You did well, 29, aka My Year of Travel & Big Girl Pants

28 was pretty great, if I do say so myself, so 29 had a big hurdle to vault as far as rounding out my 20's.

And thus, the year of travel was born. (And the blog completed nearly a year later...here comes 31, woops!)

It began with my desire to finally fulfill my ever-loving, over-driven obsession with the Celtic culture. I've been aching to go to Ireland for what feels like a millennium and it's been #1 on my bucket list just as long.

There was one failed attempt two years previous but my friend decided she wanted to have a kid for some reason and on the day we would have been whisking away on our journey, she gave birth to my precious little Landosaurus Rex! Love that kid, but I digress.

Tanner and I chose the best time of year for us work-wise and late August it became. But planning this trip prompted another question, "Where else do we want to go?" And so we made a list of domestic and foreign stops that piqued our interest. This list got put into action by February with the purchase of our first trip of the year: Florida!

Then it was a domino effect: Denver, NYC, Galveston with the gals, New Braunsfels with the cousins, London/Edinburgh/Inverness/all over Ireland (parts one, two and three), Dirty Thirty Cruise and Paris!

But that's not all, folks! I took a major leap of faith and put my big girl pants on to purchase my first home. I decided it wasn't yet time to give up the commute to work (I live less than a mile away) so I perused my current neighborhood in hopes a good deal would pop up. It took being outbid by cash buyers (who do you think you are!) and a really sour inspection on another home before finally hitting the jackpot (at least so far). A townhome with a fairly recent renovation and remodel with a nice kitchen, white cabinets galore, 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Heaven knows I hate cleaning tubs so a third would have been no bueno! PS. The sour inspection house had a third tub...was that a sign before I even got started? Maybe. Haha.

Making it mine has been quite the joy!

But wait, there's more! Meet MILO! Our resident Falcor (a la Neverending Story, watch it if you never have) has been a joy and a pleasure (at least so far, ha!). He was found by a co-worker's daughter and fostered at their home (which is dog filled and very loving) and has been a companion to us ever since. Isn't he adorably goofy? I love his Tyrion legs! Game of Thrones...don't miss out!

Let's see what you got, 30! (Fun note: 30 has been PHENOMENAL)