My Year in Pictures

This year has been a bit of a roller-coaster.  Like every year it's had it's ups & it's down, but as an optimist I like to focus on the ups.  Looking back 12 months I've grown & learned so much, met so many amazing people & made friends that will last a lifetime.  I have pushed my boundaries & gone out of my comfort zone to do great things.  Starting this blog has been one of my best decisions & I truly enjoy writing here each day.  I've fallen in love with blogging & blogland.  I seriously cannot believe I've been doing this for 6 months.  I am looking forward to what blogging has in store for me.  I am also looking forward to sharing with everyone the things I will be doing in the new year.  However before we look forward into 2014 let's take a minute to recap 2013.   {Disclaimer: Please excuse the quality of these pictures, it's awful & most of them are from pre-blogging days!}
J A N U A R Y

January is my birthday month, which is why I love it!  It's a good thing that I also love the the snow because it snows every year for my birthday.  I turned 21 this year , unfortunately I did not have that crazy wild 21st birthday that everyone dreams of.  I had surgery in the beginning of January, & missed the first week of second semester; my first day back to school was my birthday.  I was exhausted that night & didn't go out, one of my best friends came & had dinner & wine with me though which was fun.  I was supposed to go to dinner the weekend after, but a snow/ice storm stopped that so I spent the night hanging out in my apartment with my friends.  I honestly didn't mind not having the crazy birthday, I was so exhausted from the surgery that I didn't need something else to make me tired!  Also all of my friends were great & made everything so much fun for me, regardless of the change of plans!
F E B R U A R Y

In February I made the decision to interview to join a new sorority on campus, Alpha Gamma Delta.  (I wore the pretty bow tights on my interview!)  A few days after my interview I accepted a bid to be a founding member of our school's chapter.  Being part of a new chapter has been a crazy ride, but I love it & wouldn't want it any other way.  In February, I also moved into a new apartment on campus because of roommate issues.  My new apartment was interesting, as I moved in with 3 girls I had never met before.  Two of the girls were really weird, but I made did make an amazing friend in the third girl who I had a great time living with!  The top right picture is from a crazy night at a bar in Philly.  Right after I moved my sister came to visit to celebrate her birthday, & one of my friends & I took her out, which is the bottom left.

M A R C H

March was a busy month for me.  I planned a sorority bonding event with a committee I was assigned to, that went really well.  Next, my cousin got married on St. Patricks Day, which was a blast!  I came home from school for the weekend to celebrate & attend the wedding.  She looked so pretty & I love the picture of my sister & I with her.  Finally we ended the month with Easter & all the fun festivities that come with that!

A P R I L

April was my sorority initiation & our chapter instillation, which was so exciting.  Initiation was such a cool experience that really brought me close to my sisters.  We also had our first formal, which was so so so much fun!  I spent the end of the month hanging out (& hitting the bars) with my friends who were graduating.

M A Y

May was an emotional month.  A little over a week after I finished school my cousin passed away; this was a trying time, but we all know that he is in a better place.  Before my cousin passed my sister & I had planned a trip to Florida.  My cousin's death was very hard on my mom, so we convinced her that she had to come with us to cheer up.  This trip was just what we all needed, it was so relaxing & happy.  We stayed with my Dad's brother who lives in a condo community that is exactly like a hotel, it was so cool.  I had never been to Disney World before (I had been to Disneyland though!), so we took 2 days out of our trip to go to Epcot & Magic Kingdom.  We had a blast there & 2 days was the perfect amount of time to spend there, not too much or too little.  It was such an amazing vacation.

J U N E

In the beginning of June I had surgery again so I had to lay low for most of the month.  There were two things that I really wanted to do though & was happy I made it to them.  My sister graduated from high school at the end of the month, which was so exciting.  It was a great time for all of us to celebrate her accomplishment.  The other thing I wanted to do was to go be an Orientation Counselor for a summer program I had done at school the summer before I was a freshmen.  It's always fun to meet the new freshmen & to get to hang out with some of my friends. {Sorry these pictures are AWFUL.}

J U L Y

July was a little slow because I was still resting from my surgery.  It was a great month though because my best friend of forever came to visit, which I was so excited about.  She usually spends the entire summer in New Jersey, but after she graduated in May she started all year round physical therapy graduate school that I am so proud of her for!  We got to hang out & hit the bars together, it was great!  In July I also went to a crazy 1st Birthday Party for the triplets that my sister babysits for.  These kids are too precious & my sister & I had so much fun picking out their presents.

A U G U S T

August always means the end of summer.  Thankfully I didn't start school until the end of the month so I got some extra time at home.  In the beginning of the month we hosted my sister's graduation party, which everyone enjoyed.  About a week after that my sister, bff, & I went on a day trip to NYC, which was a blast.  I'm not much of a beach person, but I did make it there once before I left.  Finally I headed back to school at the end of the month!

S E P T E M B E R

I had so much going on in September!  I spent a lot of time with my sorority sisters from charity events to family dinners.  We even held our first open recruitment & gave bids to 6 amazing girls.  At the end of the month we had our Grab-a-Date that I had a great time at!  It was a jam-packed & fun month!

O C T O B E R

October was a really good month.  I started it off at my sister's school's Family Weekend.  It was cool to walk around her campus & meet some of her friends that I hadn't previously met.  They also had a beer garden, which was awesome!  My Dad & I got to have a beer together at lunch.  The following weekend I headed home for October Break, this is always the perfect time for a break because it is half way through the semester.  While home my Mom & I headed to NYC one day & had an amazing time.  After break it was the start of basketball season, which means Hoopsmania.  Hoopsmania is one of the most fun events of the year!  Finally I ended the month by going to a big Halloween bash at a club in Philadelphia.

N O V E M B E R

November was a more chill month for me.  We initiated our 6 new members, & I loved going through the initiation ceremony again, it's so incredible.  A week or so after that, one of my very talented sorority sisters took amazing photos of me for my About Me page.  Last, it was my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving, which was a great way to finish the month.

D E C E M B E R

All of this leads up to this month, which I cannot believe is almost over.  I made my apartment holiday festive with my pink tree.  I had my sorority formal that was so fun.  I also made it through finals, which is the most amazing feeling ever.  To wrap up the month I baked Christmas cookies like crazy!  Christmastime is definitely the most wonderful time of the year.
This sums up the short version of my year.  I love having so many pictures to relive memories, it's crazy how looking at one can remind you of something you completely forgot about.  It's also really cool to go back through all the pictures like this & see all the things I did this year.  As I mentioned I have really grown & I am so thankful for being blessed with another year.  

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