2008 in review

Looking back on 2008, it was all-in-all one of my best years. I was able to travel some, my relationship with Keegan grew and evolved, I earned my bachelor's degree, and I moved on to the next phase of my life (which would be graduate school). I thought a little bit about each month of the past year, trying to remember what all happened to me; it's weird how each individual day seems to pass slowly, but the months on whole seem to fly by. I'm sure before I know it, it'll be February and I'll be stressing about different wedding details...

January 2008: At this time all of my grad school applications were in, which is definitely something worth remembering.

February 2008: Around February I started construction on my senior design project with my sweet team; big deal in the grand scheme of my undergraduate education.

March 2008: (And actually February 29) I spent a week in Ecuador working on a house with Habitat for Humanity; what an amazing trip! I've caught the travel bug for sure now, but what I really took from the trip was learning to appreciate all the wonderful things I'm fortunate enough to have and definitely don't need. I'd like to find another program through Duke which does the same sort of international outreach. I'm also pretty sure this was the month I decided to attend Duke for graduate school.

April 2008: Senior design project completed and successfully presented at two symposiums, Honors Capstone project completed, relax for a bit before graduation.

May 2008: This was a big month! I graduated from NCSU, turned 22 years old, and celebrated my two year anniversary with Keegan all over 3 days. Lots of cake was involved. I also took a two week trip to the southwest with my grandparents to celebrate (which was mainly their chance to tell everyone we met that their granddaughter graduated with a 4.0 and was going to Duke for her Ph.D. ...I'm not kidding) and to enjoy the gorgeous scenery and national parks. I spent time in Nevada (Las Vegas), California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

June 2008: Spent looking for townhouses to move into before the start of classes in August. Also worked ridiculous hours at Target, but that's okay, at least I have a discount and it enabled me to at least earn gas money for the summer.

July 2008: Went to meet most of Keegan's extended family in the Northeast; attended what I refer to as "Brochufest", the huge family reunion held by his dad's side of the family. Spent time in and/or drove through Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. July 9, 2008: Keegan proposed!

August 2008: Keegan and I moved into the townhouse found through many a search. My graduate classes began. Set wedding date for June 20, 2009.

September 2008: Keegan turned 23! We took our first trip together up to visit my dad in Virginia; Keegan was able to see the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time. We picked the design of our wedding cake and booked a photographer. We also attended a marriage prep forum required by the Catholic Church; it was very helpful for us and we continue to talk about things brought up at the forum as we prepare for our wedding and life together.

October 2008: Celebrated our first Halloween living together by answering the doors for trick-or-treaters and carving pumpkins. Bought my wedding dress! (!!!)

November 2008: Spent much time at school working on projects.

December 2008: Found florist and selected flower types; I did well on final exams and first semester in grad school but spent two weeks seriously sick and generally not enjoying life. We bought our first Christmas tree together and had fun decorating our house with random things accumulated from relatives, but I'm sure the collection will grow over time. Most likely at an alarming rate.

So all in all a terrific year! Looking back on it, I am surprised to realize that on top of going to Ecuador, I was in 17 states (adding NC and Florida to those previously listed) and I'm confident that 2009 will bring even more excitement.

I know for sure that I'll be in Bermuda in the coming year- we booked/paid for our honeymoon yesterday- I'm so excited! In case anyone is interested, here's where we will be staying for 7 nights :-)

I'm also sure the year will bring many challenges- I think I will enjoy my classes, but it will be time for me to really start delving deeper into what I'd like to focus on for research and to learn about various techniques that I'll need to use. I think I'll be able to work with Heidi some, at least to observe how she works with her animals. I will also start writing my first review paper this semester, so hopefully that will be submitted and accepted for publication sometime throughout the year.

On an unrelated note, I received the Planet Earth DVD collection for Christmas and it is excellent; I certainly recommend it to anyone and everyone. I've only watched 4 episodes (there are 15 total) but I can't wait to watch the rest of them. They are fascinating and offer a lot of behind the scenes info about how the different sections were filmed. I was also given a series called the World's Last Great Places made by National Geographic, so I have no lack of television to watch. It's that travel bug again, that's why I requested all sorts of documentary-type things :-P

Happy New Year! And belated Christmas wishes :-)