Christmas has come and gone (phew!) and now we're on the fast track to the end of 2011. It's funny when you get to this time of the year and realize how much has changed in the last year. Now that I have surpassed the "toy" stage and been catapulted in to the "real world" at 190MPH, it's a bittersweet moment when your heart skips a beat over the new Dyson vacuum cleaner you asked for from "Santa". All vacuums aside, 2011 was a sweet victory of a year.
The year started out with the joys of being an intern for a public relations firm in Alexandria, VA, and living at home with my parents. Not saying there is anything wrong with a 23-year-old intern still living at home after a year sabbatical in the horse world, but it brings with it an array of new challenges and portrays the true personalities that have developed within a mildly bazaar yet functional family. Okay, so living at home wasn't THAT bad. Considering I was blessed with the type of family that doesn't require rent or pet fee, I had it pretty good.
In January I acquired a new job as a marketing assistant working for a political action committee in downtown Washington, DC. Not exactly where I thought I would be, but the potential of being able to pay my own horse bills was right up my alley.
In February I took Wanda to Aiken, SC to work with PD for the winter, which turned out good and bad. The good being that she returned with a positive outlook on eventing, which lasted through the summer competition season. I also had the opportunity to take a class on SQL through work, which was more than instrumental in learning about some key tools we utilize.
In March I completed in entirety an official press release, which was published to thousands of newspapers across the U.S. My interview was less than conventional, but turned out better than I could have anticipated, and we received numerous positive responses. I could not have been more thrilled about that.
In April I woke up one day and decided to head out to Kentucky for the weekend of the Rolex 3-Day Event, which I had dreamed about attending since I was tiny. I used bank points to acquire a flight and friend connections for a place to stay, and Groupon helped me buy some half-price tickets to the Cross Country day of Rolex. It was an absolute dream being there, and I loved that I now knew most of the riders from working at PD's last year. It was a milestone in my book.
In May I unfortunately lost one of my best friends, our horse Dublin. It is incredibly hard to lose an animal, especially one which you spent so much time with and learned so much from. He was truly an amazing creature and one that I will never forget. It was devastating.
In June I celebrated my 24th birthday among friends, and it was nothing short of ridiculous. I learned that Monday birthdays are NOT meant for drinking!
In July I met my soon-to-be roommates on Craigslist, and proceeded to search for apartments in Arlington with them. I also traveled (thanks parents!) to Bermuda for a week with my family, which I had never been to before. It was gorgeous, and I was able to check one more box on thee ole passport.
In August I was given a promotion to manager of membership services, and I moved in to my own place, a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom townhouse in South Arlington with my dog, Keana. I also traveled to Caledonia, NY, where I stayed with a Pony Club connection and went on a foxhunt with the Genessee Valley Hunt. In that same trip, I learned to milk a goat and feed sheep.
In September I competed most weekends and moved up to Training level with Wanda.
In October I traveled to New Hampshire for my friend from college's wedding. I got to see my roommates again for the first time since we graduated in May '09. Reunited, and it felt GREAT! In that weekend, we traveled to New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts.
In November I got to spend a significant amount of time with my friend who had been deployed to Afghanistan, and had returned to Virginia for 15 days over Thanksgiving. I spent Thanksgiving at Millwood with grandma, my uncle, mom, dad, and brother, and was thankful for everyone being able to be there for another year.
In December I got to experience the holiday party tradition of the professional world, which was eye-opening to say the least! I spent Christmas with the entire family, and enjoyed every second of it.
So thank you 2011. And hopefully the world won't really end in 2012 :)
