Some people have claimed 2016 was a terrible year, but I would have to politely disagree. This year has been pretty fantastic. I really appreciate y’all sharing in the journey (even when I fell off the radar for a bit) and sticking with me! Take a look at what all happened this year, and stay tuned because I’ll be back in 2017 (I promise!).
- Countries Visited:
- New States Visited:
- Alabama Football Games Attended:
- Texas A&M
- UT Chattanooga
- SEC Championship
- Books Read: 21 (I think…)
- My favorite book from this year was The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.
January
I rang 2016 sitting on my couch watching Alabama annihilate the Michigan State Spartans in the Cotton Bowl. It was the perfect way to kick-off the new year. The following weekend I headed up to New England to spend some time with The Tall Man in his home state. The Monday night I returned from New Hampshire, Alabama brought home it’s 16th National Championship against the Clemson Tigers. It was a close game, but Alabama was victorious. The rest of the month was pretty quiet. January did bring Atlanta’s first “snow” of the year, which was a light dusting from Winter Storm Jonas. The last weekend brought The Tall Man for his first visit to Atlanta, and we had a great time exploring the city.
February
February was a pretty quiet month. So I binge watched my way through The Newsroom. The Tall Man and I had an impromptu date in Chattanooga thanks to a business trip on his end in Knoxville. A couple of days later I flew up to New Hampshire to spend some QT with my man.
another weekend and another 1000 miles of skymiles. the ONLY perk of long distance. ✈ #DeltaLoyal
A photo posted by Caitlin (@soexhilaration) on
March
Busy. That is the single word I would use to describe March. The month kicked off with a work trip … in Atlanta … for a client. Gotta love those local business trips! My big trip for the month was to New York! The Tall Man and I took advantage of a vacation day for a long weekend in the city prior to a work trip. We crammed as much as we could in those three days! I also headed to Birmingham for the last weekend to celebrate my brother’s 25th birthday!
April
Adventures awaited me in the month of April. The month started off with a four-day weekend in Austin with National Geographic. Not only did I have the chance to explore the city a little, but I also participated in another National Geographic Workshop. The Tall Man came for two visits during the month of April. The first weekend was just a quiet weekend at home with a quick visit over to Big Shanty Festival and The Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History. The second weekend was to celebrate his birthday, so we headed over to Historic Banning Mills for a fun Saturday and a romantic evening the last weekend of April.
Greetings from Austin! Checked another city off my list this past weekend with #NatGeoExpeditions!
A photo posted by Caitlin (@soexhilaration) on
May
May started off with a weekend trip to Decatur, Alabama to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mom’s family. It was so good to see my grandmother and my aunts and uncles. It had been too long since I had a chance to see them. The second weekend of May is when we celebrated my mom’s Mother’s Day since my brother couldn’t join us in Decatur. We set up a family portraits session for Saturday evening then enjoyed a delicious dinner in historic Roswell. The third weekend of May I traveled up to New England one last time to see The Tall Man before his big move to Raleigh, North Carolina, and while up there we had state date number nine in Maine.
June
The Tall Man made his big move the first week of June, and I made an impromptu road trip over to Raleigh to see him that weekend. It may be a 6.5ish hour drive, but it’s nice to have him in a bordering state and within driving distance. Yay for no more expensive plane tickets every time we want to see each other! For the second weekend, The Tall Man made the trek back to Atlanta, and we attended my 10-year high school reunion on June 11th. For Father’s Day, the whole fam jam headed over to Birmingham to see my brother and to help him with a few things around his house. My family and I also headed to The Ted for our final game with Braves at Turner Field. It was a lot of fun, albeit hot, and the fireworks were great as always.
July
July started off with a bang! The Tall Man and I traveled back up to New Hampshire to spend the holiday weekend with his family! We had so much fun playing on the lake and attending The Tall Man’s cousin’s wedding. I also drove over to Raleigh to spend some QT with my man. Being 400 miles apart definitely has its advantages to being 1,100 miles apart. We were able to just do life: went to the movies, slept in, built furniture for his apartment, grocery shopped, and made breakfast. It’s the little things that make it work. For the last weekend of July, my brother and his girlfriend drove over from Alabama and The Tall Man drove down from Raleigh, and we all spent the day at Six Flags riding rides and just hanging out.
August
Hello birthday month! This year I celebrated my 28th birthday, and even though there was not a lot of fanfare around it my birthday was just what I wanted! I celebrated with The Tall Man by seeing elephants (my absolute favorite!). The month also kicked off my travel season with work.
September
September started with a trip to the lake to celebrate Labor Day weekend. My family met up with our dear family friends, and we celebrated the weekend by watching football, playing Catch Phrase, eating, and of course playing on the water! The following weekend, The Tall Man came down for a visit before my work craziness began. We had a quiet weekend watching football and hanging out. The majority of the month was spent on the road or getting ready to be on the road for work, so I took an unplanned hiatus from Southern Exhilaration. Work-life balance is challenging at times!
October
It took a while for October to bring in the cooler temperatures, but they finally arrived in time for a trip to Tuscaloosa to introduce The Tall Man to real Alabama football. There is nothing like experiencing college football in person. The month also included a work trip to Jacksonville, Florida and two trips to Raleigh. The Tall Man and I also celebrated our first anniversary together! (Click here for our long distance relationship advice.)
November
November started off with a little excitement as The Tall Man completed his first Tough Mudder, and he somehow talked me into doing it next year! So, let the training begin! The month also consisted of seeing my man every weekend. He was a sweetheart to make that drive every weekend to see me. We made visits to Decatur to see my grandmother, another trip to Tuscaloosa, and finally a trip to our family farm for Thanksgiving. All is fair in love and war, so it’s only fair that December was my month to drive to him!
December
2016 started with Alabama football, and it also ended with Alabama football. My dad and I had the chance to attend the SEC Championship in the Georgia Dome the first weekend of the month. We cheered the Tide on to its 26th SEC Championship! The rest of the month was pretty quiet, and I spent almost every weekend with my Tall Man in Raleigh. To wrap up 2016, my family headed down to the Caribbean to celebrate Christmas and the new year! You’ll have to check back in 2017 to read about those adventures! 😉
