jason asked me if it was weird that we sent a holiday card without a letter summing up our year. i guess i felt that our holiday card was the embodiment of the only real good thing that happened this year and i didn’t need to relive everything else. but, you know what? a blog is a perfect space to remember and relive. so i’m going to give you this year’s play-by-play, month-by-month… and then look forward to 2015.

January
I began the year finishing a bunch of new knitting projects, and starting some new knitting projects. Quarterly cousins’ brunch was held at Jamie and Shane’s house, where I fell in love with their Great Dane, Ruby. I went to see niece Hannie’s holiday program with her daycare and it was just as cute as ever. I had a really good catch-up dinner with my friend, Jen, then we all hung out with Kristi and Amelia. I joined the festivities of my friends’ Annual Sexy Dress-up Day at the Walker Art Museum. Jason and I went to the Hockey City Classic at TCF Stadium for the first two periods… before our butts nearly froze to the bleachers and I was whining too much for us to continue to stay and watch.

February
Earlier in the month, made the trek to South Dakota for a very belated Christmas. Jason and I stopped to see grampa and grandma in Iowa on our way back to Minnesota. On the 5th, we went to see Dan Navarro perform again — and Jason surprised me by proposing! It was one of the best nights ever. The following weekend, we had a date to tour caves in Stillwater while we ate cheese and drank wine. We invited over a bunch of friends to celebrate Valentine’s Day with us, complete with heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy’s. Crystal brought a wonderfully decorated (and delicious) cake to celebrate our engagement. It was my second full month of bus commuting after a 6- or 7-year hiatus, and it was interesting to watch the demolition of the Metrodome as I passed by twice each weekday.

March
My sister, Karyn, gave Jason and I tickets to see Tristan & Yseult at the Guthrie Theater. Neither of us had been to the new building, so we had dinner and snuck around to see all of the special spots, including a peek into the thrust-stage theater where the Othello set was in progress. Kristi joined me for a wedding fair at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. We each enjoyed the cake samples, wine, and the conservatory. I later brought Jason to the arboretum to further discuss wedding possibilities. I got a backstage peek at the Fitzgerald Theater while a rehearsal for A Prairie Home Companion was in session. I had my first (and probably only) green beer to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I saw wild turkeys at my sheltered morning bus stop in downtown Minneapolis. Later in the month, I traveled back to South Dakota/Iowa with my sister and her family because Gramma had passed away (cancer sucks). It was a sad weekend, but hanging out with Hannie gave it a few bright spots.

April
Jason and I went to see the Bruins lose to the Wild at the Xcel Center. I entertained myself with “BinGoal” and we ended the night with a winning card. I turned it in to the customer service desk, and a few days later, Jason got a call saying that we had won tickets to another game! So less than a week later, we headed back to see the Wild take on Nashville. Bertine and I presented together (my first time) at a conference, MinneWebCon. I briefly tried on Google Glass at work. Jason and I traveled back to South Dakota again for Easter and Hannie’s fifth birthday celebrations. We finally got a nice enough day to check out Falls Park and the Japanese Gardens in Sioux Falls. It rained a lot. I started knitting my wedding shawl, and also started a neighborhood knitting group that would meet a couple weeknights each month.

May
It continued raining. At one point we even had ducks hanging around in our backyard for a few days! A new Lunds opened in downtown St. Paul, which became a nice destination for a walk/lunchtime break. My knitting group friend, Kate, had her second baby, Zach, and we took turns passing him around between stitches. Jason and I took a long weekend visit to see his family in Iowa. We met a couple of new additions there, too (Iris and Evie), and enjoyed the pond on their new property. Later in the month we met with our wedding photographer for a session of engagement photos.

June
I got a full building tour of my office and met a few new-to-me coworkers through weekly morning yoga on the rooftop patio. I finished knitting my wedding shawl. One of my yarn store coworkers began a monthly employee meet-up to knit and hang out, and our first get-together was at Merlin’s Rest (where I had been intended to visit for a very, very long time). I spent a lunch break quickly touring a few of the museums in downtown St. Paul at the Landmark Center. I went to see the Prairie Fire Lady Choir at the Cedar — it was weird not to join them on stage, but it was also nice to just listen. My sister threw me a very nice bridal shower at Crave in St. Louis Park. Quarterly cousin’s brunch was held at Mike and Prayati’s house. I finished knitting my first sock! Jason and I walked to outdoor music and food truck festivities held in Robbinsdale by Travail’s crew (our most famous local restaurant).

July
My family powered through our sadness about losing Gramma and held our reunion known as Sullyfest over the fourth of July weekend. We went to a town potluck, watched fireworks, rode horses, played with farm kittens and drove the golf cart all over the place. Jason and I met our wedding officiant for the first time and started planning our ceremony. A bunch of my good friends from high school convened in Minneapolis to throw me a bachelorette party: Planet of the Apes in the VIP theater, all of the desserts, brunch the morning after, and bird watching along the Mississippi. Jason and I enjoyed the annual fireworks display from Robbinsdale’s Whiz Bang Days. Kristi, Vani and I roadtripped to celebrate Jen’s upcoming nuptials with a bachelorette “glamping” party. My work team took an afternoon off to go bowling at RanHam lanes in St. Paul. I enjoyed several lunch breaks outside, looking at the Mississippi. Jason and I took a cooking class all about sushi. A branch on the biggest tree in our front yard mysteriously broke in half over night (and it’s still hanging there). I enjoyed a Sharknado 2 viewing party at Crystal and Bill’s apartment.

August
I decided to document every day of this month with at least 6 photos (view the full album on Flickr). Jason and I went to see Billy Johnson’s Roadshow, where we were joined by Molly and Ryan. We all even danced a little bit! Jason’s cousin, Logan, was in the cities for work so we showed him a few of the sights one evening. I did some freelance web work with my friend, Johanna. It was fun to work with her! Jason and I spent an afternoon with Hannie. She had no qualms about louding exclaiming “these people aren’t my parents” to anyone and everyone at the park we visited. I roadtripped to the Wisconsin Dells with Bertine, Henrietta and Serinia, where Bertine and I presented together for a second time at That Conference. Jason and I ventured to Sioux Falls to attend Jen and Micah’s lovely wedding. My gramma Dee gave me a ring that belonged to her grandma, Amy — my namesake. Hannie graduated from pre-K; where does the time go?! Jason and I visited the RenFest by ourselves, one week before going back again for our wedding. I went to the State Fair with Crystal, where we volunteered for a few hours before exploring as much as we could. My sweet neighborhood knitting group gave me a surprise bridal shower, complete with hand-knitted gifts and cake. Jason and I got married on August 31! It was so wonderful to spend a full weekend with so many of our friends and family members.

September
Jason’s cousin, Christine, and her family stayed an extra day so we brought them to Como Zoo. Then we took the rest of the week off and relaxed. A coworker of mine gave me and Jason to go see the Twins play the Indians. We went apple “picking” at an orchard in White Bear Lake. I went to a small cat show in Crystal with knitting friend, Kate, and her two boys.

October
Vani and I took a day trip to visit several Minnesota wineries that were southwest of the cities. I chopped off a lot of my hair. I met a power ranger at the Mall of America. Bertine and I presented together for a third time at the MIMA Summit (the org’s biggest annual event). I got really sick for the first time this year. I checked out the partial solar eclipse. Flowers were blooming and growing in my garden and around my house through the end of the month!

November
I started working on a brainless chunky knit project, for those times when I have no patience for a pattern or want to think too hard but still wanna knit. I voted in the midterm elections. Jason and I celebrated his birthday at Harriet Brewing to see Dan Isreal play, followed by dessert at Broder’s (where we sat near David Byrne’s doppelganger), a pitstop for morning donuts at Glam Doll, and a few rounds with his new Walking Dead boardgame. We celebrated my birthday with a magnificent sushi platter and a movie at St. Louis Park’s West End shops. I went to an event hosted by the Twin Cities’ Geekettes about node.js. Jason and I celebrated Thanksgiving Day at my sister’s house, and spent the following weekend with his family in Iowa. Renee helped me create a gorgeous shadowbox to remember the details of my wedding.

December
Jason and I enjoyed a variety of Jell-O shots for Bill’s birthday. We went to see the Wild play the Islanders; it was the most dramatic game I’ve been to so far! I received my first set of Nanoblocks (Schloss Neuschwanstein – memories from my trip to Germany in 2004!). I got really sick for the second time this year; I took off three days from work in less than a week. Last weekend, Jason and I went to South Dakota for an early Christmas celebration. I was sick all weekend but thought I was getting better. At about 1am Sunday night/Monday morning, my eardrum ruptured and I took another day off from work to stay mostly horizontal all day. We made a 6am trip to the emergency room when I woke up to a bloody earlobe and freaked out. [Side note: take care of your ears! I have been half deaf for two days now and it stinks. Luckily, it’s starting to clear up a bit.] Tonight Jason and I will have a couple friends over for a casual Christmas eve. Tomorrow we’ll stay in our pajamas and relax with the kitties. I’m spending the weekend working at the yarn store. For New Year’s Eve, we may head down to the Lodge of Robbinsdale for fun with Brat Pack Radio, but don’t have plans set in stone yet.

And that’s it! Here I was, thinking it was a fairly uneventful year.