Today's post is a blatant steal of Stephany's Best of 2024: A Month by Month Recap, with a nod to Elisabeth's Want to Write a Book with Me This Year?
Each month Elisabeth wrote a chapter title to summarize the month, and Stephany used the chapter titles that she left in the comments each month to write her annual recap. Let's do this!
January: New Year, New Puppy
- When the year started we were in our second month of not having a dog and life felt very empty. I was in a hyper organized mode and flirted with things like formal goals, a digital planner, and deep cleaning the house.
- I started a 100 mile hiking challenge and learned the pleasures of winter hiking.
- Mid month I wrote a tribute to our late dog, which turned into a family project - I did the writing, and Hubs and the boys did fact checking/editing. This opened the floodgates of getting another dog, though we weren't planning to do it until spring/summer AND WE WERE NOT GOING TO GET A PUPPY. REPEAT WE WERE NOT GOING TO GET A PUPPY.
- Toward the end of the month Hubs saw a puppy on a shelter website and he was done. That Saturday we went to the shelter and came home with Doggo.
February: 25 Days of Puppy Snuggles, 4 Days on the Beach
- Having a puppy tho! It's basically like having a small child, except that you're allowed to leave the dog unattended in a crate for limited periods when you're away from the house (from what I hear you can't do this with kids, which is why I went the stepmom route).
- Hubs and I got away for a fun getaway to the Dominican Republic.
March: Hikeapalooza
- I accelerated the hiking challenge to finish in March instead of June. So.Much.Mud and so much peace from getting outdoors.
- Long weekend trip to Indianapolis.
April: The Escape Hatch
- Long weekend trip to Chilicothe, Ohio - recapped on Instagram and I never did get around to writing it up on the blog.
- We spent a lot of time in puppy training classes with Doggo.
- Eclipse baby!
- After having resigned myself to staying at my boring/stressful job for another year, an escape hatch appeared. Someone slid into my DM's on LinkedIn and out of nowhere I had a nice bright shiny new job offer! Hmm...perhaps this could be the start of something good?
May: Wisconsin Dreaming
- Long weekend trip to Racine/Milwaukee! I went on an FLW bender and met Kim and Engie!
- I started the new job while still covering the responsibilities of the old one (Did I do it to leave on good terms? Or was it for the money? Both things happened). For the first two weeks of the new job nothing was ready for me, so I got paid for doing exactly nothing.
June: On The Road
- MegaVacay 2024! I went on a 10 day road trip to IL/WI/MN for another FLW rampage, State Capitol binge, and Cool Blogger meetup (Lisa, Engie, Anne). Hands down it was the best 10 days of 2024.
- I spent the rest of the month living the single gal life with Doggo while my family went on their annual Mega Boy Scout trip.
- Life with Doggo started to get easier. She wasn't as hyper, and we felt comfortable leaving her alone but out of the crate when we were away from the house.
July: Same Old Same Old
- There is probably a nicer way to say this, but July sucked. The new job showed signs of not being All That, and a "not for the blog" issue was in full force.
- Hubs and I started biking a 100 mile hike n'bike trail in out and back segments.
August: Same Old Same Old, Continued
- August was not that great for the same reasons as July.
- I officially stopped working at my old job. That double pay was sweet while it lasted.
- On the brighter side, the fam went to Washington DC for a quickie vacation. I never got around to recapping this on the blog, but we hung out with one of Hubs's friends and oh yes there was a family FLW visit.
September: New York Roaming
- September was a heavy travel month!
- Buffalo/Cool Blogger meetup with Kyria!!!
- Cincinnati, Ohio. I never got around to writing about this trip either, and it was more on the "OK" side than the "fabulous" side, but I did find a very cool Native American Burial Mound to climb.
- Back to New York, Rochester this time! FLW/Lighthouse bender.
October: Hikeapalooza II
- As the leaves changed colors, I found myself drawn back to the woods and hiking. I went on a hiking bender one Saturday at Mohican State Park.
- We saw the Northern Lights from our neighborhood park
- Hubs and I left off our biking trail about 30 miles from the end - we'll get back to it next spring.
- Long weekend trip to Chicago with the fam to celebrate a niece's birthday.
November: We Chased Waterfalls
- The weather got too cool for biking but just right for hiking. Hubs and I took Doggo to the trails and visited two local waterfalls.
- Long weekend trip to West Virginia: Charleston to tour the Capitol and New River Gorge National Park for a hiking bender. If it doesn't have 800 stairs and 900 feet of elevation is it even a hike? Lookin' at you Kaymoor Miners Trail.
- Work went from "I'm not sure about this new job" to "this job sucks".
December: That's a Wrap!
- Nothing notable to report. We had fun times with the fam.
- Hubs and I started rewatching Seinfeld from beginning to end (we're currently in season 4).
- Work was seriously awful and still is. I feel good about my plans to quit in May.
Thanks for hanging out with me in 2024. Here's to 2025!
Stolen idea or not, this was a great recap. I'm sorry that work is so awful. That really stinks. I'm glad that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I do love the bit about not getting a puppy and then getting a PUPPY. Your note about the difference between dogs and kids is being able to leave them in a crate when you leave the house cracked me up.
ReplyDeleteKid vs dog comparisons always make me giggle. After the little kid/puppy phase kids can use the bathroom without your help and dogs do everything you say.
DeleteRecaps really do remind us how much happens in a single year—I’d completely forgotten that you visited the Dominican Republic!
ReplyDeleteDoggo’s arrival has to be the highlight of 2024, but your weekend trips and hiking adventures sound just as memorable. And fortunately, the sucky work thing will soon be a thing of the past.
Isn’t it exciting to think about all the possibilities that the future holds? Here’s to a fantastic 2025!
Amen, work is a temporary problem. Here's to 2025!
DeleteOh Birchy, what a great year you had! This was so fun to read. So you are almost at your one year dogaversary! Yay! You and me both girl "I'm never going to have another dog" - suddenly, a dog is in the house.
ReplyDeleteBut girl! Puppies, so adorable, so very much work. The key to us having Rex was that he was 1 1/2, old enough to be trained but young enough to have a lot of years with us. We got Barkley when he was 12 weeks old and Jake had not even turned 3 yet. So I had an almost 3 year old, a 4 year old, and a puppy. SO MUCH PEE.
I'm so happy for the years ahead that we have with Doggo...and also so happy that she's now Rex's age when you got him. Woof, the puppy teenage phase was rough! I can't comprehend of having a puppy with small children, I just can't...but they all grow up.
DeleteAside from some work and non-bloggable stuff, this sounds like a pretty decent year, Birchie! I hope the year ahead is full of the good and empty of the bad. xxoo
ReplyDeleteThanks Suzanne! I can't wait to get rid of the jobby job!
DeleteGah. WV looks so gorgeous! Now that my sister thinks they will be settling down in the DC region, I predict lots of family trips in that area going forward. We can stop off and see her and then do some other adventures in the area.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh at the "We are not getting a puppy. We got a puppy." 2024 was a big year for you with lots of changes on the work front, getting a puppy, and lots of cool travel adventures. I love that I got to meet you AND we have a meet up on the horizon! Hurrah! 2024 was a hard year for me. My RA just absolutely sucked. There is no other way to put it. And that really weighed on me - physically and mentally. But 2025 HAS to be better.
WV has a cool connection to MN...the same architect designed both Capitols. I definitely want to go back to New River Gorge and do more hiking.
DeleteI'm sorry work is such a slog. But that certainly reinforces your desire to stop working in 2025. Imagine how incredible it will feel.
ReplyDeleteLoved this recap and it's so sweet to see how Doggo has changed.
I can't wait to see what 2025 has in store for you <3
Elisabeth, freedom from the job is so close that I can taste it! I am very hopeful that 2025 will include a trip to NS.
DeleteI saw Elisabeth mention that Stephany had done this, and I have been way behind so have not seen hers yet, but this is a great idea and I may even steal it even though I am going to be way late for the game here. That's okay; it's my game! I also forgot that you went to the DR, even though I knew that and also you and I probably talked about it, but GAH my brain is a seive now,. so I apologize profusely for forgetting. I hope that you can last until May, but a word to the wise from someone who has done this, if you are not happy, and you have things that you will do instead that will make you happy, just quit. It is not worth the extra few thousand dollars, which, in the long run, will not really make that much of a dent. I know, this goes against everything I normally preach, but you are basically eating dessert even though you are already full, just because, it's cake! and it's in front of me! If it's not too bad, then by all means, stick it out, but you don't really NEED to, so if it really does suck, I say cut and run. Don't sacrifice your mental state for a few extra dollars.
ReplyDeleteDO IT!!!! STEAL THIS STOLEN POST!!!!!
DeleteYou said exactly what I'm thinking about work, which is that it's not worth it to stay. If I max out 401k and stay another month beyond that for my first equity vesting, I will have gotten the maximum that I wanted out of the job, but it is at the cost of a lot of stress. If I don't do 401k/equity, I'll still have a roof over my head and food on the table. I think that continuing to just wade along makes sense for the rest of winter, since the weather is crappy and it's hard to do very much, and then an early spring exit is probably the right time to get outta there.
Dear Birchie, I enjoyed hanging out with you during 2024, and I enjoyed your year-end wrap up chapter by chapter. Hooray for Doggo and all the joy she brings into your life. Boo for a job that turned into too much stress. I loved all the FLW tours! And the snail mail! Here's to a fun 2025!
ReplyDelete