2023 was a year of stability and personal growth. It was the first year since 2018 that Ben and I both stayed in the same jobs and same house all year. Ruthie's health and anxiety issues that challenged us in 2022 stabilized this year. And, I am proud of myself for taking on a lot of self-improvement this year, from therapy to personal training to Invisalign to healthier eating to getting a new tattoo. My running had two rude interruptions - first when Ben and I finally got covid (thankfully mild) right before a half marathon we trained for for months, and again when I sprained by ankle (unfortunately severe). I also celebrated four loved ones' weddings and went on a number of fun trips including Maui.
In 2023, I:
- Visited Hawaii, California, Pennsylvania, New York, Nevada, South Carolina, Maine, and Washington
- Took 20 flights (back up to pre-pandemic levels)
- Ran/hiked about 261 miles (including my 7th and fastest ever half marathon, and then abruptly halted by my ankle injury)
- Did 62 strength workouts (a record by far, because I joined a personal training studio!)
- Saw 19 plays/shows (a record!)
- Read 30 books
JANUARY
The year started off in our lovely home in Beacon Hill, which now holds the record for the longest Ben or I have lived anywhere since we were 18. I baked a cake and had a belated party for my 32nd birthday.
Early in the year I was still quite new in my job, and enjoyed the excuse to get out and "inspect" parks funded by grants from my office.
FEBRUARY
Ben and I are feeling very good about our revelation that the key to surviving Seattle winters is to go on a tropical vacation every February. This year we went to Maui for the first time. We enjoyed walking to the many restaurants and beaches in Kihei...
Doing a few boat trips including snorkeling...
And whale watching! We must have seen a hundred whales during our trip, it was crazy.
I waited all week for the clouds on the summit of the island to clear, and squeezed in a quick drive to the top of Haleakala while Ben was scuba diving.
It was fun to check off a new Hawaiian island but we did get up at 5am for activities on way too many days.
We did some intermittent dogsitting of Finn while my mom was living her best retirement life in Europe. Finn and Ruthie are good buds.
MARCH
Ruthie was cute.
Marion and Melissa humored me and returned to the flying trapeze place so I could try it - so fun!
We got out with the dogs.
Ben and I visited the Bay Area for a week. It's always a whirlwind but we enjoyed spending time with his family and friends we dearly miss, and soaking in the California green hills and sunshine.
APRIL
We saw a comedy show by one of our favorites, Rachel Bloom of Crazy Ex Girlfriend!
We made empanadas from scratch, which has been a cooking bucket list goal for ages.
I served on a jury for about two weeks, only to find out at the end of the trial that I was an alternate and didn't get to participate in the deliberations or vote on the verdict. It was a totally fascinating and intense experience that has stayed with me. My case was on a serious and upsetting crime. The jury found the defendant guilty, which is what I wanted.
I took Ruthie on a lovely solo hike. Over the course of 2023 she has continued to improve in terms of anxiety and health issues, and it is so great to be able to take her hiking again.
MAY
I visited Dahlia and her husband and daughter in Philly for the second year in a row! So special to spend time with one of my favorite friends and get a window into her life as a mom.
Meanwhile, Ruthie was at the dog ranch in the countryside outside Seattle having the time of her life.
Then it was on to New York for my family's annual trip! My mom and Ben and I saw Six, which was a very fun show.
The whole family at the opera.
A good day at work - I inspected a trail on Lake Sammamish funded by a grant from my office, so of course I had to bring my bike to see the whole thing.
More little hikes.
JUNE
A major life experience in 2023 was joining a women's personal training studio! I go twice a week and do small group strength training. It has been so fun to learn how to do something other than run and to learn more about how to take care of my body as I'm getting older. My trainer and classmates are really cool and inspiring.
Marion, Melissa, Steve and I went camping on the Mountain Loop Highway but it rained so much that this is the only picture I took.
Ruthie was cute.
I got a tattoo! It's the silhouette of Mount Rainier. I have been thinking of getting this tattoo for the 10 entire years since I worked at Mount Rainier. I always felt like it was too late because now that experience is behind me. Then suddenly I realized, who cares, if I want it I should do it! The tattoo symbolizes the personal growth I've been working through in therapy for the last year or so, learning how to let go of things that don't serve me any more.
My stepfamily visited! My nephew had a baseball tournament and my niece was interested in touring UW as she starts looking at colleges. It was really nice to spend time with them, until...
Our visit was cut short because Ben and I finally got covid. We made it three entire years into the pandemic and were among the last to fall of our friends and family. It was no fun. We were both pretty sick for about five days, and then continued to experience random fatigue for at least a few weeks.
JULY
I went to two concerts at the zoo, which was a fun outdoor venue. My mom and I saw the Indigo Girls, and Ben and I saw the Mountain Goats.
My uncle John married Shannon! They are awesome.
Ruthie was cute.
Ben and I went camping on Highway 2 for his 35th birthday.
We did a nice hike to Lake Valhalla.
Ruthie loves tent time.
Ben and I had been planning to do the Vancouver BC half marathon in June but that plan was ruined by us getting covid. It was unclear for a few weeks if we would be able to salvage our training and do a different race. Thankfully we both felt well enough to resume the last few long runs, and then we did a half marathon in Redmond on the same river trail we had been running for training runs. I felt great and ran my fastest half marathon ever, which was really exciting!
AUGUST
Marion, Melissa, Steve, Ben and I went to the wild bites food festival at the zoo which was really fun.
Every year I have been getting more obsessed with the Blue Angels when they come to town. They often fly quite close by our house since we're on the hill next to Lake Washington. Darcy and Brent came over to grill and watch the show.
I went on a solo backpacking trip at Mount Rainier. It ended up being more of an adventure than I had intended. The route I had planned was too sketchy to feel safe doing alone, and I was proud of myself for recognizing that and bailing. After all these years, that mountain keeps teaching me lessons. After hiking out to the car in the morning, I had a way more enjoyable and chill visit to Paradise eating breakfast in my favorite secret spot and watching baby marmots wrestle.
I changed my last name to Dalgetty! I had a really hard time deciding if I wanted to change my name. I gave myself a deadline of deciding one way or the other by our one-year anniversary. After much agonizing I decided to change it, and am feeling at peace with that decision. It is weird and a huge pain to get used to a new name.
I enjoyed summer sunsets.
Ben and I had a festive weekend celebrating our one-year wedding anniversary. We went to a play, a spa, and an Ed Sheeran concert. The Ed Sheeran concert was surprisingly awesome and made me want to go to more arena shows to enjoy their crazy over the top production.
SEPTEMBER
Ben and I checked off a Washington bucket list item - hiking to the summit of Mount St Helens. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and the entire hike was rainy, foggy, and torturous. We considered bailing many times.
We finally made it to the summit and couldn't see a damn thing. Such a let down to work so hard for so little reward. I had done this hike in college and remember the summit being incredibly cool.
Of course the weather cleared up a little bit as we were headed back down. It was hard to capture the fog, and the relentless miles of boulder hopping, in a photo.
We saw a John Oliver comedy show!
My dad visited. We did a nice hike to Heybrook Lookout.
We kicked off five weeks of crazy travel - four different out of state trips in that time. The view of Rainier from a plane never gets old though.
The first stop was Wendy and Kasra's wedding in Half Moon Bay, California!
When in California, must get In N Out.
The second stop was Robin and Matt's wedding in Vegas. I am really not a Vegas girl but it was sort of fascinating to see the spectacle, and I dug deep and stayed at the club until 2am.
OCTOBER
The third stop was my family's annual South Carolina beach trip. As usual, it was a nice respite of sun, sand, puzzles, and quality time with aunts and cousins.
Amidst all the flying, I went to Olympia for a few days for my office's annual staff retreat. I was on the planning committee and was glad to see some of my activity contributions, like a yoga class and a visit to a wolf sanctuary, were successful.
The fourth and final stop was my cousin Allie's wedding, back in South Carolina for the second time in a week! After getting home from all the travel I hibernated for approximately a month.
Marcia visited! It was so nice to spend time with her and have her get a glimpse into my life in Seattle. We went to a great play and on a beautiful hike on Coal Creek.
NOVEMBER
Ben and I celebrated our 8 year dating anniversary by going out to my uncle's house on Whidbey Island for the weekend. We spent our 2 year anniversary in Napa and had bought a few nice bottles of wine that we've been dragging along on all our moves ever since. We opened one of the bottles for this occasion.
We also extended the anniversary celebration to a circus/cabaret show at Teatro ZinZanni, which I've been wanting to check out since before the pandemic.
Juliya visited!
After taking a few months off from running, Ben and I signed up for the winter trail run series, which is something I've been wanting to make happen for years. The first race in the series was really fun and I was feeling excited about that scheme for getting outside during the winter. But then that same day disaster struck...
I tripped going down the stairs in our house and badly sprained my ankle. I am lucky to have never been injured before so it was the worst pain I have ever experienced. It was immediately clear that something was very wrong. We went to urgent care and an x-ray confirmed it wasn't broken. For the first 5 days or so I was totally couch-bound and couldn't put any weight on it at all. I was in a brace for 2 weeks. It stayed swollen for about 3 months. Slowly recovering from the injury dominated the rest of the year (and beyond).
DECEMBER
At least Ruthie was still cute.
Ruthie begrudgingly celebrated Hanukkah.
I went to Maine for Christmas. Thankfully this year travel was totally smooth and we had a big festive celebration with about 15 aunts, uncles, and cousins. Ben stayed at home with Ruthie and we concluded that was a mistake and we don't want to spend the holidays apart any more.
My 33rd birthday was chill and slightly overshadowed by being tired from having gotten home from Maine late the night before. Ben made french toast, we took Ruthie on a long walk around the neighborhood, and I went on a shopping spree at the cake store before Melissa and Steve came over for Indian food and games.
I had been planning to wrap up personal training at the end of the year, but decided to splurge at extend it since I won't be able to run for at least a few more months. I am so grateful I already had my personal training in place and have been learning exercises I can do while recovering from this ankle injury. It has made a world of difference to have that support and to still be able to be active.
Themes for 2024 are acceptance, abundance, and slowing down. And I'm writing this from the plane to Thailand, so there's that. :)
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