2017 in Review

Happy Wednesday!

Someone please tell me how to make the transition from a dental blog to a speech therapy blog? And gracefully? I know this blog is grounded in dentistry, and the vast majority of my posts are related to the field - but now that I've made this transition in my life, it's time to change over the blog as well. But that'll be for another day. (Although I have no doubt that my DAT guide will always be my #1 viewed blog post. Seems silly now that I'm not even becoming a dentist.)

Today I want to reflect on everything that 2017 brought. Well, that's not entirely true. I only want to focus on the positive things. Because honestly I'm sick of reflecting on the negativity I've dealt with this year. Health diagnoses, losing my dad, yadda yadda, I don't want to write about it. (Not that i'm dismissing my dad passing away, but I would much rather write about honoring him, than about the loss of him.)

2017 was a year of discovery for me - due mostly to the fact that I was out of school from January to August and really had no obligations to anyone or anything. Now that mostly means that I had an unlimited amount of time to watch Youtube and anime like the proper 15 year old that I am, but with all that free time also came plenty of trips, experiences and self-reflection. Listicle format commence!

2017 (in no particular order)

1.) Visiting Key West, Florida

This trip was honestly a life highlight for my husband and I. The funny thing is that this trip originally started out as a family spring break vacation. My husband's family was planning where to go for the holiday and asked us if there was any part of Florida we would be interested in visiting. Spring Break was in February and I wanted to be as warm as possible, so I quite literally googled "Where is the southern most point of Florida?" and found Key West.
I would go back to Key West in a heart beat. It was honestly a dream. It was very much like a second honeymoon for my husband and I, even though we didn't really plan for it to be. But after my husband's family could no longer accompany us, we took the reigns and planned a romantic vacay for just the two of us. Sunset cruises, snorkeling in the coral reefs of the Gulf of Mexico, torch-lit dinner on our own private island, exploring tropical ruins, ugh I literally could not have asked for a better vacation.
It was magical, and I actually wrote an entire blog for it over on this website if you're interested in reading more: https://erikawithak.me/traveling-key-west/

2.) Visiting Orlando, Florida

2017 was my year for traveling Florida, apparently. (Which is totally fine with me!) My grandma has a timeshare in Orlando that she uses every year for three months and since I wasn't in school this past winter, I thought I'd have myself a second spring break with her and my mom. Disney World is one of my favorite places on the planet and the entirety of Orlando has always been enchanting to me.
We visited the Magic Kingdom, Sea World, Animal Kingdom, and Disney Springs (like three times.) We met wonderful people and we talked about wonderful things. I can't wait to go back this February.

3.) Getting Kiki

Before getting Kiki I had been wanting a dog for years. Since we were in a tiny apartment for dental school, however, it just wasn't a good idea. After leaving school and moving back in with my mom we had the perfect opportunity to get the dog we had been dreaming of.
Kiki Chibi is a golden retriever and she's now 8 months old (and is a heck of a lot bigger than she is in the pic above. Try 60 lbs bigger.) We freaking love her with all of our heart and she is our temporary child until we have one of our own. Dogs, especially golden retrievers, make everything better.

4.) Attending Alpha Sigma Tau Yellow Rose Formal

As an alum that was 2 years out of college, I was nervous that attending my sorority's formal would be awkward and embarrassing, but honestly it was just a really great time. AST was a huge part of my life for four years, and it was nice to go back and catch up with all the girls I hadn't seen in awhile. It was also great to see my family legacy so to say, and hear about all the amazing things they were accomplishing. (Plus the food was AMAZING.) AST is anchored in my heart forever.

5.) Becoming a Freelance Writer

As you're well aware, I have been writing for years. (Since the third grade to be exact.) When I couldn't find a job this summer - mostly due to my exorbitantly picky requirements (I wanted a 9-5 cushy desk job that never had to work nights or weekends) and the fact that I had no experience, I decided to turn to the internet. Using websites like Upwork and Guru, I wrote freelance articles on everything from dermatology to baby showers. It was great to be able to make my own schedule and work when I wanted to, as much as I wanted to. But towards the end of it, I was glad it was over. Writing what I want to write is so much more rewarding (and not to mention a heck of a lot easier.)

6.) Getting a new car

After the ten+ year old Buick I had been wearily driving around for a while left me stranded in a parking structure in Detroit, we immediately went out and bought a 2016 Ford Escape. Her name is Khloe.

7.) Seeing Markiplier Live

This relates back to the whole Youtube thing I mentioned earlier, but Markiplier (who is a content creator on the platform) helped me a lot this year. Just being able to tune in every day and watch one of his stupid videos made me so happy and cheered me up a whole awful lot when I needed it. That's why when he announced his limited live tour and I saw that one of the FOUR stops was in Detroit, I bought tickets immediately. Seeing him live was so surreal and I had the best time ever. (As did all the other middle schoolers in the theater.)

8.) Kelsey Getting Married 

Besides my own, I had never attended a bachelorette party until this year when my friend Kelsey got hitched. We had so much fun in Traverse City doing wine tastings and other silly bachelorette things. We grew closer as friends and made some great memories!

9.) Visiting Crystal Lake, Michigan

It's a yearly tradition for my husband and I to do a "surprise" vacation around our wedding anniversary. We take turns every other year planning the "surprise" for the other person and this year was my year. I had originally planned for us to go to Caseville, but after not finding much around the area in terms of places to stay or things to do, I decided to plan a vacation somewhere neither one of us had been before.
And it was a total success! We hiked trails, climbed sand dunes, watched sunsets over Lake Michigan and kayaked. It was such a great weekend to chill out and admire nature. We will definitely be back some day.

10.) Hosting Friendsgiving

Since we moved into a large apartment and had the space for it, it only seemed practical to host a Friendsgiving this year. (Plus I had been wanting to have one for many years now, but have never had the space.) Can you believe we threw a dinner party potluck with over 30 people in one apartment? Neither can I! But it worked and it was everything I had wanted it to be. We ate wonderful food and played stupid games (Jackbox anyone?) and enjoyed each other's company immensely. Honestly I wouldn't mind having it at our apartment again next year, but one big dinner party like that per year is enough for us! (And yes that is a custom Snapchat filter that my wonderful husband created.)

11.) Dropping out of Dental School

Since I've quite literally beaten this dead horse many times already, I'm not going to go into too much detail now. (Plus I've written a whole other blog post about it here.) But I just cannot tell you how much happier I've been since leaving dental school and discovering something I truly love. When there's such a huge disconnect between what you think you want, and what you actually want, life is miserable. But I don't regret any of my past decisions, since I know that I was simply doing what I thought was the best thing for me to do at that time.
And yes, my husband and I did dress up as a dentist and a tooth fairy for Halloween this year. It's good to have a sense of humor about these types of things.

12.) Getting accepted to Speech-Language Pathology School

When I left dental school in January I was scared, not because I was wondering if I was making the right choice or not, but because I knew it was going to be incredibly difficult to get into an SLP program. Which is why I am so incredibly excited to announce that I've been accepted into Eastern Michigan's Speech-Language Pathology masters program!!! Thank you so much to everyone who's been supporting me in my dream to become a speech therapist this whole time (especially my mom and Jeff.) And praise be to God for all that I have. Look out Eastern, this speech nerd is coming for you in January! (And yes, that is the same dog that was pictured in #3.) 

And that's all! Yeah, this year sucked. But when you look at all the good that happened in just 12 short months, it really makes you grateful, and makes you realize how good you actually have it. Because at the end of the day, what's really important? To me, it's God, my family, my friends, and my happiness. 

As far as what I want for 2018, I want to continue what this year has set up for me. I want to continue studying to be the best SLP I can possibly be. I want to continue to be more invested in my faith. I want to continue to grow together with my husband in our marriage. I want to continue to go see beautiful places and talk about beautiful things. I want to continue doing me. 

Until next time, 
PJ