January
-I was promoted to a trainer II at work (though the delivery was hardcore botched)
-Unfortunately, after my promotion there were a lot of hard days
-It was super cold in South Texas and our heat was broken so we microwaved nachos to keep warm
-Started getting animals for the Caribbean Wing into quarantine - Blue-Crowned Mot Mots, Red-Capped Cardinals, Blue Grey Tanagers, and Sun Conures, oh my!
-Participated in my third annual Boars Head Festival, but this time I brought someone else with me so that I could do one production and then peace out (so it was honestly the best of both worlds)
-Our pregnant Brown Shark had pups, a rarity for sharks in captivity! We had six baby sharks swimming around
-Started another 365 project
February
-I participated in a color run that was super fun! We rolled around in rainbow powder and danced in a parking lot at 7 AM
-Andie adopted Sprite, the white-bellied caique, and yet another bird entered my heart.
-The Women's March took place and I felt so empowered. 2017 was a year where women finally fought back and spoke up for themselves, and I hope that it continues. We have so much to fight for still, but we have our voices and are being heard.
-Laura and I celebrated Valentine's Day with a heart-shaped pizza and a chicken nugget bouquet - TRUE LOVE
-Celebrated National Margarita Day with chip ring proposals and $2 margs
-Got to see Mia while she was in San Antonio for a conference!
March
-WENT ON A PITBULL CRUISE WITH MEGAN!! When Megan bought us tickets last year I thought it was HILARIOUS and I was excited for an adventure with my BFFL. BUT IT WAS SERIOUSLY SUPER FUN. We started out in Miami for a couple of days where we rented an Air BnB in the art deco district of South Beach where we were in easy walking distance of tons of bars and nightclubs, as well as the beach. We took advantage of spring break specials, drank A LOT (duh), went to the beach, visited iconic clubs, blew off boys left and right, and visited the Wynwood Walls (which is one of my favorite places I've ever been). We then left the US on a magical cruise where we danced literally 24/7, drank some MORE (from my shampoo bottle that I was able to sneak onboard), and ate nachos every three hours. Oh, and we saw Pitbull in concert TWICE! It was an awesome vacation!
-Became an official sloth trainer and started working on training Xena for transport to and from her night exhibit for when she moved into Caribbean
-Remember when we had a Spiny Soft-shell in our tub? Well March was the month of the Great-Blue Heron in our tub
-Went to the Fiesta de la Flor for the first time. It was quite the experience - people here LOVE Selena and she is an icon for much of the culture.
April
-Experienced my first Reptile Expo! I was very close to adopting a new little friend (those Day Geckos are SO CUTE), but I realized I probably didn't NEED another creature in my house so instead just had fun seeing all the cuties.
-Laura got into vet school!!
-Went to the Earth Day Bay Day festival for the first time (since I had weekends off, a RARITY in the animal care world I was actually able to attend!)
-Made tie-dye, glittery easter eggs!
-Participated in the March for Science downtown on Earth Day morning (Saturdays off strike again!). I worked hard on overcoming my fear of going to things alone and felt good that I could stand up for what I believe in and no stupid fears of not knowing anyone could stop me.
-Attended an AMAZING WEDDING for one of my coworkers and friends. It was UNBELIEVABLE - on the edge of the ocean with a live band, a boardwalk leading out to a floating dock complete with a couch and a chandelier (?!) on the water, a mac 'n cheese bar, SEVEN WEDDING CAKES, a pool deck, and AN OPEN. BAR. It was MAGICAL. Also they set off FIREWORKS when it got dark and I made a mistake of laying on a hammock beneath them since I thought it would be whimsical. Turns out it was just dangerous.
May
-Started working as an assistant trainer for Animal Smart Training on the weekends, specifically as a helper during classes at the humane society
-Opened the Caribbean Wing!! With a lot of sweat and tears and hard work, we made it happen (even though it was a little bit of a shit show and probably should have opened a little bit later but OH WELL)
-Went to the biannual bird mart and bought SO MANY TOYS!! It was an enormous room filled with birds and bird products - I was in heaven
-Had an EPIC Trollz-themed going away party for Laura
-Said a tearful goodbye at 5 AM a couple of days later and then had sort of a mental breakdown after work that day. OH IT WAS BAD. Luckily I have good friends who helped me through :)
-Went to San Antonio to see Julianne and Derek Hough dance!! It was so awesome! We went to Dick's Last Resort beforehand for some drinks which was also a lot of fun!
-Played with sparklers
-Privatized a LOT of my social media accounts of that to protect myself and my art (including this blog)
-Flew to California to be a bridesmaid in Elise's wedding! It was a magical weekend at a GORGEOUS venue overlooking a private lake that we played in all day prior to the wedding, I got to spend it with some of my best friends in the world, and there were like seven dogs!!!
June
-My family made the incredibly hard decision to put my beloved dog Taffy down. She had a full life and was very much adored - she died at the ripe old age of 15. I still miss her so much, but knowing that she is no longer in pain and probably scarfing down peanut butter and hot dogs wherever she is makes me feel better.
-Proudly supported good friends at the second annual Pride Festival and attended the first Pride Parade here in our town!!
-Moved into my first grown-up apartment all by myself!!!
-...And then promptly left my new apartment to housesit for Andie and play with all her creatures
-Played volleyball a lot at the local bar near my new apartment
July
-Celebrated the 4th of July by working and then driving to Portland to watch fireworks with wine coolers and friends
-Went home to Utah for Gillian's bachelorette party!! I went kayaking, hung out in a lot of hammocks, hiked, saw beautiful wildflowers, went to Park City to party with Gillian and a bunch of my other best friends, drank out of penis shot glasses, played Sink 'Em and Drink 'Em (or Drink Ball, as I called it), celebrated my brother's birthday with a cookout up the canyon, spent time with family, and cuddled Winston. It was an amazing summer vacation.
-Went to the Food Truck Festival and ate gouda nachos and drank fresh limeade yummy
-Was forced to play kickball against the Fish and Herp department. We lost. Badly.
-Took Gerald the unicorn to the beach and rode him on the open sea
-Erin came down to visit and while she was here her boyfriend proposed to her! The wedding is set for October 2018 and I'm in the wedding party!
August
-BIRTHDAY MONTH!! I had many celebrations - a pool and pizza party (with Gerald), a steak dinner with a birthday cupcake sporting a large "1" candle, wearing my Kogi earrings on my actual birthday at work and playing with Kogi, buying myself balloons and decorations for my apartment, and a giant combined party at Whiskey River where we two-stepped and dirty danced in short spurts when they deigned it appropriate to play rap music. It was a pretty great way to ring in my 27th year.
-Played pool at the bar entirely too much; spent entirely too much money on alcohol
-Went out on the education boat with a class to look at little oceanic creatures like squidlets and mantis shrimp. It was so nice to just be on a boat in general.
-The total eclipse occurred! We only had 66% totality (or something like that), but it was still pretty awesome! Especially seeing the little half moons in every single shadow. We made drawings to project the half moons onto to commemorate the occasion.
-One of the hugely negative moments of August was a change in training teams. I was taken off of almost every single animal that I was making progress with/loved working with, including Kogi. I have been Kogi's lead trainer for the past almost four years, and while I realize that change is sometimes necessary and can be positive, this was not a subtle transition in the least. I was immediately removed from his team. This caused a sudden change in Kogi's routine, which was negative for him and his behavior. He started acting out, screaming when I was in the room and acting excitedly in my presence to the point of aggression. He was no longer being taken for walks as often or worked with so old behaviors were lost. I will not sugar-coat it or be diplomatic here, it sucked for the both of us. I found ways to work with it, but ultimately I was not as happy at work when I couldn't interact with Kogi (because one of his new team members became angry when I attempted to handle or train with Kogi in any capacity, which is not how it's supposed to work). But life moves on.
-Hurricane Harvey reared its ugly head and barreled straight for us. It gained strength at alarming speeds and became a Category Three (capitalized for DRAMA) just two days before it was about to hit. I was torn between weathering the storm ("We can have a hurricane party! It will all be okay! Don't you want to protect your possessions?") and getting the hell out of there ("Don't toy with nature, it's going to be incredibly dangerous. You can buy new possessions, you can't buy another Autumn"). I finally called Andie to see what they were doing and they said that they were just about to call me. They were heading to Fredericksburg, away from the storm, and wanted me to come with them. This convinced me to pack up the birds, some of my greatest treasures/the most valuable things I owned, important documents, then then tape my windows and roll up every towel I own to barricade doors. Then I headed out of town with Andie and Geoff. It was the first time I'd ever seen hurricane lanes open, and the traffic wasn't terrible but it still definitely took us five hours to get to Fredericksburg when it should have only been three. We were greeted with open arms by Geoff's family, and I then proceeded to have a stress vacation. That means that, while it felt like I was on a little vacation, I was swamped with STRESS - especially when the hurricane became a Category Four overnight. I tried not to think about it as we explored the town, drank beer, ate german food, hot tubbed, and played with cows, but it was always there in the back of my mind. Were my friends who stayed okay? Was my apartment still going to be there? What about my stuff? Would there be irreparable damage that would be uncovered by my non-existent insurance because I'm a procrastinating fool? I cannot recall a time where I was more scatterbrained due to stress, and helpless to boot. Luckily for our town, the hurricane passed over us with minimal damage. Unfortunately, just forty minutes away there was devastating damage. When we arrived home, my power was on, my barricade of towels and rugs prevented water from entering the apartment, and none of my windows were broken - legitimately the best case scenario. Meanwhile, I knew people whose houses were completely gone. The aquarium suffered immense setbacks from the hurricane, though luckily all of the animals and exhibits were fine, causing a hiring freeze. However, disasters like this also create a sense of community, and people really came together to help each other out; there were constant volunteer opportunities to clear yards of debris, to donate food items, money, and clothing, and even to rebuild houses. Everyone is still recovering, but we were the lucky ones.
September
-Immediately after the hurricane, I was able to fly back home to Utah once again to attend Gillian and Steven's wedding! I was in the bridesmaid party, so I had a bit of a snafu trying to get a dress (don't order your dress off the internet; thank GOD for David's Bridal), but it was a GORGEOUS wedding. We held a wedding shower brunch for all of her female relatives, ate Red Iguana at her rehearsal dinner (with MARGS), got ready for the ceremony in a cabin in the mountains, drank adorable signature cocktails, witnessed one of my best friends get married with red rock framed behind her, danced to a funk band with a bunch of my besties, and then took care of the super sick bride at the end of the night. WEDDINGS!
-Got a foot injury - what I thought may be a stress fracture in my left foot. That's when I started to wear DAS BOOT. It was so incredibly annoying and hurt a LOT to wear, my whole body was sore but I couldn't put any weight on my foot without the boot...it sucked. Later it was discovered that I have arthritis in that foot due to improper footwear and a tendency to roll outwards on the foot when walking, UGH.
-Went to Kristy's bachelorette party in SAN DIEGO!! Oh it was so much fine, despite having to wear my boot. We rented a house with a rooftop deck just a block away from the beach, went sailing, found firemen, drank excessively, and got to see some of my oldest friends! Even though I couldn't go to her actual wedding, I was glad to be able to attend the bachelorette.
-Our boss organized for us to go to Seaworld! It was pretty fun - we got to go behind the scenes to pet a beluga, see their dolphins and the BABY beluga, visited their education facility, fed some sea lions, fed birds at the aviary, pet PENGUINS, rode roller coasters, and watched the godawful Shamu show. Oh, the best part of it all? I WAS IN A WHEELCHAIR. People had to push me around all day - it was somewhat embarrassing but also kind of awesome? Thank God people forced me to get a wheelchair, otherwise hobbling around that whole park would have been THE WORST.
-Our friend got a BABY GOLDEN RETRIEVER PUPPY!! That's reason enough to make it a momentous event for September.
October
-THE BEST MONTH!!!
-made and followed a couple of scavenger hunts for keys to each other's apartments - I LOVE SCAVENGER HUNTS!!
-started learning how to do Caribbean shifts, which is super nice since it switches things up. It's great to have something novel once a week to go to.
-we had a wonderful friend BBQ that involved the best fajitas I've ever had. This started a magnificent tradition of getting day drunk, eating food, watching movies, and playing games.
-saw Rocky Horror at the Alamo for the first time in years. There was less yelling at the screen, and no buckets of water being dumped on the audience, but we still got props that we used throughout the performance. We all shot each other with waterguns during the rain scene (some of the most fun I've had in a movie theater!), crumbled bits of toast and tossed them into the air during the toast, ripped playing cards in half, and in my sparkly Colombia get-up I hobbled to the front of the theater in my boot to do the Time Warp.
-Carved and painted so many pumpkins!
-Hosted the third annual Nightmare Before Christmas viewing party! I made themed snacks (some worked out, some didn't) and stuffed thirteen people into my tiny apartment. It was so successful we even watched Corpse Bride after Nightmare was over.
-Played a Hocus Pocus drinking game that murdered me.
-We got an American Crow and a Laughing Kookaburra to add to our Wildflight family!!
-LAURA VISITED!!! She organized a hurricane relief trip with some of her fellow vet students to help out at the Ark, one of the rehabilitation facilities devastated by Harvey, and a major plus was that I got to see her, too!! We had a tearful reunion in the parking lot, and then I stuck to her like glue. I slept over with her at Brenda's house, went to dinner with all of them, even helped out at the Texas Sea Life Center one day where I cleaned enclosures, fed sea turtles, and saw a pelican and gull released back into their natural habitat. It was so good to sea her; I've missed her so much.
-Went to an EPIC HALLOWEEN PARTY!!! I was BB-8 for Halloween, and the party was so successful that I only remember up until about 11 PM. The next morning I woke up disoriented on the couch with my costume covered in vomit. A one and done, I suppose. We went to I-Hop as a reward for making it alive through another Halloween.
-Our epic party was on the day before Halloween, so on actual Halloween I was fairly hungover and okay with just staying in and watching scary movies. However, Dylan was NOT having it. He insisted we go out, so I put on my Russell costume from Halloween 2016 and we transformed Dylan into Dug. We went out to two gay bars where no one understood my costume, but the few people who did and I became friends for LIFE. Thus ends a fantastic Halloween season.
November
-Attended the annual Volunteer party, this time held in the fancy new Citgo venue in the Caribbean Wing. There was tons of food, free sangria, and A LOT of free dessert to take home afterwards.
-Had a small Friendsgiving with "roommates" aka people who live here in the apartment complex. It was originally very non-traditional, with margaritas and fajitas, but it eventually morphed into cheesy potatoes, turkey, carrots, and rolls. It was delightful.
-On actual Thanksgiving I went to Golden Corral with Lyia and Melanie, since there were no plans for anything else. It was actually pretty good! We ended the night playing claw machines and getting tiny prizes (I got a small Five Nights and Freddie's poster)
-I spent the last two weeks of November housesitting for Andie and it was the roughest go yet. I was working a ten day stretch at work, meaning that when I wasn't sleeping due to the animals (because SOMEONE had to wake up constantly at 3 AM COUGHROOCOUGH), working full days at work, and then dealing with their menagerie when I got home. Because of this schedule, I got super sick.
-Started working with Kimani, the African Serval!
-Gabby and Taz (the crow and kook) came out of quarantine and started their training.
December
-Started a Decembird project where I drew a bird every day of December (or at least until I got too busy to continue)
-Got a tiny tree for my apartment and named him Pistachio
-Made everyone mugs for Christmas!!! I'm pretty pleased how they turned out
-My kitchen sink started being THE WORST and would flood/spit up gross stuff randomly
-Had a Christmas get-together with food, jello shots, Elf, and games
-Went with Sonora to the eye doctor in San Antonio, which involved a lot of complicated training that went right out the door when we got there. Oh well.
-Attended the staff Christmas party at The Exchange and had an awesome time drinking with coworkers and friends!
-Had a Wildflight Christmas party where we went to an Escape Room (we WON and got out with 19 minutes to spare!), then had pizza, beer, and a slideshow I worked INCREDIBLY HARD ON.
-Got to go home for Christmas! Spent nine days in SLC spending time with friends and family (and miraculously, none of the mugs broke in my luggage!). We went hiking, I played video games with friends, brought home and decorated a Christmas tree, went to Moab with the fam for a hiking trip where it snowed 6+ inches and not as much hiking was done considering our snowpocalypse, someone ran into us due to ice and snow, we drank mulled wine and watched Die Hard, hot tubbed in the snow, saw the BIGGEST black widow I've ever seen holy shit, saw the lights at Temple Square, missed Taffy a lot, cuddle Winston a lot, made gingerbread houses, and got AMAZING presents - like A NINTENDO SWITCH!!! I am so in love!
-Celebrated New Year's Eve first at a house party for pre-gaming and then The Exchange for the fancy, dress-up party. Even though I bought the cheapest ticket, I got a wristband that ensured I was swimming in FREE WINE the entire night! HELLLL YEAH!!!
Once again, the year had its insane ups and downs. I accomplished a lot for myself - like getting promoted, starting to work with animals I don't have experience with, expanding my resume, getting comfortable being by myself and doing things on my own, living on my own and finding out I LOVE IT, traveling a lot, and doing another successful 365 project (though they're not all edited yet...).
This year I want to work on creating more art and feeling comfortable sharing it with the world, traveling more to places I haven't necessarily been before, getting the most out of Texas before I leave, and ultimately just making a life change for myself. Not sure what, but that's part of the journey.
Welcome, 2018. I hope you treat us well.
source
(I've done yearly recaps for the past several years - 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012)
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