2017 Recap With Awesome Concerts, Travels & Tattoos

Here’s my 2017 Recap, I think it was a pretty fun year to be honest, there were a few hick-ups, other than that, it was a blast! Goals for 2017 was to save money and buy a car and get a place to live. What did I do in 2017? Get tattoos, take epic road trips & go to a few concerts, met some musicians and lived life to the fullest. Do I regret it? NEVER!

In January…

We had the kids for Christmas & New Years, but had to take them back on January 1st. I wouldn’t see them again until Summer Break, besides Skype chats here and there.

I turned 31 on the 30th. Funny thing is, my mom made a cake and used random candles to get to 31, pretty hilarious in the end.

In Febuary…

I joined a gym.. I thought it was a good idea at the time. But, now I find myself almost though 2017 and I’ve used it maybe a total of 3 months. I’m waiting til my year is up and canceling it though. I’ve had a lot of issues with them and they’re less than helpful, but the canceling fee is $60 and I just haven’t canceled it yet, lol. #struggles

Hannah also turned 6 years old, it’s kinda crazy to think about though. They’re growing up so much over the last few years, they have lived with their dad, it’s like every time I see them, they are different people and all grown up. She is just as silly as always and she loves to read. She is so creative when telling stories too.

I also happened to get my first tattoo! It was free, but there was a catch, it had to be 1 of 3 designs and I went with this mushroom, which I now will probably get covered up with something more. But at least the first one was free. My friend Kristine and I both got matching “soul sisters” tattoos as well on our forearm. Both tattoos didn’t really hurt.

In March…

Funny enough, my friend, Kristine and I were both working at this sandwich shop, let’s just say I got fired via text message because I had an interview at another job. Yep, because it’s 2017, that’s how people get fired these days. Well, it was just tax return time and we were like, “Hey, let’s take a road trip..” Where did we go? We went to Louisville, Kentucky. We went for what was suppose to be 2 days turned into 5 days I believe. We had a super awesome coffee shop that was down the street from the cafe we worked at, I spent more money there than my actual job, lol. They had the best smoothies EVER!

I haven’t been to Kentucky, since I went with my ex husband to visit his family. It was nice to be back, to be honest. I freaking love Louisville, totally a place I could find myself living in. Maybe, one day I will move there and go there for work, who knows. While we were there, we visited her uncle who is so freaking awesome, we crashed at his and his partner’s place and it was beyond awesome. Check out the blog post to learn more about this trip.

I went to Winter Jam 2017 in Greensboro, NC on March 26. This is my second time going to Winter Jam and I brought Hailey this time with me. The lesson I learned last year was to buy the floor tickets, so I didn’t have to rush people for good seats and not nose bleed seats, like the year before.

There were so many awesome artist there, which includes: Crowder, Britt Nicole, Tenth Avenue North, Andy Mineo, Colton Dixon, NewSong, Thousand Foot Krutch, OBB, Sarah Reeves, Steven Malcolm, Zach Williams, Sadie Robertson & Tony Nolan. By far my favorites were Zach Williams & Crowder! Their songs were singing to my soul.

In April…

I delivered 8 puppies, not my dog, but my friend’s heather’s dog. She had her first batch of puppies, little did we know she would get pregnant and have 9 more babies. 17 babies in 1 year, no thanks! But the puppies got sick in the first batch and we lost 2 pups 🙁 It was sad, but the others recovered and are all sold.

Hailey also turned 13 years old. Let that sink in for a moment, I am a parent of a teenager, lol. I didn’t think it was possible either. Which also means, I’ve been out of high school for 13 years, ha! She is something else, she’s an artist and her passion for musicals, makes me super happy. She is an awesome kid and I couldn’t be more proud.

In May…

I went to beach, I haven’t been to the beach in 12 year, it’s been awhile.

I also got another tattoo, it was last minute too. We went to this tattoo shop in Jacksonville, NC and I went on Pinterest and picked one out from my tattoo board. Seriously, I’m happy with it too. It says, “Think Positive” and the T in positive is a cross.

I also happen to fly out to Texas, to have an insane road trip back home to North Carolina, because he needed someone to ride with him. I’m always down for a road trip. We spent the night in Alabama and I got to see my friend, Morgan! I love this woman, I know her through Tyler, I haven’t seen her before that since 2015. We drove from Texas to North Carolina, a total of 18 hours drive, split into two days.

In June…

Jacob turned 5 years old, but I didn’t get to see him on his birthday. However June is when we got the kids for Summer Break, so it all worked out after all. However the job I had at the time, didn’t care that I never got to see my kids, I was always working and making nothing to show for it. I hated this job (thankfully, I don’t work there anymore).

In July…

We didn’t do much, however we all did go to Northern VA to see my dad’s mom, Grandma for her 90th birthday. The sad part was, she didn’t remember who we were, but it was really good to see her. It really breaks my heart, she was the only grandparent I was ever really close to, she is my last living grandparent. I was in her room, my sister was like, “here’s Natalie..” She said hey to me, 5 minutes later, she asked who I was. When we were giving her birthday cards, my dad give her a card and she asked, “Who is Frank..” that broke me, she forgot she has a son.

We spent most of July at my friend’s heather’s house in her pool. I’ve gotten many sunburns at that house, but always a blast.

We went to Five Below and got water guns and had a water gun battle in the backyard. #winning

In August…

I started my new job as a Chef at Elon University, best thing I ever did, I wish I did it sooner. Food is my passion, besides blogging & graphic design. lol. I also for 1 month worked at a cafeteria at an Elem School, however that didn’t work out, because they were full of @$%$. So I’m at just Elon now and better off that way honestly.

We took the kids to the beach, first time I went with them and we had a blast. We went down with my parents and my friend heather and her family.

In September…

So heather’s dog had a second batch of puppies, this time 9 of them!

WE SAW ED SHEERAN IN CONCERT!!! Girl, you know how excited that night was? AMAZING! Even if we had nose bleed seats. I got tickets earlier this year for my sister’s birthday.

Better yet, I met James Blunt!

We also had to return the kids back to their dad’s house, because summer break was over 🙁 but we had a blast for what time we did spend with each other.

In October…

Went to the Central NC Marching Band Festival in Elon, NC. When we were in High School, we always did this, it was nice being there again and made me miss band days. A friend of mine, Lance who is now the band director at a High School on the coast, I’ve designed their shirts over the last 3 years.

I got to see The Afters in concert again at the Dixie Classic Fair, which I haven’t been to a fair in YEARS, it was amazing!

I also went with my friend Heather to a Thomas Rhett, Dan + Shay & Walker Hayes in concert in Fayetteville, NC.

In November…

We got the kids last minute for Thanksgiving break, which was pretty amazing, because I was able to have it off from work, so I got to spend that time with the kids and family. #winning

I also wen’t to see anthem lights in concert, but yet.. I got to meet them! So that happened..

I also saw Hinder & Wayland in concert and caught Hinder’s drummer’s drumstick!!

In December…

We had our first snow in December in a long time, it was pretty! But I was stuck at work, but I didn’t let that get me down. I made a snowman with my co-worker who is from Florida and never seen snow or made a snowman before. The dinning hall that I work in, when the kids go on breaks, so do we. So I was on Christmas Break from December 13 to January 3. Can I tell you how I can’t wait to go back to work.

The break itself was kinda all over the place. We did get the kids for 4 short days, but we had to return them on Christmas Day, which was the stupidest rule ever.

Then we went to the Yule Ball in DC with two friends and my sister. Then I stayed with my sister for 5 days after that, got to see my older sisters and my nieces and nephews, who i barely see since living in NC.

We also went around sight seeing around DC before the concert that night. We did over 25,000 steps that day, went all over with the metro and walked 10 miles. The only difference between this trip and the last time We walked around Washington DC, I was in shape and I wasn’t in pain.