2014 in review

2014 was so good to me. I always wondered why people claimed this. How can a year be good to you? Don't you have to put the effort in yourself to get good out of the year? 2014 most definitely changed my opinion. It seemed that everything I thought was going to go horribly wrong turned out okay, and things I looked forward to didn't disappoint. 

I realize I didn't really update much on the blog this (last?) year. At least, not as much as I could've. But luckily, my instagram was always up to date. So. Here's a favorite from each month in 2014. Some crazy things happened this year! 

January: We said goodbye to London. After six months of living there, it was hard to go. But somehow I knew when we left that I'd be back. True to my predictions, my parents decided to buy a flat in the eastern part of the city. And hopefully, fingers crossed, I can figure out how to go to graduate school in the UK.

February: Starting college was a major shell shock for me. I think, especially for someone as talkative as I am, it was weird being somewhere where everyone had their own thing going on, and I was supposed to figure out my thing alone. (You mean I can't talk to you, random person, about my life??) It was harder than I thought it would be, but something that made me stronger overall.

March: Spring break in March was spent cleaning out my childhood home. Now, 9 months later, I realize how sudden it all was, moving on from the place that I knew every corner of, the place that watched me turn from a bumbling toddler into an annoying preteen and further into whatever it is I am now. I think this was for the best, because if we'd dwelled on the move we might not have gotten the guts to do it at all.

April: The view from our new condo. It's smaller, there are dents and scrapes and an unmistakable draft in the winter, but it's home now. And everything we need is right downstairs (see: the Giants stadium).

May: My first semester in COLLEGE (!!!!!!) ended without much flourish, but exactly the way I needed it to. New friends were made, new limits tested, new things learned (I think, at least). It was a quiet semester, but the perfect ease into university.

June: A customary trip with my best friend's family took us to New Zealand. I caught a nasty cold and I'm terrible at hiking (which we did a lot of) but the views were incredible, and thus, any discomfort was worth it (I think this is my new motto). I also made a new friend!! Honey Maple was super friendly.

July: This summer was LONG. I've never had three months to gallivant around before, and so I had to give myself some structure. I worked for two months in a creative agency, such a cool experience! Weekends were spent fulfilling the bucket list (no doubt y'all have seen it thousands of times now). Ocean beach (pictured) quickly became one of my favorite places in San Francisco.

August: See! Ocean beach again. August brought back school, something I dreaded for some odd reason (probably computer science class), but shouldn't have worried about at all. I spent my last day of what I then called freedom at the beach, pretending school didn't exist.

September: My birthday month never disappoints me. Class was hard, but my roommates became some of my great friends, and I got to see my parents at least once in two weeks. Unfortunately, the day after my birthday was one of my hardest midterms, so I also spent a LOT of time in the library. This one's one of my favorites.

October: Though only two months ago, I can hardly remember what happened. Probably lots of funny things, dumb things, crazy things, sad things, a little bit of everything! And fully fueled by coffee.

November: Fall really suits my university. The drought we were in was also partially remedied by the rains in november. In an 8:30 AM, no coffee, no umbrella haze, I hastily snapped this picture and ran to class. Turned out okay! Another motto, perhaps? (Something along the lines of, trust your instincts and it'll all work out...)

December: My second semester of college, done! Though we have four weeks off, I love school and my friends so much it's hard to be gone for that long (this is remedied by meeting up over break because why stay away when you can see each other all the time?). In a perfect end to the year, my parents and I made a visit to the golden gate, now in our backyard! 

In a single year, so much has changed. Both my parents changed jobs (dad after 5 months, mom after 17 years), I started university, we sold my childhood house, moved to a small condo in the big city, my mom gave away her beloved 16 year old Honda Accord (she wanted me to put that in here), and we bought a flat in London. Everything is different. But it's good. It's a good different. Needless to say, if 2014 was that good, I can't wait to see what 2015 has to offer.