Top 12 of 2012 (part 1)

In the spirit of the New Year, let's take a look back at some of my favorite moments from 2012. In no particular order.

Hadley and Bennett got married!
Ok, you know I had to put this at the top of the list or I would have been in big trouble. In January (the 14th, to be exact) my sister Hadley married the most perfect man for her that anyone could imagine. It was awesome and we had a big party. (I also had an allergic reaction to something on her wedding day and almost broke my bouquet while standing at the altar because I was squeezing it as hard as I could in an effort not to reach down my dress and scratch. TMI?)

The Summer Olympics in London

OBVIOUSLY this is on the list. I live for the Olympics. There are other people out there who tell me how much they LOVE the Olympics and they just look forward to it every other year, and blah blah blah, but they don't understand my level of obsession. It's ok though.

MC's top Olympic moments of 2012:

- SWIMMING! All of it. I sobbed after Michael Phelps' last race.

- Mo Farah and Galen Rupp's one-two finish in the Men's 10,000 meters.

- Hearing "Chariot's of Fire" being played in the background. All the time. At every single event.

- Listening to Arlo White call Alex Morgan's game winning goal verses Canada for Women's Soccer.

- Usain Bolt: "I'm a legend". Bob Costas: "It's harder to have a higher opinion of Usain Bolt than he has of himself."

- Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. Enough said.

- Seeing William, Kate, and Harry get so excited while cheering on the UK in various sports! It's fun to see the royals being real every so often.

- The Fierce 5, and the Women's Gymnastics commercials featuring "Home" by Phillip Phillips.

- The obvious displays of faith by SO MANY of the athletes!

- Watching sports I wouldn't normally watch, and getting legitimately excited about them!

I could go on and on all night, but I'll spare you. I will share this video, though. It's obviously a recording of someone's TV, but it still gives me goosebumps every time I watch it.

CODE-A

This year, I STARTED my very first campaigner group of Young Life girls! Let me clarify, I led a group of campaigners in Wilmington for a long time, but it was a group that I inherited (and loved every second of). This campaigner group is a group of 8 girls that I have been loving since their freshman year in high school. Half of them went to camp with me this past summer, and when we got home, we started having campaigners every Tuesday morning in my classroom before school. (The elementary school I work at is right next door to the HS they go to.) I LOVE these girls, and I'm so thankful I get to be their friend!!

Oh yeah, we call our group "Code-A" because that is the code for a lockdown at the elementary school, so there is a folder of various "code-a" things in my classroom that they were asking about one morning. Someone suggested we name ourselves that, and it stuck.

Jordan Knight

2011 was the year of NKOTBSB. (We traveled to see the New Kids on the Block - Backstreet Boys combo twice during that summer.) 2012, however, was the year Jordan Knight told me happy birthday.

Old Navy put on a series of events last summer called Funnovation Nation. The event locations were decided by a video contest that they held, and one of the winners was the Brigade Boys and Girls Club in Wilmington! Old Navy came in for the day bringing Emily Loftiss to host a day of fun, including a Jordan Knight concert!! Naturally, when my cousin Amy and I heard about this we decided that we HAD to go. The event was small enough that we were able to get to talk to Emily. She caught wind that it was my birthday, told Jordan, and during his concert, he told me happy birthday from the stage. It was pretty incredible.

36 Hours in Lubbock

In July, one of my dear friends got married in Lubbock, Texas. Rachel, the bride, and her best friend Katy were on work crew with me at Windy Gap during the summer of 2003. During the summer of 2005 the 3 of us planned to reunite on Summer Staff at Frontier Ranch. After Frontier, I drove back to Lubbock with them and we were able to hang out for an extra week before I went back to NC. Fast forward 7 years. Rachel is getting married to Bryan. I am invited. I will not miss this wedding, or an opportunity to see my friends after such a long time, but I am a teacher which means I'm broke. All the time. Enter Egie, my cousin who's a flight attendant for Southwest. She offers me a pass to get me there and back for FREE. What's the catch? I fly standby. I'd flown standby before on her pass and hadn't really had an issue, but this time I had to go through some major airports, on a weekend, in the summer. And did I mention that the Lubbock airport isn't what you'd call "easy to get to"? Well it's not. Not to worry though, Egie made some phone calls and got my flight plan all mapped out. I booked a hotel room (ok I picked one at random from the 2 that were suggested by Rachel), and started getting excited about my return to Lubbock!

Friday morning. 6:00 am. I arrive at RDU with about 5 minutes to spare before my first flight leaves. Thankfully, there was a seat still open and I made it on board!

Nashville. 6:30 am (central time). First stop. I've got 3 hours until my next flight - to Dallas. I go over to the ticket counter where I am promptly informed that the flight to Dallas is full, BUT there is another one about an hour later, BUT it's almost full too. I was also informed that even if I DID get to Dallas, I didn't stand a very good chance of getting OUT of Dallas. Great. I tell the ticket lady that I am just trying to get to Lubbock for a wedding, and ask if there is another route I can take. YES! There is a wide open flight to Austin, and after that, another wide open flight from Austin to Lubbock. I'll take it! What time do I leave for Austin? 4:00. Yeesh.

9 hours, lots of wandering, a couple of naps, 2 episodes of Suits, breakfast AND lunch, and one more episode of Suits later, I am beyond ready to leave Nashville.

6:55 pm. I touchdown in AUSTIN! Y'all. I love the Austin airport. Maybe a little too much. I arrived at that airport with a mission: first stop - Amy's Ice Cream, dinner from Maudie's, and a couple of boxes of Longhorn's chocolates. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. I also got to hug Amanda Horvath's neck, which was a complete and TOTALLY HAPPY surprise!!

9:00 pm. LUBBOCK! FINALLY! I rented my car, texted Rachel and Katy that I had arrived, and made my way to the hotel! Coincidentally, I picked the right hotel and was only a few doors down from all the girls in the bridal party!

I had an incredible time that weekend and LOVED getting to reconnect with a bunch of old friends!! Next time, we will NOT go 7 years without seeing each other. (And I might drive to Lubbock. You know, just to save time.)

**For real though, thanks so much to Egie for giving me those passes. Regardless of how long it took, I wouldn't have even been able to go if not for her!

**Also, special thanks to the Davis fam in Dallas and the Horvath/Hageys in Austin for being willing to take me in, had I gotten stuck in either place!

EGIE

(pronounced EEE-GEE. not eggie. don't do that.)

Speaking of Egie, 2012 is the year that brought her back to me! I mean, not like she ever really left, she did move to Raleigh, but now she's back in Wayne County! Y'all need to understand that Egie is not JUST my cousin. She has always been the older sister that I never had, and as we've gotten older, has become one of my best friends. I am so glad that she is back in town again, and is still willing to let me be her sidekick! (Not to mention all of the spontaneous road trips, DIY projects, and 25 bajillion times that we've watched "This Means War".)

So there you have it, well half of it. 6 of my top 12 from 2012... to be continued in part 2.