Purps’s Year in Review 2015
Greetings dear friends! It is the final day of 2015 and even though it’s a Thursday, I’m making a special exception because it seems wrong somehow to post a review of this year next year, you know? So I started this tradition back on my first blog, Down the Rabbit Hole, and have continued it every year for the past four years or so. This is my year in a nut shell, the big high-lights of what happened in my life and the things I wrote about that I am particularly fond of. This is my year in review.
January: In January I tried really hard to do a full month of yoga every day and failed about half way through. I discovered that yoga first thing is hard and that I do better when I’ve had some coffee or something to give me some calories to burn instead of working on an empty stomach. Not sure how I’m going to over come that this year. I’d like to try again, but every other day so I don’t burn out so quickly. My husband and I also started playing D&D with some friends and have been doing so ever since. I’m proud to say that my character has survived a whole year and is one of three members from the original party still alive. January also took from us my aunt Lynn, which was hard. She had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer a little before Christmas and had deteriorated quickly. So little warning was a blessing and a curse. We didn’t have much time to dwell on her dying or to see her suffer, but we also didn’t have as much time to prepare ourselves for losing her, either. That, coupled with losing my baby cousin Gavin so close to Christmas, made for a rough start to the new year. But it did get better.
In January Purps was in Grief.
Selfies in Phipps lighted garden in the dark are kind of hard.
February: I started a blog! Another one! This one, in fact. Which is good, because the last one only lasted a few months. Then again, the last one really should have been this one, since this is what I meant for the last one to be. Confused yet? Good! Moving on. So in February my Twirly finally took the plunge and became a blogger and I thought, “well, she’s being brave and doing the thing, so I should do the thing too.” So I got a twitter and my husband got me a domain and helped me set everything up and here we are! I’m super pumped to say that I actually got a pay check and everything this year! So I’m almost like a real blogger and everything. I also got to go to Phipps Conservatory for the first time with my husband for our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple! We didn’t really super get to celebrate Valentine’s Day when we were dating/engaged because distance and college and all that. Okay, theater. Theater was the reason we didn’t really get to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Anyway, we went to Phipps Conservatory this year and looked at all the plants and trees and lights and then went and got some really tasty grilled cheese at a little place in Pittsburgh. It was a good time.
In February Please Enjoy my Grandparents Kissing.
March: Apparently I didn’t do much in March. Some months are like that. I went to my cousin Jenny’s bridal shower. That was pretty fun. I spent a good chunk of the time entertaining my little cousin Addison who was just shy of 1 at that point and learning to walk. I had a lovely evening out with my two local college friends. I spent a day watching Irish movies with my mom and in-laws for St. Patrick’s day. That was interesting. Musicals are weird, man, especially from the late 50s. We went to a dinner party full of Mexican food with some lovely friends of ours. That was a good time. And I attended a bridal shower of sorts for my dearest Haley. Any time I get to hang out with my Geneva people is a good time.
In March you read The Story of the Purple Hat.
First hike of the year and guess what I brought?
April: In April I tried running for the first time and was promptly defeated by the hill outside our apartment. It was awful. There was also much hiking as the weather finally warmed up. For my brother’s birthday we went out to eat and then hiked around a trail my sister is fond of. My husband and I also celebrated a friend’s birthday by going bouldering in Cooper’s Rock park and hiking around there as well. Lots of hiking! I wrote a one act for one of my favorite people to direct for the One Acts at Geneva. It was a sort of comedy that kind of was probably a little bit funny because the actors were awesome and the director brilliant and had nothing to do with my writing whatsoever. But it was a good time. I went to Techo for the first time with my brother. I dressed in steam-punk attire and played lots of table tops.I also started listening to podcasts, and haven’t stopped since.
In April you read Confessions of Contemporary Turned Psalmist
May: May was pretty exciting as it brought on wedding season in full swing. Every year I think “oh, we don’t have that many weddings this year, we get a little bit of a break” and then more people decide to get married and that goes out the window. So we kicked off May and wedding season with the Miller wedding, which my husband had the honor of being in. It was quite lovely; my Twirly came and we did much swinging. We went to my cousin Jenny’s wedding and it was great fun. Much blue was worn and many dancings were done. I love family weddings because I can be as much of a freak as I want and they’ll still love me because they have to. I enjoyed a lovely picnic with all my Geneva peoples on a wonderfully warm afternoon, watched Anne of Green Gables with the windows open, received a super mysterious pack of purple peeps with no indication of where it might have come from, and went to see Weird Al in concert. I also started actually running, which is much easier to do when you have a flat-ish place to run. May was busy but very nice.
In May you read The Influence of Anne
June: In June the weddings continued as I read in my friend Bonnie’s. We also went to the Pittsburgh Art Festival which is always fun. It was very wet to begin with, but it cleared up after a while and let us run around in relative peace. It also wasn’t quite as hot this year, which is always nice. There was much swimming with many small humans whom I love, and a soccer game that was a bit drizzly. My husband went to a conference for work and I managed to lock the keys in the car. It was pretty special. Luckily my uncle has magic and came to my rescue. We read comic books in the park and there were many tiny cats running around my parent’s place, as always. I also signed up for my very first 5k.
In June you read Forever Roy
July: July brought our very first anniversary! To celebrate we got a fancy hotel room in Pittsburgh and had many adventures! We did the ducky tour and had waffles and went up the incline and went to the zoo, it was quite marvelous! We got to finally read our first table book, which Logan very firmly will not let me peek at, and eat year old cake, which actually wasn’t bad. We went on a trip to Central PA to see some friends and hang out through a very hot summer weekend. We got to see lots of animals at a fun nature park, though, so that was fun. I ran my first 5K. I ran to support pancreatic cancer research and support, in honor of my friend Danielle’s mom, who is a cancer survivor. Well, I was supposed to run a 5K. I ended up going 4.4 miles around what may or may not have been the actual race course. It was not very well marked and super unclear where we were supposed to go, and Danielle and her aunt had to come and find me in the end, but I made it! Didn’t run for two weeks after that, but I made it! And I got to wear purple, so that was cool.
In July you read A Case for Converse
August: I cut my hair off, finally. I’d been wanting to cut it off pretty much since we got married, but didn’t have the courage to do it all at once. So I cut a little bit off that September, but really not enough of it. This time I went all the way and cut it to my chin, where it belongs. I love having short hair again. Also in August, I had my first ever job interview. I made a resume and applied and stressed out about what to wear and went in and it was all very grown up. I didn’t get the job, but it was pretty good experience to have. I tried to replace my butterfly ring with a spoon ring that turned my finger green. I gave up on that one after a few weeks. Sad, but not worth a green finger. My husband was disappointed. He hates the butterfly ring. (As a side note, he did get me a puzzle ring for Christmas which seems to have successfully replaced the butterfly, for now.) I also switched up my schedule from Tuesday/Thursday blogging to Monday/Wednesday/Friday blogging, which seems to be doing alright.
In August you read Waking Up Right
September: September I turned 24, mostly. We celebrated with comic books and Cheeburger Cheeburger, the most delicious part of my youth. I also got a Kindle from my lovely husband, which I never thought I would like as much as I do. I kind of really love that I can get library books without going to the library. We had our annual Labor day work day at the family cabin, which is hard work, but good fun. We also went to the Ren Fair, as usual. I got to see some of my favorite Geneva people there, which was lovely, and wear my very own steam-punk corset with my outfit, which made me happy. Any opportunity to wear a corset is a happy time. Things no Victorian would ever say ever. Anyway, I had a good time and got to spend the day with my brother which is always nice. Homecoming was also a thing in September. I got to see the renovations to the Bagpiper Theater and see some good friends. Not as many friends as I would have liked, but I’ll take what I can get.
In September you read Confessions of a Picky Eater
October: October brought my second 5K, my first with my husband. We ran in the Darlington 5K for fire prevention with my dad’s side of the family and then did birthday soup. It was a pretty good day. A little chilly in the morning, but for a race that’s good. I ran with my sister who keeps me going at a good pace and won’t let me slack off half way through. We finished with a 13 minute mile average, which is pretty good. Birthday soup was a little late this year, but still tasty as ever. There was a fire, as usual and lots of cats, which always makes me happy.
We went to see Little Women at Geneva. I sat with my Geneva people and passed around the tissues towards the end. Danielle, Natalie and I had a lovely breakfast and hike date before all the leaves fell. It was a little drizzly, but other than that, perfect for leaf watching. Logan and I took anniversary pictures with our good friend Lindsey in all the pretty leaves. It was so much fun to work with her and the pictures turned out amazing. Halloween was a thing, of course. I had a zombie movie day with my mom and in-laws before going to see Night of the Living Dead: the Opera at my old high school. It was a pretty special experience. We hosted a party this year for some of our friends. We all dressed up, for about the first half our or so, and then things kind of fell apart, but that’s how it goes. I made so much dip, we played cards against humanities, and drank cider with whiskey, it was a quite fun.
In October you read A Girl in the Game: Table Tops
November: November was NaNoWriMo, as always. I tried to finish a novel, again, and kind of failed again. I got a lot of writing down, though I don’t feel like I got anywhere with the plot this year. Next year I’m thinking of working on a new novel, instead of trying to write the one I’ve been writing for years now. Something new is definitely what I need right now. The really important thing about November, though, is that we got cats! It’s been quite the adventure with these cats. I gave them a bath and took them on a very long car ride to my in-laws from my parent’s place, by way of Logan’s work so I could pick him up and show them off to his co-workers. We took them to the vet and I’ve been taking Calamity back every two or so weeks ever since. They’ve terrorized my in-laws, but remain cute and cuddly enough not to incur any wrath. I can’t wait to get them home with us. 
We had a lovely Thanksgiving with Logan’s family and ran another 5K with his sisters. And by ran I mean we ran the first half-mile, maybe and walked most of the rest of the way, but still, it was good weather for it, and we had a good time, I think. There was much food consumed and good friends present. Unfortunately we had to skip our second Thanksgiving dinner due to a sudden and most unfortunate cold. I woke up Friday morning, way earlier than anyone aught to ever, with a sore throat that didn’t go away for a week. It was super unfortunate and I had to go on awful antibiotics which made me feel even worse and it was just a mess. But, most of November was pretty good.
In November you read: Days of Thankfulness: Manchester
December: And so we come to December. Once recovered from my cold I had a lovely day out with my mom and sister. We went out to eat and did a little shopping and saw A Christmas Carol with my cousin and her two girls. We did all the Christmasy things: making cookies and watching Christmas movies and Christmas specials and hanging out with the kids. We went to Pittsburgh with my in-laws for the traditional downtown day, which was super fun, if a bit rainy. We sang carols with some friends and watched Star Wars and took the cats to the vet some more. I think Calamity is used to it by now. We dressed up all fancy and went to a company Christmas party. We played Pathfinder with my brother and stood outside in the 60 degree weather for an hour just chatting. It’s been a really abnormally warm December. We did Christmas eve with my family and exchanged white elephant gifts and then did Christmas day with Logan’s family and made all the hospital visits. It’s been a very busy month, not a moment of down time to be seen until this week. We spent Saturday chilling with the Grovers and Tuesday we had all to ourselves, it was wonderful.
In December you read Christmas Memories: Specials
And thus ends our year. It’s been quite the ride and I’m sure next year will be just as full of excitement. I can’t wait to see what 2016 will bring and I hope to see all of you here again next year! Happy New Year, my friends!
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