i’ve had some great years (hi, 2007!) and not-so-great years (howdy, 2009!). but never have i had such a bi-polar year as 2015. whew.
home improvements

• january/february: i painted my bedroom and made it nice and homey! my bedroom in st joe was so blah, so when nate and i were ready to buy a new mattress, i said screw it, let’s make our bedroom look halfway decent. 
• july: i made an entryway bench from scratch! go me!
• october: nate and charlie and i painted the garage white and put up shelving along the sides. for some reason, we still have a bunch of crap on the floor. 
• november: i also installed a ceiling fan! 

work/work-related

• may: i did event tweeting at commencement and it was a great time and successful! 
• october: i had an (unsuccessful) job interview at st. ben’s, but i got back up to central mn and hung out with lake sag for a bit and saw grandma. worth it.

garden

• spring/summer: i did a community garden through st. charles, and i had a LOT of garden space. it was amazing. a lot of work, but it was really fun. it was also a great year for gardening: it was wet when it needed to be and dry when it needed to be. i will be doing the garden space again and am already planning next year’s. 
• august: as such, i canned a ton of pickles!! awesome! also green beans and tomato sauce. 
• spring: i bought two trees for the yard and three lilac bushes for the side of the house. landscaping, here i come!

fangirl time

• may: wizardworld!!! it was super fun. karl urban, kevin sorbo, and brent spiner were all there. i would be stoked if next year bruce campbell showed up. or lucy lawless. even without the special guests, it’s a lot of fun. liz and i dressed up xena-esque, jane bought a pirate hat, and canada dave came down for the fun of it. 
• june: i got a random text from caitlin about a friend who needed a photographer…for a cosplay calendar!! i got to work with models and take photos and then design a calendar. SUPER SUPER fun. <3 it turned out great.
• october: jane and i went to nerdcon: stories and got really excited about writing and telling stories. it was over two days, and it was a great time. we are officially in love with pat rothfuss and want to stalk him. next year’s con will also be in the cities, so that’ll be nice and handy once again.

trips

• june: nate and i went to the BLACK HILLS on vacay. it was the first real vacay he and i have been on, just him and me. besides the fact that we both got sick, it was a fun time. nate’s talking about doing it again already, and he’s planning on taking emergenC three weeks in advance. i love the black hills. 
• july: LAKE TIME. liz and i went to tasha’s bachelorette party in spicer and spent some time in lake george, which was awesome because…
• july II: our derry reunion was really windy and annoying and we didn’t get to go swimming because of the wind. stupid wind. but still, we had a reunion this year, which is more to be said than last year! and i got to sit by a lake and look it it, which is more to be said than living in SE minnesota. -_-

self

• june: i got a tomato tattoo in honor of my uncle squire. it’s pretty. i love it. every time i see it i smile.

…………………………….
we were doing so well. and then 2015 took the nose-diviest nose dive ever. 
october 31, charlie was hit by a drunk driver and had brain damage. he was in a coma for a week, the rock-bottom bottom of the year. it was a week of waiting, hoping for his brain to come back to us, for him to come back to us. 
…………………………….
and he did. november was the longest month of my life, and even now at the end of the year, i wonder where exactly the month went. charlie’s back to us and has his skull placement schedule for mid-january, at which point he will ditch the helmet. after wondering if he would even live, charlie’s up and walking and being his same old self (with tongue issues and synapses not quite synapsing at the same speed yet). 2015 came back. 
…………………………….
my sister said she was having a huge NYE party to kick 2015 to the curb. i don’t know. 
2015 was pretty good up until october 31, and the week that we held our breath was just that – a week – though it felt like a lifetime. 
and the progress since that week has been phenomenal. i can’t discredit 2015.