Goodbye 2016

Goodbye to a year full of living life to the fullest! This piece is a little bit about everything big that has happened in this amazing year of 2016. I’ve always considered the New Year as a time of reflection as much as a time for assessing change.

Engaged: March 22

Zack and I went to Las Vegas for a trip together. He proposed to be while taking a gondola ride in The Venetian. I cried, he smiled, the gondolier yelled “he proposed” several times and tons of tourists took our photos.

Zack Moved: April 15

Zack flew out Sunday, March 27 for an interview on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas. He was accepting a job offer on Friday, April 1. He gave his work (and me) two weeks notice. We drove two days with an overnight in Missouri. We arrived at our new apartment, viewed the unit, then signed the lease. We had packed as much as we could in the back of his truck, then unpacked it all. The only thing we needed to buy was a mattress once we unloaded the truck. I flew back to Wisconsin on Sunday.

Married: May 28

Long story short: We wanted to get married before I moved across the country to be with him. My mom and I planned the entire event in less than two weeks. Zack flew home May 17 to apply for our marriage license. We drove to see his step-mom at work to let her know what was happening. Then I drove him back to the airport to catch his 3 p.m. flight. Then, he flew back in on Friday, May 27. We spent the Saturday with our family in front of Lake Michigan and then went to dinner at Cafe Benelux in Milwaukee.

Moved to Texas: May 29

The immediate day after saying our vows, we drove across the country to our new life together.

Got a Puppy: June 6

We had one weekend together alone, then we got a puppy! We named him Colt. Since I was working at home, we decided that this was the only time that we could ever potty and crate train. Once I started my new job, Zack was working half-days in the office and half at home to continue the training.

Started a New Job: June 28

I accepted a job offer at a private high school running their social media accounts and managing their website. The biggest frontier was learning to drive without my GPS to go to work.

Left Job of 9 Years: June 30

I was working remotely at my other job finishing up some database cleanup. I had already said goodbye on May 27, but I stopped answering emails and calls. It was weird leaving behind the only career I have known.

Drove to Wisconsin: November 20-27

We took Colt home for Thanksgiving so he didn’t have to go into a kennel. It was a 16 and a half hour drive (each way) and the dog did okay. He threw up within the first couple of hours in the car. I think mostly likely he was nervous and anxious. He hardly ate the entire ride and would only drink a little bit of water. Once we got to my parent’s house, Colt never stopped playing with my mom’s dog, Walter. He slept almost the entire car ride home. My mom invited all of my friends over for a Friends-giving. There were over-flowing drinks and plates of food. It was fabulous!

First Christmas Away From Family: December 25

Zack and I celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple (because everything is celebrated in firsts this year) and we celebrated it completely alone! We cooked (Zack cooked it all, haha) a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and green bean casserole. We proceeded to watch all The Hobbit movies while drinking old fashioned’s. It was a relaxing weekend together.

7 Months Together: December 28

Today marks seven months of being married and seven months of living together in Texas. It been a great year full of firsts and full of life-changing events!

Cheers to 2017!