Best of 2013.

I don't even know where this year has gone. It was full of ups and downs, and has certainly kept me on my toes. I feel that I have really gained a strong sense of self, and I am thankful for that.

Some of the highlights?

|| january ||

I rang in the new year and celebrated my Quarter-Century birthday with my best friends.

|| february ||

I saw Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan in concert with the parentals.

While the venue was beyond disgusting and awful, they never fail to put on an amazing show!

|| march ||

I spent an uneventful weekend in Massachusetts, but did get to see Bill Cosby live, which was pretty great.

|| april ||

I visited Popop in Florida with my Mom. We celebrated his 90th Birthday (a little early), and spent the week lounging by the pool soaking up the sun. 

This little blog was born as well!

|| may ||

I traveled to Colorado for the first time and fell head over heels in love with the state. It was hands down one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and am already counting down the days until I can go back again. I loved exploring a new area, spending a ridiculous amount of time with family, and relaxing.

Popop met his great-grandchildren for the first time.

I also visited DC and spent a weekend being a tourist and seeing some of my best friends!

|| june ||

June was fairly uneventful. I saw Rascal Flatts with the famjam and ventured to Chipotle for the first time (yes, my mind was blown and I'm officially addicted).

*seeing this picture again makes me miss summer more than anything

|| july ||

This was probably my favorite month of the year. My family had our annual reunion. My store moved locations and we got a fabulous new upgrade. We packed up and headed out of the country for our family vacation! We enjoyed our all-inclusive resort, zip lining, dune buggying, and being unplugged for 7 days.

|| august ||

The weekend after returning from Punta Cana, we saw Kenny Chesney, Eric Church & The Eli Young Band at MetLife Stadium. Hands down one of the best concerts that I have ever been to (and that includes all of the Jimmy Buffett concerts I frequented as a young child).

We loved the Eli Young Band so much that we headed to the county fair for corn dogs and another concert!

|| september ||

Labor Day weekend was spent with Angie, and The Zac Brown Band.

In the middle of the month, my family (and Josie) headed down to ECU to visit the little brother. The weekend was complete with Chick Fil A, Hokie Football, sunburns, too much liquor, and a tour of their XO Chapter house.

I received a promotion at work, and was so excited to be moving up!

|| october ||

Our annual family reunion happened in Florida, and it was the first time that my favorite babies got to see the beach.

I celebrated Kristen's birthday at The Village Pourhouse and watched my poor Hokies lose to Duke. Certainly not my favorite moment of October...

|| november ||

I spent a few weekends with Josie screaming over football. Most importantly, we watched VT kill Miami. A few weeks later, we celebrated a glorious Auburn win over Alabama with drinks and a late night tourist sesh in NYC to take advantage of what few weeks she had left in NYC (for now)!

Thanksgiving was a small affair this year and we were lucky to have Angie join us for a few days.

|| december ||

This month started out in a blur. Dad and I did our annual Christmas shopping for Mom.

Momma spent a few days in the hospital with a yucky blood infection.

Christmas came and left quickly, but I was lucky enough to spend lots of time with family and stuffing my face with delicious food.

Josie and I kicked off birthday celebrations with appointments at drybar, a super fabulous hotel, and an overload of best friend time. It was the perfect way to end the year and kick off our 26th year of life!

What were your favorite moments from 2013?

A Trip to Mystic

For the first time in quite a few weeks, I had a Saturday off. This is a rare occurrence, and I knew I had to take full advantage. I headed out to the boyfriends house on Friday after work. These beauties were waiting for me when I got there (isn't he the best!?) 

We passed out early so we could make the best of the day.  Over coffee, we booked a long weekend trip to DC at the end of the month and started planning all of the super fun things we can do (hello, I want to play tourist like it's no one's business)! P has never been to DC, and neither one of us has taken Amtrak, so it should definitely be an adventure!

After brunch, we headed to Mystic to explore the Aquarium and the Seaport. The weather was perfect. Mid 70's and sunny. We could not have asked for a better day!

The Mystic River

Crew teams getting ready for their races

After walking around for hours, we had worked up quite the appetite and headed to dinner at Latitude 41º. We were celebrating a mini anniversary, so this was the perfect place to do so. I only wish the patio had been open so we could have enjoyed dinner on the water. Maybe next time!

After dinner we headed to the bakery, picked up some fudge, and headed home. I was one sleepy girl after playing tourist all day and certainly welcomed a movie and low-key night in (I did have to work early sunday morning after all...).

I could not have asked for a better day off!

What did you do this weekend!?