My 2021 Recap

Did 2021 go by way too fast for anyone else, or was it just me?  So many crazy things happened this year; it felt like an absolute blur.

One thing I love doing from time to time – especially when we’re transitioning into a new year – is looking back on all the memories I made that year.  And this year, I’m super excited to share all of those fun times with each and every one of you! (:

So let’s take a walk down memory lane and re-live all the highs and lows from 2021…

my 2021 recap

January

At the beginning of January, Nick and I left Washington to head back to Iowa for school… only to find out that we had COVID as soon as we got to Iowa.  

Since we were going to different colleges at that point, we weren’t able to quarantine together, so I was completely on my own for about a week.

I lived in campus housing that was designated for COVID isolation, and it was not fun at all.  I was so happy to get out after my time was up, but that was definitely a rough start to the year.

Luckily, right after that, classes started back up, so things picked up quickly!

Also in January, Nick visited me at Coe College for the first time, and that was when we first talked about getting married in college.  At that time, we were planning on having a wedding in summer of 2022, but I have no patience, so I made a plan of how we could get married in 2021, and he was sold on the idea. (;

February

On Valentine’s Day, Nick and I had a little date night at Panda Express, and then Zoom called our parents to tell them about our plan to get married in a few months.

We were absolutely TERRIFIED, but they were completely on board right away!  Once we got that out of the way, we felt like we could officially get excited. (:

Exactly two weeks later, Nick proposed!!  I would go into more detail, but we’ll be doing a post all about the proposal later, so stay tuned for that. (;

March

Just a couple weeks after getting engaged, my car broke down.  And so did all of our future plans.

You see… our plan for getting married in 2021 was to live halfway between our college campuses, so we’d each have a 30-45 minute drive each day.  But to do that, we were going to have to buy another car.  No biggie, we could save up a few thousand dollars together in 6 months.

Well once my car broke down, we quickly realized there was no way we could buy 2 cars in the next 6 months, so our plan to live in between campuses shattered.  

I was devastated, because I didn’t want to leave my school, but I wasn’t about to push the wedding off.  I wrestled with my options and what I was going to do for a while, and honestly, it sucked.

And to make matters crazier, I was driving to Waverly to see Nick when my car broke down for good.

Luckily, I was able to get my car towed for a small price, and a friend of Nick’s was able to rescue me from the deserted parking lot I was sitting in.  

Oh, you thought the craziness was over there?  Think again.

That weekend, I had planned on running a half-marathon in Waverly so that Nick could bike along with me, but I had no way to get back to my campus.  Thank goodness for my friends who drove to pick me up. :’)

The above picture was taken while I was sitting in an abandoned parking lot because my car could not physically move. 

April

After way too many hours of searching for cars to buy, April is when I finally bought my new car!!

It’s also when my family came to visit me for the first time in Iowa!

There was also lots of golfing going on this month, which was so much fun, and I miss it lots.

At the end of April, I also finished my first year of school in Iowa and was preparing to transfer for the fall semester.  And Nick and I officially started living together!!

May

In May, I spent most of my time relaxing, taking a CNA class, and working.  I was feeling pretty burnt out after my busy spring semester; I was also feeling pretty lost and unsure of what to do with my life.

Something in my gut was pulling me away from nursing, which was what I had been planning to go to school for since the beginning of high school.

One day, I was looking at a full list of a nearby school’s programs, and I saw public health was one of their majors.  I had no idea what public health was, what jobs you could get with that degree, nothing.  But when I started looking into it more, I started to think this was something that I could really be interested in.

It took a lot of thinking and processing, but eventually I listed to what my gut was telling me to do and decided to pursue the public health route by transferring to Wartburg.

It was also during this time that I decided to start a blog – with the help of Nick. (:

At the end of May, Nick and I left Iowa to go home to Washington!

June

WEDDING MONTH!!  We spent the beginning of this month preparing for the wedding and soaking up lots of time with family and friends since we hadn’t seen them in months.

And then, of course, the wedding… you can read all about that here. (;

After the wedding, we had more time to hang out with our loved ones and relax before leaving for Utah at the end of the month!

July

We spent the entire month of July in Utah, which was so much fun!

We got to hang out with family, visit a couple beautiful national parks/monuments, go on scenic car rides, and more!

I also spent a lot of our time in Utah working on my blog, and during one of our last days on the trip, I shared it on Instagram.

That was crazy nerve-wracking for me because I don’t love sharing personal things with others or putting myself out there most of the time, but it was something I knew I wanted to do.

August

We spent the first week or so of August in Washington before heading back to Iowa for the beginning of the school year.

It was kind of a difficult time for me when we first got back to Iowa because I was starting at a new school, didn’t really know anyone all that well, and we were moving.  Luckily, it all turned out just fine. (:

September

In September, we started school, and I got into a routine – which helped me a lot.

I also celebrated my birthday by running 20 miles in a day, which was so amazing!!  I had so much fun that I think I’m going to make it  a birthday tradition. (:

Nick also had cross country races this month that I was able to watch, and I got to visit friends in Cedar Rapids.

AND we were able to check something off my bucket list… going to a SEAHAWKS GAME!!

October

Alex came to visit me in Iowa for the first time ever during October!!  It was so much fun having someone from home with me in my college town.

I also started a new job this month, which was exciting!

November

Around the middle of the month, I got to travel to Kentucky with Nick and some of his teammates to watch his team race at Cross Country Nationals, so that was a blast!

I also got sick over Thanksgiving break, which was not a blast.

Things also got super busy in November with school, work, and MOVING INTO OUR APARTMENT!!  

We were a little sad to move out of the house we were staying at into our own place, but we’re both very glad we did. (:

We also recently posted an apartment tour and a Q+A about living together, which you should definitely go check out!

December

This last month of 2021 has been quite the whirlwind… between Blogmas, finals, work, and our traveling plans, we have been BUSY.

Currently, I am sitting in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport working on this post because we are on our way to Washington, and we just got back from Florida 3 days ago.

We feel very grateful to have been able to visit Florida and then also go home to see family for the holidays, but it’s been a lot.

Our trip to Florida was absolutely amazing; I would have stayed there forever if I could have.  (Psst… after college, there’s a very good chance we will be moving there.  Cross your fingers that we do!)

We had so much fun spending time in the sun, going to the beach, mini-golfing, hanging in our super adorable AirBnB, and so much more.

After a few days at home in Iowa, we left our apartment early this morning to get to the airport for our 7:00 am flight to Texas.  We have 7 hours left of our layover, and then we’ll be heading to Spokane for a week!

I’m looking forward to our plans with family while we’re home, but it’ll definitely be nice to get back into a regular routine once we’re back in Iowa for good.

I can’t believe tomorrow is the last day of 2021, but I’m so glad we get to spend it with our families at home! (: