Oh 2019, what a year!! Reflecting back on this year, I feel it was one of my most stressful years. I successfully completed 3 more semesters of my MBA program, bringing me to the halfway point which is a HUGE accomplishment. The summer and fall semesters were definitely really challenging and my weekends were mostly spent doing homework, giving me little free time to enjoy the summertime and fall. In the fall, I feel like I was better at enjoying the weekends until I hit October and then it was just getting through the semester. I know that I chose this and I still love the program, but I definitely need to work on some things as well and accept that this is just a phase in my life right now.
The start of 2019 I got into yoga practicing daily and I don’t remember when I exactly fell off that bandwagon, but I did and I need to get back. I was concentrating on school and my powerlifting meet I had in April, which did not go as planned for me. In the meantime, somewhere around March, it seemed my work department all came down with the plague of some sort. I managed to scoot by other than the first weekend in April when I found myself exhausted and not feeling great and spending the weekend on the couch. That later led to Brian mentioning a red spot on my back appearing. I didn’t think much of it until spots began to spread down my back and chest. Thinking I was dying (slight exaggeration but freaking out a bit as it spread), I went to the dermatologist towards the end of April and was diagnosed with Pityriasis rosea. Apparently it’s a viral thing that starts with a big patch and can also start with a fever which I might have had that one weekend. There is no treatment, it just takes about 10 weeks to go away. This was only slightly comforting considering I was getting married in less than a month from when this was diagnosed. It’s a good thing I wasn’t a bridezilla or anything. So yes, I still had spots on my back and stomach and even the tops of my thighs on my wedding day. Thankfully my friends tried to cover up the shoulder spots as much as possible and unless you look closely at the wedding photos, you don’t see them. The other interesting thing about this rosea was that it’s supposed to go away with no marks, but my back got a bit burned on our honeymoon and because the skin was already damaged from the rosea, the spots didn’t burn, but still show on my back maybe because I got burned around them? I really have no idea, but those areas are slightly lighter in color on my back so it did leave a scar basically. I will also say it definitely took the full 10 weeks for this to go away, but I was glad it wasn’t contagious or anything and it didn’t hurt.
In May, I finished my spring semester and we got MARRIED!! FINALLY!! I was so happy that everything came together as it should. I was only sad that the time with my friends was so short and busy. I had a wonderful 10 days off from work as we went to Charleston for our beach wedding and then flew to Atlanta for a day and then Aruba for our honeymoon. I learned that Aruba sun is NO JOKE and I thought Australia sun was no joke. As much as I tried to continuously put on sunscreen, I got pretty burned on our boat ride to snorkel and that burn bothered me for the end of the trip and Aruba Aloe Vera lotion was my BFF. You can check out wedding posts here, here and here. Aruba recaps are here and here.
Aruba was still amazing. I loved our Airbnb away from the crowds and tourist area. I enjoyed yoga at Rachel Brathen’s studio and Brian finished his scuba certification. I also enjoyed driving an ATV for the first time through the desert. Since our wedding and honeymoon was our main trip of the year, I am itching to travel again and hoping that 2020 will have a few trips, probably within the US though.
Summer semester kicked off while we were honeymooning so I started my reading and homework there. The summer semester is also 4 weeks shorter than a regular semester so it was constantly busy and it was the first time I had tests in each class and midterms and finals were on the same weekends. This is why summer flew by and we didn’t go hiking like we wanted or any mini trips. Then in August we had our reception at our house. The reception went great and Brian’s family did most of the food. I got a giant cookie cake from Wegmans which was a hit and I was surprised by how many family members were able to travel out to see us. I was thankful for that.
The wedding festivities didn’t end until Labor day weekend when we took a trip up to Tupper Lake and had a mini party there as well. That was fun since my only job was to show up and I had fun chatting and bringing my wedding album to show everyone.
September jumped right into the Fall semester and Economics was killing me. I did get to take a short trip to Chicago for a work conference and I LOVED it. I spent a day with my parents and then was able to enjoy beautiful 70 degree weather in Chicago and learn at the conference. It was a nice change of scenery from the office.
In October, the highlight of the month was going down to NYC and seeing Harry Potter on Broadway. The show was absolutely amazing and worth it. Brian and I also celebrated 10 years dating. So as we enter this new decade next year, we are officially married and only took us 10 years. We have grown so much and traveled to so many places. I’ll save it for another post about this last decade.
November was pretty much about getting through school. I was stressed for sure and there were lots of changes at work as well. Just a lot going on and I feel like at the end of December, things are finally beginning to settle into place.
As for December, I was happy to continue with making gingerbread cookies and counted down to my final exam and freedom for the holidays. December started out with a big snow storm that has already closed the schools for a day. I feel we are due for a bad winter and this is only the start. Every time it snows like crazy I question my car and want a new one, but I also need to save up for one and have had many big expenses/investments between a house, school and a wedding this past year. It makes it hard to save for travel currently, but I just have to work through this next year and a half to be on the other side of school.
I looked back on my reflection last year and my word of the year I chose was Growth. I think in some ways it was a major year of Growth. This was the first year that Brian was home the entire year and we were together. It was challenging figuring out routines together because we both are so used to separate routines. We also have different work schedules so there are still many things we have separate. In the beginning of the year I was strong with my powerlifting, but that kinda fell in the summer when school work picked up and I wasn’t into the mindset as much. I still went to the gym, but didn’t spend as much time at the gym. I have learned since October and hurting my shoulder that I need to step back and do workouts that take maybe 45 minutes instead of an hour and a half. I also need more yoga, because that has felt amazing lately and I need to stretch and foam roll more. Working on my recovery and my eating as well. There has been tremendous growth in my job since I got a new role recently. I hope in January, I can have more of a routine with this new role. While I didn’t hit all my points on Growth, I hit some major ones and we made it another year.
2019 was very challenging, but with big life events as well. I look forward leaving 2019 behind and moving forward to 2020.
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