A New Year

I haven't had this blog very long yet, so most of the people reading it probably don't know what 2012 was like for me. But by far, it was the most dramatic, changing, awesome, and best year of my life.

I'll set the scene for you.
December, 2011. Flash and I have been dating for hardly more than a month when school ends and I go back home, which is 3 hours from where he lives. So begins a long distance relationship for about a month, no big deal. Immediately come home from break, and my dear mom announces she is engaged. Tell dad the next day, he announces that he's planning on proposing to his now wife. Both weddings are planned for July.

Well, this should be fun.

January: I've been planning a cross country road trip with Flash and our good friend Bonecrusher from the Quidditch team. Flash and I ring in the new year together in Richmond. School begins again. I have a new professor for studio and we immediately begin the second year design competition- Design a bookstore in the middle of the Architecture building.

February: Flash and I are still not "officially" boyfriend and girlfriend. Finally on Valentine's day, we realize and establish that we are, indeed, official. We wait a few days to put it on facebook, so we don't look like a Valentine's Couple. Flash turns 22. Flash finally starts cooking for himself and exploring his culinary abilities (I taught him to cook in December). The Phoenixes (my Quidditch team) host their first tournament on campus, the Sirius Blacksburg Brawl.

March: Officially get diagnosed with Jumper's Knee, from my high school days of playing volleyball. I spend my spring break watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix. In studio, I design a gallery in Blacksburg for 16 people. The Quidditch team goes to Richmond for the River City Invitational, where I sprain my left knee. Exit Kitty the Quidditch player for the rest of the season.

April: The team travels to Ohio for a tournament, I go as team mom. My studio travels to New York City, I end up having to toddle around the city with my crutches and knee brace. I go full swing into organizing and planning the road trip: A cross country adventure from Richmond to Seattle. I get into the design/build studio for 3rd year (the studio I am in currently). Stress eats me alive.

May: End of the school year. In studio, I design an artists' residency compound in rural Virginia. I hand drew all 30+ drawings for my final presentation. As soon as school ends, Flash, Bonecrusher, and I pack into the car and head out to Seattle. Stops along the way included Nashville, Little Rock, Amarillo, Albuquerque (in the first two days of driving), the Petrified Forest National Park, the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, Sacramento, Redwoods National Park, Portland, Olympic National Park, and finally Seattle. The most amazing trip of my life, honestly. Flash and I fly home, not knowing when we'll see each other next. I go home to see my brother graduate from High School.

June: I start my summer job as a nanny and as an employee at the Rock Climbing Gym in Richmond. Flash and I manage to see each other roughly every other week during the summer, making the long distance quite manageable. In the meantime, I watch Lost on Netflix and make a string quilt! My first quilt that I made all by myself.

July: Weddings. Lots of weddings. Dad gets married, I get two new young step sisters. We move out of our home and into her house. Lots of feelings. Mom gets married, I get a new step brother. She packs up her house and plans to move to Nashville, where her husband lives. Lots of upheaval. Thankfully, I had Flash to talk to and vent to and to keep me sane during this crazy time.

August: Everyone's moving and it's one giant mess. To make everything more complicated, I'm diagnosed with mono. Great. I move to Blacksburg, into my first apartment! Flash and Tuck help me move in, and we hang out and stuff. I like my apartment a lot. School starts back up, and the first few weeks are incredibly stressful. Third year architecture was NOT what I had imagined. Flash does a very good job of helping me calm down and figure stuff out. Also, I start Structures again (the terrible class that weeds out architecture students, that I did not pass last year).

September: I'm back in a normal schedule where things are working out nicely. I can't play quidditch because of the mono- apparently it enlarges your spleen, which can rupture if you play contact sports. Go figure. So I organize the Sirius Blacksburg Brawl (again!), which turns out to be an awesome tournament and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Studio is frustrating because we're making a book, not designing anything.

October: FINALLY we begin designing a building in studio. I come back to Quidditch, but in the time I was gone it became incredibly physical and I just get beat up on, which I don't really enjoy. I focus more on studio and architecture. Oh, I also turned 21. AWESOMESAUCE.

November: Regionals for the Mid Atlantic Region in Quidditch! Everyone's competing for a spot in the World Cup (in April). Sadly, we do not get a bid. I start winding down as president, because we are holding elections for new officers for 2013. I'm planning on studying abroad in the fall of 2013, and I can't exactly be president anymore if I'm in Europe. Flash and I celebrate our first anniversary, and it is wonderful. I start planning my next few quilts.

December: I pass Structures. I rock studio and make a sweet model. I get lots and lots of fabric for Christmas. And I ring in the new year with Flash again, at a Moon Taxi show in Nashville. A good party to close out a crazy tumultuous year.

But you know what? I wouldn't change anything about it.

When life gives you troubles, go to your happy place. Find what makes you happy, and strive to achieve it. You can't control the world, but you can control how it makes you feel.