a farewell to 2013

Finally got a photo review of 2013 put together... Click "read more" below to see our year summarized in like... 28-ish pictures! 

// a small shoot on a warm day with Chelsea Diane

// our annual snow day here in Norfolk

// photoshoot with my sister's baby

// some very important berries after a weekend with the Coulombs

// jared turns 25

// easter sunday

// trip to dc, revisiting the places we went the night we got engaged

// 2013, the year of the bridesmaid 

// danielle & jeremy get married!

// golden doodle thrilled at memorial day celebrations

// had my last event at the zoo

// maisie the puppy joins the coulomb family

// emily & trent get married!

// beach days abound after nearly two weeks in the midwest

// back to the zoo & able to see some fun projects to completion

// jared finished his carpentry project in the home office

// color run in richmond

// my sister finds out she's having a boy at her gender reveal party

// a very autumn birthday for me, spent apple picking & cider tasting

// three years of marriage & allll the fall activities with my man

// senior photos galore (my baby sister being one of them)

// friendsgiving celebration the weekend before thanksgiving

// christmas at my parents

// seeing jared's brother perform in the Carolina Ballet's production of The Nutcracker

// fireworks & sparklers on new year's eve

// precious time with reigner (j's brother), alex & mia

So, in 2013... I cut my finger real bad & it's still kinda stiff & Jared turned 25. With two bridesmaid dresses as my motivation, I got serious about my diet. Easter sunday was wonderful, followed by a mini trip to DC & enjoying some spring days with friends. Wonderful Danielle got married to Jeremy, & Jared & I shared 50 things about each other. The summer involved good times at a bacon festival & at the beach. Then, I worked my final event, & said goodbye to my office job before hitting the road for the great Midwest. I sobbed my eyeballs out at Emily & Trent's wedding in Indiana, & then we enjoyed a few other adventures in St. Louis before returning home. I started to adjust to life outside of the office, but in a weird twist, I was contracted back at my old job for a few months to finish out the event season. Amelia & I brought the boys along to the Color Run, just one of the many great weekends we spent with them in Richmond, our second home. I turned 25 & celebrated with family & friends, & later in the month we celebrated our 3 year anniversary. November was hard, as I adjusted again to working on my own at home, but Thanksgiving was sublime, followed by a weekend in SC for a wedding I was coordinating. Which brings us to December! Which was practically yesterday (a joke that was funnier when I was going to post this on New Year's Day), but you can click back here to read posts from our Bethune 2013 holiday.

To be completely honest, outside of two beautiful friends getting married & seeing a lot of extended family, 2013 was sort of a drag. It was a little difficult to wrangle this post together because it seemed to be a pretty straight line of a year. YES, I quit my job, which was & continues to be both exhilarating & terrifying all at the same time - But the pieces to make my next business step are still falling into place, leaving me to feel like I'm still just twiddling thumbs. I am still grateful for 2013 & all of the little traces of growth that I can see in it. I'm grateful that both of us & our loved ones were kept safe. I'm grateful that even though it doesn't feel like we moved forward all that much, that we didn't find ourselves sliding back. Maybe it will be one of those years that makes a lot of sense in 10 years when we look back at our lives.

It's a new year, & I'm kicking myself into gear. Jared & I are praying so hard for this year & the things we're hoping it has in store... But I guess, if there was a lesson to be learned in 2013, it's to find the joy in today. Here's to a happy 2014!