People e-mail me asking me to post new pictures often. I mean to, but either I forget or just don’t have any good ones to post. So I figured, I can use the New Year as an excuse to give you a whole post chockful of pictures (and one video) from various notable events in my life throughout the year. This post, however, is only Part One. Part Two will have pictures from the second half of the year, coming later today. So here they are, Part One of my very good year — enjoy them, and have a very Happy New Year!

These are from the First Coast Tea Party. I was on the planning committee and helped organize it, and I also spoke in front of 5,000 people that day. I’ve never spoken in front of so many people. The crowd was great, but I was petrified. I think you can tell, personally — my voice was shaking, I kept messing with my hair, and barreled right into my speech. I was also nervous I’d go over my time limit, so I was talking as fast as I could, worried that if I went for too long they’d cut me off and kick me off the stage or something. But I relaxed a little bit more towards the end, and it was a great day and definitely a moment to remember.

On Memorial Day in Jacksonville, FL they have a ceremony at the Duval County Veterans Memorial Wall. They have the name of every Duval County resident who has died in service of their country since World War I inscribed onto that wall. I went this year, and had the honor of presenting one of the wreaths on behalf of the First Coast Tea Party.

In June, right before I moved to North Carolina, Matt and I went to Sea World. We had a GREAT time there, including eating at Shark’s Underwater Grille, where you have sharks swimming all around you while you eat.

When I moved to North Carolina, we lived in a trailer for a few months before we bought our nice big house. Matt took a few pictures of me cleaning up around the house, one of which is below. I had gotten tired of him following me around the house with the camera, so I turned around and gave a big sarcastic grin in hopes he’d leave me alone and let me clean.

For the Fourth of July, Matt and I went to Wilmington to watch fireworks over the Battleship North Carolina. We were lucky enough to be allowed to watch it from across the river on a Coast Guard cutter. We were so close to the action that there were actually ashes of the fireworks raining down on us the entire time.

In July, my cousin also get married to a Marine. They had a Marine Corps wedding, so Matt and I attended with him in his dress blues.

Sometime after that, I decided to cut my long hair off (a decision I now very much regret).

Stay tuned for Part Two!

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