Between my last blog post and now is definitely the longest I've gone without posting something, several times over. I thought in the spirit of the dregs of 2023, I'd jump on the bandwagon and do a year in review of sorts.
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| Did you think I'd actually pay for a photo here? |
In January, we were able to visit Dan's family in South Carolina, which is always a treat. In the beginning of February, we had COVID and rebound cases of COVID and I had to miss a work trip to DC (I love DC), but then I was able to join work colleagues at the end of February/beginning of March for a super interesting and fun conference in San Antonio. By that point, I had decided that I would do a half marathon in the end of May, so I was glad to have the opportunity to run by the Riverwalk - - once my delayed luggage arrived. (I got to wear my Oxford comma t-shirt for two days straight, including at the first day of work meetings; sorry for the stench!)
In March I went and spent some quality time with my stepmom Beth, who needed an extra hand with some things. Then, a week later, she and I met my sister Molly and niece Sylvie at my sister Lori's and brother-in-law Shane's house for an always-fun southern California escape. In the end of April, Dan and I went to a small town in Wisconsin for a Bluegrass festival. It was still kind of cold and snowy at that point.
Then, in early May, I had a trip for my side-hustle work project to San Diego. I had to stay the night that the meeting ended, due to flight issues. At this point, sometime shortly after my 10-mile training run (I did 10 miles, guys!), I could barely walk. But with my free afternoon, I rented a bike and showed the pre-judgey snooty bike shop guys not to be that way. And then I had some delicious sushi and the (handsome) bartender gave me a free extra cocktail because he thought maybe he could have done a better job making the first one. A week after that, I went to Wisconsin to dog sit when my mom had her knee replaced, and then helped with my mom's transition home. When I was dog-sitting, their dog and I went for a rather uncomfortable walk and got up close and personal with a very large black bear. That took my mind off the discomfort, but then I called the doctor in tears because I could barely walk and realized that I had a serious problem needing some urgent attention.
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| Okay, this is not the exact bear. This is a much larger bear: the 2023 Fat Bear winner, a brown bear from Alaska. |
The next week, after a frustrating visit to the orthopedic clinic that required some extra advocacy on my part to get an MRI in addition to an x-ray and a lot of calls from me to get information about what the results meant, practically, I was ordered to be on crutches for a couple of months, beginning the weekend I was supposed to do that run. So, we cancelled our Beercycling trip to Belgium (doctor's orders), and went to Grand Marais, Minnesota and to Decorah, Iowa instead. We had a lot of fun on those little trips, despite my crutches.
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| It was a million degrees and super dry in Minneapolis, but cold and rainy in Grand Marais. |
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| They call this an e-bike. I mean, I guess technically. |
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| A rare moment of sun on that trip! |
My sister and aunt and uncle also came to town in June for my nephew's high school graduation, and that was super fun. In the end of July we kicked of Home Remodeling Extravaganza 2023. As of today, we have a completely new kitchen, front and back doors, upstairs bathroom sink (because I broke ours during construction), and everything in a completely new basement bathroom except the mirror, which will get installed next week. We also had to fix our sewer pipe, something on the chimney, our gas line to our dryer, and our furnace thermostat. While we're at it, we decided today to get new gutters and are getting ready to do a second radon test because the first, short one was not great.
In August, I visited my mom and stepdad Terry, and my stepmom Beth came to visit. And then I got to meet the U.S. Surgeon General in DC. A lifetime highlight for sure!
In September, we went to Grand Rapids and saw Jason Isbell play there, and my cousins from St. Louis visited for Oktoberfest, and I guess I had another work trip! (Atlanta.) It was a work trip kind of year.
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| Love this sweatsuit that I bought on a whim in 2020, because 2020. |
In October, I visited my sister Molly, and her friend Kate and I (oh, and my sister, too) stayed at a beach house and watched dumb movies and did crafts, and then I did a trip for my side project to St. Louis and got to have lunch with my aunt and uncle before coming home. I had a work trip to Omaha, where I got to see my college-freshman nephew and see the band Wilco the night before doing a presentation before the National Association of Attorneys General. It wasn't my best presentation, but I got a lot of street cred with the other attendees who are Wilco fans.
In November, I visited my mom and stepdad Terry again, and had work trips to DC and to Des Moines. It was great to meet some new people on that DC trip and see some old work friends, and I got to carpool to Des Moines with a person I didn't really know before (from my old workplace), who I really like!
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| Terry and his buddy at dinner. |
In early December, we went to Mexico to see Wilco and other bands. It was very relaxing. I also went on this sailboat thing and went snorkeling for the first time. I'm a fan.
So... next year? I have a couple of fun weekends and some non-major trips planned. I'm going to focus on work-life balance and my health and wellness (and go back to the doctor to figure out some lingering issues with my injury from last year), and I'm going to bike! Yahoo! I signed up for the weeklong BikeMS ride in July, which is in a fun part of the state to visit - Northfield, Red Wing, St. Peter, etc.
As always, you are welcome to donate: https://events.
