On the last day of the year, in my personal journal, I always write out a list of all the things that happened in the past year. The main things that stand out as being fun or unique or challenging or rewarding in that year. It's a really good way to easily look on one page and see how far I've come in a year... which then helps me to see where I'd like to go with the next year!
What happened to me in 2008?
We rang in the New Year with an awesome visit from Astrid! We went into downtown Columbus to do some celebrating!
This one might sound weird to you.
Evan got that giant bag of grosgrain ribbons from work for free. They were going to throw them away at work... and we can NOT sit back and watch that happen. We are totally against wasting perfectly good materials!!!
We find all sorts of creative uses for them (they keep our curtains tied open, they're cat toys, they hold wires from video game systems in place, and they look beautiful wrapped around all of our Christmas presents this year!)
In February, we drove up to Saginaw, Michigan to celebrate Evan's 23rd Birthday with our friend Megan! And we surprised him with a visit from Sarah & Charlie!
We moved into our new apartment that is closer to work and has 2 bedrooms instead of 1 and 2 bathrooms instead of 1!
I got a promotion! Associate Textile Designer here I come!
That was the same day that Peter came into our lives! He was here for an interview! *he got the job*
We took a 7 hour trip up to Alpena, Michigan for my friend Ashley's bridal shower and bachelorette party.
In March we headed back up to Michigan for another visit. This time, to Grand Rapids to see Melanie and Corey!
We came home to what was known as "The Blizzard of 2008".
There was so much snow on, around and behind Evan's car that he had to call in sick to work in the morning because he couldn't get it out!
And we don't own a shovel... and all the stores were sold out!
In April, it was Peter's 23rd birthday! We had a night of adventures which involved eating dinner, getting drinks, going to another bar, trying not to get dragged on stage by a drag queen, finding a random party and then waking up with flat tummies from drinking too much vodka!
We also went to Michigan to see Sarah & Charlie in their new apartment!
AND we got a new cat! We named him Tiny Tim because of his sickly demeanor. Turns out... he WAS VERY SICK and we had to take him back a week later.
Dahlia didn't like him anyway...
In May, Ashley & Fred got married!
It was also my first experience being in a wedding!
My boss, Amanda, had a birthday party and got a bouncy castle for her backyard!! Those things were so fun as a kid... but jumping in them at twentysomething years old with a belly full of snacks and wine... ughhhhh.....
Earlier that day, we made out like bandits at the Sample Sale!! Our second one and we felt like seasoned professionals... attacking it with a strategy.
At the end of the month, we went back to Michigan yet again! We wanted to make a trip to see some family in Grand Rapids.
We went to the mall and did some shopping and rock wall climbing!
I learned a bit about planting from Aunt Molly while visiting - and went home and planted some flowers of my own for the first time!
*can I just say that it is now late December and the spikey plant is still alive!!*
In June, Sarah & Charlie came down to visit us and see our new apartment! We did a lot of karaoke singing and wandered downtown Columbus for a bit as well.
Summer is official by June and we make it a goal to have as many perfect weekends as we can. The first one I like to call
"Perfect Day at the Pool with Peter". He will remember it too.
What happened next in June? OH YES. Evan's Mom and sister came down to visit us for a few days. We went to the zoo.
AND Evan proposed!!
A few days later, on the 20th, I turned 24!
Turns out, 24 isn't so bad and I happen to like it a lot.
My mom is an amazing and beautiful soul and she totally spoiled me on this day even though she is so far away.
And then I got spoiled at work, too!!
The next weekend we went on a vacation! We drove up to Michigan and stayed in a little cabin for a week with Mom & family! We sat by the lake, boated, feasted and played for days and days.
The weekend after our vacation, my boss got married!
Heidi and Peter took me to try on some wedding dresses so we could get an idea of what looks good or not so good on me.
We're designing it and making it ourselves so we definitely didn't go to buy and I think the lady "helping" us got the hint real fast. She didn't help at all!!
*David's Bridal has the ugliest dresses I've ever seen.*
On July 2nd... this blog - Running Stitch - was born!!
I had just really discovered what blogging actually WAS and decided that it was something I should've been doing a long time ago.
Running Stitch is named after the most simple and primitive of stitches. It is so simple yet so beautiful and attractive and perfect. It can look crafty but is versatile enough to be used in a very high-end way.
The blog is meant to be a vault of all things I want to capture, talk about, revisit and share that have to do with living, loving and of course... stitching.
Thanks for joining me on my journey!!!
We spent Independence Day with Heidi and Peter and his friend Gabby.
Oh yes I never mentioned the day that Heidi got a job here and joined us in Columbus!! I believe that was in June. That was VERY exciting!
We took a trip up to Cleveland to see Ashley & Fred and their new place. We did fun things like sweat a lot in their house without any AC, made yummy dinner on the grill, played around in the Great Lakes Science Center, learned about Egypt in the Omni Theater, and Evan got a tattoo!
I got a new camera. It takes BEAUTIFUL pictures!
It literally makes me have hate for my old crappy 4.1 megapixel piece of junk. I had no idea how deprived of nice photos I was until this new 12.1 megapixel borderline affordable camera came along.
Someday, I will get a professional camera and have the ultimate in deliciously beautiful photographs.
In August, Heidi and I begin designing my wedding dress.
Astrid & Jane came to Columbus for our annual reunion!!
We had 5 days of AMJ madness!!
I started to push myself into the "handmade" lifestyle as much as possible. Gifts, cards, grocery bags, etc. I want it to become a habit. Why go buy it when I can make it? Why throw it away when I can re-use it?
My cousin Eric got married!! Congrats Eric & Megan :)
While in Alpena, Evan and I decided to drive around and take pictures of some memorable places. This is the house where I spent some of my childhood.
I practiced cartwheels in that little front lawn.
In September, I went on a work trip to Brimfield. This is my second time going there for work. I LOVE it and would go there every year if I could! (even though I did get sick both times I went... allergies??).
I discovered... Artful Blogging. Another one of those things that I said "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!?!" as soon as I saw it (and then realized that I said it out loud and looked around to see who heard me).
We did an Engagement Photo Shoot in September with Peter as our photographer, my new camera as the workhorse, Heidi as the moral support and that 1950's dress from Brimfield as the shining star.
Sarah & Charlie got engaged and asked us both to be in their wedding!
We went up to Michigan to visit Sarah & Charlie to celebrate their engagement and Charlie's 25th Birthday!! We had a fun day at the apple orchard and a fun night at Buffalo Wild Wings!
We got our rings custom made.
I had my first give-away on my blog!
I had a successful Halloween as an Aberzombie.
I scared people. It was good.
In November, I played with new ideas.
I also had my first sale!!
Our old TV broke so we got a new one!
We got our wedding rings!
Evan and I decided to get married in our apartment complex Clubhouse. We decided to have a small intimate wedding on January 17th, 2009.
We met Kelli Martin and saw her fashion show at her boutique, Black Market.
Thanksgiving on the floor with friends is quite possibly the best idea, ever.
In December we rocked out with Girl Talk at the company Christmas Party!
And then celebrated Christmas together.
