2017 Recap

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! I cannot believe it’s already 2018, it feels like yesterday we were just starting 2017. So much has happened this year and I can say it’s been the best yet. I am so excited for all the memories, personal growth and accomplishments that are to come with this new year! Before I get into my goals and resolutions, let’s recap this past year:

JANUARY

• Started off the new year engaged in Las Vegas and got to meet my husbands side of the family for the first time.

APRIL

• I got married to my best friend in the entire world on April 9th.

JUNE

• Traveled to Scotland for a girls weekend with one of my favorite girlfriends that I met a year prior in Croatia and hiked one of the tallest mountains there, Loch Lomond.

JULY

This had to be the most stressful but fun month of the entire year!

• After living there for two years, I FINALLY got to explore the Croatian coast with my mama and took a boat tour out to three Croatian islands; even getting to swim in the amazing green cave.
• Moved back to America for the first time in EIGHT years, which was a major lifestyle change for me. I still find myself struggling to adjust to American customs, which may sound weird but when you haven’t lived here for so long you forget certain important things like driving laws are actually enforced, everyone speak english, and unless you live in a major city, public transportation can be a rare find.
• Ended three years of long, long distance. Now this doesn’t mean the end of those late night phone calls and missed holidays, since we still are dealing with the Corps, but we get to come home to each other every night after work. That in itself is a HUGE change that we are still adjusting to but it makes our hearts so happy to be start and end each day with each other.
• Went to Sea World, La Jolla at dusk, and enjoyed nightlife in downtown San Diego.
• My husband and I took a cross-country road trip from California to our new home in North Carolina, stopping in eight new states along the way.

AUGUST

• We moved into our first home TOGETHER! The time to compromise on couches and decorating has commenced!
• Two of my best friends got engaged! Ryan had told me of his plans to propose to my best friend a month before and it was the hardest secret to keep, especially since she is so hard to keep secret from. But we pulled it off and my best friend of 15 years finally gets to marry the man of her dreams!

SEPTEMBER

• Anyone who knows me knows that I am big on changing my hair color, brown is just so boring, so I took a leap and dyed my hair blonde. Who knows what color I might try next.

OCTOBER

• We got to bring home our first fur-baby! Koda Escaros officially joined the family on October 5th, 2017 and has brought us so much joy and happiness since!

NOVEMBER

• Celebrated our first Thanksgiving together EVER. We cooked all day together and created some new traditions to carry over in the years to come!
• Woke up at 3am on Black Friday to enjoy some of that craziness and get our Christmas shopping done.

DECEMBER

• Got to decorate our tree and house as well as celebrate 4 years of being together! We spent the days leading up to the holiday watching some of our favorite movies, Elf and Christmas Vacation.

This has been a crazy, action-packed year full of huge changes for me but I learned so much about myself and I can’t wait for this year! Here are some of my goals for 2018:

1. Learn to live more in the moment. I am a planner, I love to plan our vacations or our meals for the week but my goal this year is to just live in the moment. It is very difficult to make any vacation plans due to the Marine Corps so I hope to be more spontaneous with our trips/activities.
2. Experiment more in the kitchen. I love to cook but I usually stick to recipes I grew up with or just improvise a meal instead. This year I really plan to experiment more with different cuisines and to expand my culinary knowledge.
3. Try something new every month. If I can accomplish this then it will be a great way to better myself. I am usually up for trying new things so I can’t wait to document what I have tried one year from now!
4. Better myself, physically and mentally. Yes, yes this is a super cliche resolution but over this past year I have really tried to focus on battling my anxiety and I am so proud of the progress I’ve been making! 2018 is all about being a healthier, better, stronger, more confident me.
5. Increase and strengthen my creativity. This year I really plan to focus on my blog and writing. This is something that is a passion of mine and I already have so many posts planned out so I can’t wait to share it with you all.

Happy 2018! I hope this year is full of love, laughs, and happiness!

xo Emili