Oh man, I am in trouble. Sweet, perfect trouble.

I spent the weekend in Jersey with family and the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking about (or texting) Jordan. How did I get so lucky? He says nothing but the sweetest things to me, and god, the way he looks at me. When I got back, he came over the next night and we just talked for hours and it was so perfect. I probably had a goofy grin the entire night but I honestly don’t care because he makes me so happy. I can see myself falling very hard for this one.

It was definitely a momentous occasion this weekend when I deleted ALL my dating apps, tinder included. Because, well, we aren’t dating anyone else… and I don’t want to talk to any other guys. We are going ice skating tonight, and I will probably bust my ass or look like a baby giraffe. He has no idea what he is in for. I am literally the worst ice skater EVER. I told my parents what we were doing and they laughed their asses off. I get made fun of to this day about the one time my parents decided to put me in ice skating lessons when I was younger because they figured since I was a good dancer that I should be good at skating too. They were proved very, very wrong when I was the worst one in the class and I never returned again.

In other news, tomorrow is New Years, and I’ve been reflecting a lot on all that has happened this past year. This year was a great travel year and being single the whole year really helped me grow and figure out who I am without a guy attached to me. It is true what they say that you need to learn how to be happy alone before you can be happy with another person. I’ve made plenty of mistakes and I’ve been through a lot of shit, but I really needed this year to figure out who I am and where I’m going.

Here are a few (okay, a TON) highlights of 2015:

*MLK weekend in Southern Florida! I was able to see Shaun from my Eurotrip, Liz (We danced together when we were living in NY in elementary school and it’d been 18 years since we’d seen each other), and Timor (Jesse’s friend).

*NYC with some of my fellow MFA’ers. I met about half the people in my grad program, met my Aunt for the first time and stayed with her on Park Ave, and spent a night drinking with Andrea from my Euro trip (she also came to Raleigh in June and I was able to see her again!!)

*MARDI GRAS! Lisa and I road tripped it down to NOLA and partied it up at Mardi Gras. I came home with a suitcase full of beads and made friends with guys from Minnesota and Louisville, KY.

*Beachin’ it up in Wilmington and Topsail with some of my besties for Memorial Weekend.

*I flew to NYC for 36 hours to visit Evan from my EFCB days and went to a Governor’s Ball music fest where I also got to see Addie for the first time since high school!

*Two and a half weeks in Europe for my graduate school residency. Kryss and I went to Budapest and did a fun pub crawl. I went on countless tinder dates with Viennese, French, English, American and German guys. I fell in love with a German. I got drunk off wine too many times, including the time I actually did open mic and read an excerpt of my novel (eek!). I cried while reading something I wrote in Jake Lamar’s class in front of everyone in my program. I rode the ferris wheel and almost fainted. I danced my butt off at Donauinselfest, Europe’s largest free music festival. I watched the first inaugural class graduate. I took an early morning train to Munich and spent the day with my crossfit buddy Dennis then took an overnight train back (with a Hungarian girl as my cabin mate). I crossed the border into Slovakia and went to Bratislava with my classmates and drank at a bar called Narnia. I was inspired by writers and teachers and mostly by a man with crazy hair and big bow ties who will forever hold a dear place in my heart.

*Jude and I took a road trip to DC and we got to hang out with my former coworker Dionne and play in a fun ball pit.

*I treated my mom to a trip to Nashville! Great food, great music and lots of fun!

*I visited Kim from my eurotrip in Chicago and was able to hang out with my sister Alex and we also got to meet up with Mary from our Eurotrip for lunch.

*I stayed with Layson in Boston and we did Santacon and then went to a Patriots game at Gillette Stadium. The lost, but it was still fun going to my very first NFL game!!

There were other great moments too but the travel ones always stand out for me. There were downsides to my year, the biggest being my mom’s cancer returning. But I have hope that 2016 will hold great things for everyone.

This was the first year I kept a resolution… to stay single all year. I’m really glad I did. So here are some resolutions for 2016:

-Continue my crossfit journey, but also do more cardio.

-Go back to a more plant-based diet

-Tell the people I love how much they mean to me more often.

-Do more things to improve my mom’s life.

-Buy a house.

-Fall in love.

-Take Jude out of the country!

What are some of YOUR resolutions for 2016?

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