Where did 2014 go?

Happy 2015!!! I can't believe that "the holiday season 2014" is already over! That happened so quickly! Just a quick summary: Thanksgiving was spent in Muncie because of my sister's retail job requirements (aka working on Thanksgiving!). We had a very laid back few days with the highlight possibly being finding all the amazing-ness that is Rural King! (Seriously... you should check that place out! Who knew you could make amazing knock off Auntie Anne pretzels? This things are legit, I promise!) Christmas was a very typical Christmas: family dinner and church on Christmas Eve with my mom's sister, family present time Christmas morning, dad's side on Christmas afternoon, and cross country reunion (year six... whoop whoop!) on the day after Christmas. The random surprise from the Christmas holiday was getting to see a friend before she hopes the pond one last time! Yeah, I have a pretty chill family when it comes to the holidays and I love it. 

New Years was different though. My friend suggested meeting up in Nashville for the New Year's Eve bash and of course I wasn't about to miss a trip to one of my favorite places!! So after working a half day on New Year's Eve I took off for Nashville, where I met up with a friend, had some dinner and hit the streets of Nashville to ring in 2015 with Gavin DeGraw and Lady Antebellum! It was a pretty spectacular New Year (evidenced by the following pictures)!

As most people do at the end of a major event (i.e. a year) I did a little reflection of my 2014. I didn't realize that 2014 was really a major year of travel for me! I went to weddings in Mississippi (twice), Chicago suburbs, and Michigan. I went to Las Vegas (twice), Portland, and Denmark for work. I went to Colorado (Denver and Colorado Springs), Key Largo, and Nashville for vacation. And I went to Nashville and Indianapolis to run half marathons. Frequent flyer miles? I think so!

Going hand-in-hand with reflecting on the past year is setting goals for the new year. Now I've tried the resolution route before and I've been less than successful. So this year I'm taking a different approach. Instead of a list of things/goals that I'll probably forget 30 minutes after I write them down, I'm going to have one word defining my actions for the new year. That's a lot of pressure on one word! Alright I know you're dying to know my 2015 word. So here it is... Lauren's word for 2015: commit! That's right! #commit2015 is going to become a huge thing! (Kidding. But seriously...) There's a few changes I want to make and committing to those goals is going to be the only way I can succeed. I don't want to share all of the changes I've been thinking about, but I will give one example. My mom has challenged my sister and I to live a bit healthier. Since weight is an easy measurement, we have a goal that we're each striving for. If we can each hit the goal, we're going to have a little celebration. Committing to that goal! Stay tuned throughout the year to find out some of the other goals I've committed to!