Where does the Time go?

So, another year is coming to an end. I can't believe it's been 9 months (almost to the day!) since my last post. So much has happened - I almost can't even think about it! Therefore, we're going to break it down month-by-month to get you caught up. (Not that any of you were holding your breath waiting for the update, but it's a good way for me to reminisce on my year.)

March
I left you in March shortly after my amazing experience at the Maroon 5 concert and right before the mind-boggling, awe-inspiring, indescribable experience at my first P!NK concert. It was her "The Truth About Love" Tour and.... yeah, if you weren't lucky enough to see it - I'm sorry. Let's put it this way - a few days after my mom, sister, and I attended her concert - I bought tickets for my sister, brother-in-law, and I to go to the extended leg of the tour. (The concert was supposed to be in November, but because of a vocal rest it was postponed until January and we won't be able to go.... I'm super bummed... but I'm grateful I got to see it at least once. The concert was on Epix this weekend though so I'm hoping it'll be released on DVD.) She is just so talented. She can sing (duh), dance, do acrobatics, and she is just an amazing person all around. Lora, my sister, really enjoyed the fact that she didn't want to swear because she saw there were young children in the audience so she sang the edited versions of all of her songs.

April
April brought on a few big changes to my life - I decided to add another furry four-legged child and got a dog. One of my cousin's has a Shih Tzu whom she recently started breeding and though I wanted one of the puppies from her first litter - it just didn't work out with my living situation at the time; so, I decided to get one of the puppies from the second litter. I felt like this was the right time for me and had everything in line (or so I thought) so I told my cousin I would take one and then all hell broke loose. As I've mentioned before, I lived with my great-aunt and rented out her basement and though we discussed (thoroughly) about me getting one of the puppies, she changed her mind once the decision was final... so, I moved out. There was a lot of family drama and I realized that it would be best for me to have my own place anyway. So, in late April me and "the kids" moved to a studio apartment in Burnsville.

May
 May was spent settling in to the new place and getting used to having a puppy in my life. The last time I had a puppy in my life was in 3rd grade when we got our Dakota. Of course back then my parents did all of the hard work - so taking care of Percy was definitely a new experience. Though I loved my pupper and enjoyed the challenge, it did make me realize I would never want kids - I like my sleep too much.

June
By the time June came around, I felt like we had a pretty good routine. I was liking my new apartment a lot (though I was NOT a fan of the management) and "the kids" were starting to get along a little better. (I think the cats realized the Percy wasn't going to go away anytime soon.) Of course during this time I was still working at AV and though I enjoyed my colleagues, I wasn't sure about my job. I really wanted to take the next step but wasn't sure I would have the opportunity and started looking for a new job.

July
In July, I was approached by my manager about an interim opportunity in Mankato for an assistant manager position. Of course it would just be temporary, but it sounded like a good way to get me to the next step. My manager advised that he thought it would be good for me - but would be a lot of hard work since I would be commuting. Still, I decided to risk it and apply; and, I got the job! Shortly after I started in mid-July, the other assistant stepped down which meant even longer hours as we were now down a manager. That meant that "the kids" were shipped to Mom and Dad's as I was working up to 20 hours a day when you include the commute. (It wasn't all work though, I did get the chance to attend The Package Tour with Dad on July 20th and took part of my first Color Run on July 14th. Both amazing experiences. I had so much fun with both and our seats at the concert were the best I've ever had. Nine rows from the floor!)

August and  September  were pretty much a blur. I spent both months commuting between Burnsville, Mankato, Olivia, and eventually Jackson as Mom and Dad moved to a new house at the end of September.

October
In October I was offered an official Assistant Manager position with Mankato, which was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. As I had just signed a lease in Burnsville in April, it was a hard decision but I finally decided to accept. That meant mid-to-end of October was spent finding a place to live (on top of working long hours...) October 19th I finally got a break though when Dad, Mom, Lora, Chris (my brother-in-law), and Bruce (a cousin) flew down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a week-long vacation. Luckily I found a place shortly before we left so I could have a completely stress-free week.

November
As soon as we got back from Mexico it was off to pack up at Burnsville and prepare the apartment in Mankato. (I found a place through a friend of the family and let's just say it needed a little TLC.) I moved into the new apartment in mid-November and have been slowly working on it ever since. It also didn't help that I found out my pacemaker was conking out after 8 years and needed to be replaced. I had my pacemaker generator replaced two days before Thanksgiving - and though I had a great doctor and a lot of love and care from my family, recovery did not go as smoothly as expected. It kept me out of work a little longer than I was expecting and put a bit of a damper on getting the apartment together - but it's coming along nicely and I do like it a lot.

Now I'm just typing a quick update as I watch the Saints vs. Panthers game at Mom and Dad's in Jackson. I came home to pick up "the kids" as Mom and Dad were stuck watching them while I recuperated. I better get going though as it's been snowing all day and it's probably going to be a long drive home.

Wish me luck. Thanks for reading the update.

I promise I'll be back on before nine months have passed (cause I miss so much otherwise - plus, I have some big stuff coming up in January like NITRO CIRCUS LIVE!!!)

Talk to you then. Thanks again!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!