Megan and I at last year's New Year's Eve party! Welcoming in 2013.
I'm pretty proud of myself in that it is only a couple of days into the new year rather than like, three weeks. One of my semi-resolutions is to, once again, blog more. I pretty much failed at that last year, since my once a week turning into more like once a month, but now I have no excuse because I no longer live in the woods :( But I have stable internet connection :D Like last year, I wanted to do a wrap-up of this past year because it was seriously one of the best years of my life. I cannot even say how much it has changed me for the better; I'm bolder, stronger, happier, more outgoing, and less afraid to go out into the world and do what I want. I still have more growing to do, but I learned a lot and grew as a person. Plus, I adore my family and woods and I owe so much to them.
January
tracked wolves in Banning State Park
had multiple snowy adventures
played on a frozen lake
lost my "footing virginity" (aka I got footed or attacked by talons for the first time)
went birding at Sax Zim Bog, met Erik for the first time!
February
went owling and saw a boreal owl and a northern hawk owl, both life birds!
my parents came and visited me in MN. I am so lucky to have such a supportive family, I'm truly blessed to have had them visit so often in my first year of being truly away, it also helped me grow and will make it easier when they move to Spain for two years
visited Wolf Ridge, another RELC in MN, to learn about their teaching styles. Essentially scaled a cliff chasing after a deer during one of the classes
Went to the National Eagle Center! So many birds
Saw Great Grey Owls! Another life bird!
Alice visited me shortly after my parents left! It was amazing to have snowy, woodland adventures with my woodsy best pal, secretly hiking on cross-country trails and exploring frozen creeks (and going owling AGAIN)
A dog sled team visited ACNW for an event and I played with husky puppies for hours, as well as helped pull in teams
March
went owling again with the wildlife ladies, we weren't so lucky but we did get to eat at Fitger's. SUCCESS.
learned how to identify trees. Sort of
went on many Duluth trips
played in the snow, walked on frozen rivers, had huge bonfires, took millions of pictures
became super obsessed with 3D printers, researched the hell out of it
visited Eagle Bluff, another RELC, where we could once again observe other teaching techniques. I faced my fears and went on a 40 foot ropes course where I leapt off a platform for the zip-line. Terrifying and exhilarating.
participated in maple syruping by tapping trees, hanging buckets, and harvesting syrup
April
painted my Rainbow Birds painting that made me want to re-open my shop and try to make it a real (small) business
sold lots of necklaces in the ACNW gift store!
taught classes, trained birds (worked on getting Cica to stop trilling), watched movies with the family
had an epic Earth Day party
my Dad visited! He had a conference in Minneapolis, so he hung out for awhile. We hiked Banning State Park, found secret waterfalls, went to Duluth, and the boys set up a whiskey tasting for him!
May
found a Barred Owl roost during Survivor one day, stared at it for like twenty minutes, found some pellets and freaked out
celebrated my one year anniversary of graduating college
had my very first martini (now I'm supes classy)
went to Natal's wedding! Flew to State College, fell IN LOVE with it, made new friends, dressed up, danced, got drunk at the open bar, and hogged the photo booth. It was AWESOME.
June
said goodbye to most of our naturalist team :( Only Megan and I stayed on for the summer (as well as a new person who joined the ranks later), so we had tearful goodbyes. But not before we had kick-ass parties
burned a chair
as mentioned before, threw awesome going-away parties for every who left
took "family portraits" in Jeff's backyard with my camera, it was amazing
my Mom visited!!! We canoed and read trash magazines and ate gummy bears in the middle of the lake, visited Duluth (notice a theme?), and went birding/owling
tie-dyed for the very first time!
partially died inside from all of the mosquitos
went to a Trampled by Turtles concert
went on several walks with Spike the porcupine!
July
banded many baby birds. Basically stalked bird nests until babies were old enough to be banded
led a birding workshop and helped Clarissa band, which cemented my obsession
fish printed shirts, an age-old naturalist tradition
gutted many live fish...
had delicious bonfire roasts
went on an insanely fun 4th of July outreach with the birds and Jeff where we got free fried food, talked to people about birds, and then went to see fireworks later with homemade hippie juice
rode my bike around the lake and didn't get lost!
Megan taught me how to cook
hung out on the pontoon A LOT because it was the only way to escape the mosquitos. Also could be found in the lake 90% of my time off
picked wild raspberries every day
made pinterest strawberry jello shots and they didn't turn terrible!
went fishing and caught a fish! Illegally...
August
my last half month at the Audubon Center :(
went to the cities for a weekend with Megan where we went to the Minnesota Zoo, went out that night and convinced several gay men that we were from Essex, England, as well as some frat boys playing ping pong, and then went to Target and Hell's Kitchen the next morning
MY BIRTHDAY! I turned 23 years old and celebrated by teaching stream superheroes and telling anybody who would listen that it was my birthday. Then Megan got me an ice-cream cake and we got trashed
finished my canoe paddle! Finally! Went night-canoeing to test it out
ended my position officially, but hung out still for about a week. Spent my unemployment lounging around on the pontoon, drinking, reading, and swimming. Got super tan
went to the KE$HA CONCERT and it was absolutely fanfuckintastic. I can't phrase it better than that
my bro and mom came to pick me up and we headed out on our trip back home. Many tearful goodbyes again, as well as the biggest one involving Megan :(
on the way back home, visited Mt. Rushmore again, went to Reptile Gardens, the Corn Palace, a sketch drive-through wildlife park, and finally reached SLC after a hellish three hour turn-around
spent approximately a week in SLC before I had to travel back to the midwest AKA Wisconsin to begin my internship at REGI! In that week I spent time with friends and family and it was awesome
Went on a road trip all by myself! Traveled to Wisconsin for my next adventure
September
handled tons of different birds, birds I never thought I would ever handle.
became best friends with a vulture
started training a Snowy Owl
taught several raptor classes, presented birds at a big fundraising event, bonded with people and animals
learned how to tube-feed rehab patient birds
celebrated International Vulture Day
fell in love with a European Barn Owl and a Long-Eared Owl
visited ACNW and reunited with Megan!
went to a super fun fall festival where we brought birds to educate everyone and also got to pet a camel
October
found a video rental place and visited it basically every night to rent Halloweeny movies
watched our 8-movie terror pack
broke rules and drank in the house (GASP)
adopted some mice that were brought in as raptor food, I named mine Pikachu!
went banding in Duluth! We were all able to observe banding and then hold the Merlin and the Rough-Legged Hawk we caught! It was AWESOME!
banded Northern Saw-Whet Owls up by Steven's Point
went on an adventure where we saw an art exhibit, frolicked in a statue garden, and visited the center of the northwest section of the western hemisphere (there's a marker and everything!)
got bit in the face by a wild TUVU
dressed up as a weird Barrel Kiss-Demon for Halloween
taught an owl program on Halloween in a cemetery, super spooky!
Trained a Peregrine Falcon named Monty who I love and miss dearly. He was doing SO WELL
November
Pikachu passed away :( The other mice got pregnant and had babies, UH OH
obtained a house pigeon named Eirwyn. He mostly sad on top of cabinets and stared at us
handled a Golden Eagle!
held Jeff's new baby girl
pizza going away party! It was sad, but not as sad as my ACNW leaving
visited ACNW for awhile before heading back to SLC, went to Duluth (of course), visited the birds, said hello and goodbye to everyone, and basically had an amazing time
traveled back to SLC with the mice. It was sort of a tragedy
got back to SLC just in time to head to CA for our Thanksgiving trip to Disneyland and the beach house!
spent two days at Disneyland where we did ALL THE THINGS and then a week at our beach house, where I got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with the ocean, we saw family we hadn't seen in awhile, and basically I had the best time ever
...but I dropped my phone in the ocean...
December
Got a job at Color Me Mine. It's an amazingly fun transitional job and I love everyone who works there :)
reopened my Etsy shop and redesigned it, started getting sales!
got a new phone! Thanks Dad! Also signed up for my first individual plan; becoming an adult is scary!
started watching Game of Thrones (for reals this time)
went to Book Club, LOVE IT
saw Frozen, LOVE IT
saw The Hobbit, it was pretty good
saw Anchorman 2, HILAR. Also went to Elyse's bday party and it was so fun
Holiday Bender 2013: a three-day epic journey of parties, dancing, and lots of alcohol
celebrated CHRISTMAS! Got a BRAND NEW LAPTOPPPP!!! Which I'm writing this post on right now! It's amazing, I love it so so much. Also got a lot of other goodies and I'm so happy for everything
hung out with my friends A LOT. Game nights, movies, bars, dancing, horror nights, new restaurants, the whole she-bang!
had an amazing NYE complete with playing Taboo, dancing with sparklers, quaffing champagne, taking too many shots, getting an owl charm bracelet, friends, lots of hugs, a speakeasy, MORE champagne, new years kisses (all of my friends, oh man), and then passing out WOO!
(it was SO SO HARD to limit the number of pictures I had for this post, I honestly have like one thousand more I want to share)
So basically this year has been ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! I am so excited to see what 2014 has in store! I'm excited to try expanding my shop, writing more in my blog, and getting a JOB! I am ready, 2014!
First, I want to analyze my goals from last year and see how I did on them. I did okay, but not great. I sold charms in the shop, I became bolder and more outgoing, I'm pretty okay with entering new social situations and meeting new people (despite the usual social anxiety), and I did mess with manual settings a little bit! Some of my goals changed, as well, such as my hourly photo goal. I did it a couple of times, but honestly it didn't interest me as much as I thought it might. I instead want to focus on just taking snapshots of every day life and uploading it immediately. This will help me blog more and will keep my photos from rotting on their hard-drive or in the camera for so long.
I made a list of goals that I hung on my door; not all of them HAVE to be accomplished, but it's things I want to strive for this year. I'm feeling so happy, I love life. I just need to find a full-time job and I'll be great!
