I’ve been avoiding writing this post.

It’s not just because this year-end posts are time-consuming and I always forget something. If you recall last year’s post, I ended 2013 feeling really proud of myself for having accomplished so much. And I was proud of myself because I had consciously said “yes” to opportunities rather than saying “no”, as I usually do.

Unfortunately, in 2014, I didn’t say “yes” as much as I wanted to.

I won’t sugarcoat it: 2014 was difficult for me. This past summer was especially unkind to me, definitely one of the worst I’ve experienced thus far. Life is full of ups and downs; where 2013 proved to have more ups, 2014 had a not-insignificant number of downs.

As I write this, I am laughing to myself in spite of how painful this past year has been because well, this is almost exactly how I began my 2013 recap post, with a bit of yammering about ups and downs. Man, if only I knew it could get worse! I know now: Next year can always be worse.

But let’s not get bogged down in how much 2014 tested me. After all, I survived it! I live to fight another day. Let’s see what I survived this year:

• Managed to have a little fun with our extreme polar vortex cold weather
• Went to Atlantic City with my boyfriend and friends for Yelp’s Winter Break
  
• Survived a small car accident (and learned to really fear driving in inclement weather)
• Celebrated Chinese New Year in with my family in China for the first time
  • Set off legit fireworks
  • Visited Harbin’s Ice & Snow Festival
    
  • Saw a North Korean ice-skating troupe perform
    
  • Achieved a new nosebleed record (and had to have my nose cauterized twice when I came home)
• Live-tweeted the 86th Academy Awards out of loneliness
  
• Participated (sorta) in the March DisneyBound Challenge

  

• Completed (almost) BEDA (Blog Every Day April)
• Started a new job
• Went on my first bar crawl
  

  

• Attended a Wale & Big Sean concert
  

  

• Purchased this domain name you are visiting right now
• Made a flower crown
  
• Took another family vacation on a cruise ship
  
  • Experienced the majesty of America’s last frontier in Alaska

    

  • Went ziplining for the first time
  • Visited Vancouver, BC
• Trekked to New York for one of my too-rare solo pilgrimages to my old home city
• Saw The Fray live at the National Zoo
  
  • Visited the National Zoo for the first time!
• Left a new job
• Ate a pork blood + lard cupcake — and liked it
  

  

• Attended the first wedding of my own age/friend group (!!!)

  

• Received my first wedding invitation for my own friend group
• Cooked Thanksgiving dinner on my own

  

• Got a one-year membership to the National Aquarium
  
  

Let me tell you one of my main takeaways from 2014: I do love dressing up. Whether it’s for holidays…

… DisneyBounds…

… or for work…

… I’m more than happy to dress for the occasion. I hope that I got more chances to do so, but I’m really finding a lot of enjoyment in coordinating an outfit around a theme, and I’m going to be incorporating that enjoyment into my resolutions for next year.

---

 

As always, I’m sure I’ve forgotten something from this past year. (Last year, I forgot that I saw Turquoise Jeep live!) But the important thing is that I survived this year. I can feel a real change in the person I am now versus who I was a year ago. It makes me kind of anxious and nervous about 2015 and what it will bring.

But regardless of how I feel, the sun will set and rise, another day will be there, and another calendar year will be upon us. I have my new planner ready to go, and I’m getting my resolutions post ready. I’m going to take the lessons I learned from 2013 and 2014 and try to make the best of 2015.

Thank you for your support during 2014. My year would have been so different without it.