The briefest recap I can manage, commencing now:
January:
Got sick at my own birthday party. Insanely stressed with the transfer with work, the move, the onset of mono, the apartment hunting (and otherwise agony over losing it just to find it again), then the settling in. Swayze takes everything perfectly in stride. We go see an underground concert in Brooklyn with Sammy and decide 100% we don't want to move to Brooklyn.
February:
Such a blur. I'm met with letdowns at The B, I'm nervous about money on Jilll's side, spare time spent exploring Inwood and drowning in stress, hating my internship while giving it my all, and trying to see the positives (also Fashion Week street style shots in front of the Lincoln Center turned out to be my best work of the year).
March:
Pick up working at E, finding out the worst of people I trusted with my happiness, and I think the bra shop is great. I learn a little Spanish. I cook a big lamb dinner for Easter with everyone as a sort of unofficial house warming. The NYC*loves starts to fall together brilliantly.
April:
I am so so very sick, as if I never recovered from the January stress cold. Shot first wedding of the season with Manning and I couldn't finish it due to being so sick. Decided not to take any time off from work, and end up working 48-52 hours plus commute a week between the two jobs, and paying for it with my health. No insurance, in and out of urgent care. X-ray, blood work and CT scan. No answers. Decide it's mono, still don't take time off but realize no one in any of my work situations truly cares about me. R at E convinces me to take antibiotics from the Dominican Republic. They're the only thing that helps. Last shoot for L leaves me with burns up and down my thighs from shooting in a pap pit next to a fire. Never turned in the pictures from that shoot. They weren't that good anyway.
May:
Completely dedicated to recouping from the month before, which meant playing catch up on everything including bills. Praying that the summer gets better in the City. M begs me to give her more hours. We have a disagreement that leaves a chip on her shoulder. Mike finds out he's leaving for Germany for the summer for an internship. We all skip Pride this year. Jill's Aunt Linda dies from cancer, and it was the saddest way to meet a lot of her family.
June:
Started out by giving my two weeks at B to go to E "full time," where that falls through completely almost immediately. Shot wedding #2 with Manning and continue working for E but only for about 18 hours a week. Dye hair flaming anime red, fall in love with it but upkeep is obscenely high maintenance. Our neighbor tells me the red is inviting negative energy into my life. I disregard him (I probably shouldn't have). Yankee game with the whole family (for Mom's bday and Justin's graduation) and accidentally left my parents in a train station alone. Back to back to back heat waves requires us to give in and Dad buys us an air conditioner so the pets don't melt and die. The electric bill skyrockets. I successfully apply for Medicaid, but never see a doctor. I begin having really horrible pain, starting in my feet, up my shins, in both my knees, and my fingers/arms, all building upward. Apparently my body projects depression physically. I decide I desperately need a hobby.
July:
The financial stress is to the max. Jill never gets paid on time. We apply for food stamps, again successful. I beg for more hours at E and get turned down. I spend the rest of the month applying everywhere possible. Only a place called Pink Pussycat calls back. Worked 5 hours to find out it's full time, minimum wage, overnight. Quit. Back to square one. Wedding money pays rent on time. Spend the Fourth of July with just Jill at Far Rockaway Beach drinking on the beach and listening to 50s music via Pandora. Dad sends us to dinner at a Japanese restaurant Robataya on the East Side so we double date with Gracie and Luke (this is also the first time we get to meet him - he's a sweetheart, we are instantly sold).
August:
I enroll to work for Passion Parties, figuring it is a flexible form of additional income that won't conflict with E's schedule. I get fired for it. Bar Mitzvah in West Virginia, and meet tons of Jill's family on her Dad's side. Picked up Yankee game tickets for a game my cousins and aunt couldn't make it to, and it was a horrible experience all around. Hosted one PP with Gracie but it fills me with less than optimistic feelings. I'm too much of an idealist sometimes. Can't leave NYC because of the lease, but seriously considering leaving. No job success no money all stress. I spend my nights not working making dinner for Jill, and made every meal from scratch for a week straight. Scored two interviews at the end of the month, and I have to borrow the rent money from Mom. Hating everything.
September:
The boys break up and Mike moves out. Back to back interviews, first with New York Fashion Week on Thursday (which I bombed AND showed up late, so I was positive they wouldn't call back), and CWC on Friday. Offered the CWC position on the spot to start ASAP. NYFW calls and wants me too, so I work both jobs for two weeks. Best experience. Made money, didn't save it. I attended the Color Run in Brooklyn with Lauren, and was inspired to sign up for next year's. Asked to redye my hair something "more natural" for work. Hate it. Katie's bridal party was stressful until the actual party. Spend time with Jill's family (garlic fest in Saugerties, grandparents make us lobster at their house, and later that month take us to dinner and the MET to see the Warhol exhibit), and we hang out with Gracie as much as possible because she has decided to move to Denver in December.
October:
In a broke bind (again) by October's rent. Mike starts back at CWC and Gracie leaves much earlier than planned (and the going away party at Blockheads, everyone is super sweet to Jill). Steady feelings of losing my identity and discovering a completely different side of me at the same time. Mike hosts a PP with me. Katie's bachelorette party in PA was a blast, and the stage is set for the wedding. I fall in love with Tarrytown after a perfect Halloween get together with the NYC*loves: cemetery (Jill fell), Horsefeathers pub, parade, street fair, haunted hallows [with the scary tree man], and loved spending time with Gracie and Annie. Mike gets evicted but the new apartment isn't ready yet, so he spends the next 5 day/nights with us. Hurricane Sandy hits and all three of us are stranded uptown for three straight days. No work (screwed up the biggest floorset of the year), Halloween parade in West Village gets cancelled, more inconvenienced than anything as we were perfectly safe from the storm way uptown. We watched a shitton of Netflix because we were lucky enough to not lose power. Dyed hair pink. Went to the Liffy for Halloween.
November:
I started Nov with an epic hangover, both literally and figuratively. They cancel the NYC Marathon. Mike settles into his new place, and I had my first IKEA experience. Katie got married and it was absolutely perfect. I wrote a good speech and got to see old friends. Nostalgia and being an adult mixed with an open bar. Jill worked for MC for a week, and I was jealous I didn't. Made Apple Sauce for the first time. Friendsgiving at Christina's apartment was lovely and we made new friends. Dad got upset about us not coming home for Thanksgiving or Christmas (between the wedding the week before Thanks, and retail around Christmas, it was impossible). Work cut hours so severley I began aggressively job hunting again. Had an interview for an internship with Go-Studios in the Penthouse. Didn't get it.
December:
Hours continue to get cut due to low holiday sales (a devastating hurricane will do that). Tried to see the tree lighting at Rockefeller, never again. Got yelled at by the cops for moving a barricade. Went home and watched it on tv. I stopped taking the pill, as that started the most horrible chain of reactions emotionally and physically. Felt a lot like I went crazy. Jill continued to love me, to my constant disbelief. Booked us last minute Dave Matthews Band concert tickets (via Groupon!) for Jill; after some Jersey Transit chaos we have a great time. Went home for Family Christmas the 15th and get to see everyone, especially preggo Eliz. Everyone gets along smashingly well with Jill (this was her first encounter, an overwhelming experience to anyone). Had dinner with Jill's grandparetns at a fancy organic place in the Clousiers. The world doesn't end of the 21st, New Yorkers didn't care. A smaller world ends on the 21st, J loses her baby. Chanukah was spent with Jill's grandparents in the City, they gave me sushi gelt. Christmas Eve was spent with Wendy and her boyfriend Alex. We buy their couch for $200. Our apartment suddenly looks adult. We plan the living room with Mike. Christmas Day was spent with the White Plains gang, and it's a quiet lovely affair. Aunt Ellen gets me a pink pj union suit. New Years Eve found us alllll the way upstate with Jill's Mom's side of the family. Swayze proves he's a really great dog among a lifetime's worth of small dogs. There's a snowstorm and we don't have to do anything about it. It was the best vacation an overworked and underpaid couple of 20somethings could have asked for.
This year has been such a blur, I'm forever thankful for my notes app where I could compile the important stuff as I remembered it. This year is the first year EVER that I don't have a list of goals or plans or necessary accomplishments.
I'm working on relaxing and not overplanning things, so I am taking the plan-making slowly this year.
