across the Golden Gate Bridge:

May 2009: Began the craziness that was summer 2009. I ran a half marathon the first weekend of May, and only have "post-race" pictures because my parents missed me crossing the finish line (and consequently didn't get any action shots). I even re-enacted the finish and they still missed it:

As soon as I finished the race, I remember saying to myself..."I could have run longer" - and thus began my summer of running and training for the Columbus Marathon.

Memorial Day weekend we celebrated Katie B.'s bachelorette party in Charleston, SC. Such a fun weekend with a great group of girls. Here we are in downtown Charleston:

June 2009: We celebrated my 26th birthday with a party at my house:

July 2009: We started off by an awesome trip with college friends to Lake Chautauqua, NY. Somehow, I don't have any pictures from this weekend! Sad, but here's a picture of the beautiful lake:

Also, we had another reunion weekend with the 2005-2006 Columbus crew. We re-enacted the weekends we used to have when we were 22, and suffered the harsh realization that we're getting older:

August 2009: Wow. Where do I start? We had 3 weddings in one week - the first week of August. First, my best friend from growing up and college got married to another Denison friend. The wedding weekend in Granville was basically a cliff notes version of our 4 years in college.

Here's the happy couple with DJ Don (the creepy DJ who worked all of our sorority bar parties in college - good news, he hasn't changed a lick.)

After their wedding, we flew to Aruba for Matt's college roommate - Traver's wedding. Trav & Allison had a gorgeous ceremony on the beach...seriously, does the backdrop get any better than this?

The night after the wedding, I planned a dinner for just Matt and I. Little did I know, that this dinner I planned would end up being the site of our engagement! Matt asked me to marry him while at a lighthouse on the end of the island! We celebrated with a beautiful champagne dinner at sunset...Here we are in our first picture as fiances:

Then we flew back to Columbus to celebrate the Brumbaugh-Brollier wedding! Such a wonderful couple, great party and of course, full of luxury and love. Also, it was pretty much a Denison reunion (part 2):Love these two:

If the whirlwind wedding / engagement week wasn't enough..my friends planned an engagement party for the next weekend! Here we are with our lovely hosts:

Finally, to wrap up August 2009 - Eric and Mackenna got married! They had a wonderful celebration in Columbus, with great wine (Eric's a wine distributor) Here's the happy couple:

September 2009: Over Labor Day - we joined the annual hike up Mt. LeConte in Tennessee. Here's the entire gang, and then a picture with Nug at the top of the mountain, were we stayed after our hike up:

September was also filled with a lot of training runs and Buckeye games. Here's a picture from the OSU - USC game:

October 2009: I ran my first marathon! I've already had a full post about this one - so here's a quick picture summary:

I also took my friends to the Circleville Pumpkin Show:

And Vanessa's and I went to Chicago to visit Kitty (she moved there in August):November 2009: The Coe's announced that they are moving to Chicago - and the only way to make up for their departure was to throw an awesome party! Here's a great picture with my crazy co-workers:

And then my co-worker Liz got married - and the Weber crowd brought the party :)

The beautiful bride, Liz:

December 2009: The birth of my nephew, James Henry! We saw him over Christmas and he is just the most wonderful little boy. We also had our annual Holiday Luxury party, Weber Christmas party, Christmas in Marietta AND DC and then New Years (all those pictures are still on my camera, and will be a future post because I'm running out of steam!)

I know it doesn't seem possible - but I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be even better than 2009! And, thanks to my new year's resolution I'll bring you all along for the ride (if I still have any readers!)