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2018 Recap Part One (January-July)

So I took a year off!  2018 was a crazy year, and a lot has happened, so I thought it might be fun to do a recap of all of the fun, unexpected, and just crazy things that happened in 2018!

January

I started the year off by having coffee and lunch with my favorite girl at my favorite coffee shop! (She is also the photographer of the picture shown above.)

The majority of the rest of January was spent trying to figure out my life... I made some big changes relationship wise by ending an almost five year relationship I was reluctant to let go of, but it ended up being a wonderful decision that has allowed me to grow in so many ways since.  Sometimes life has growing pains.

Oh, I also turned 21 the month before, so there were a lot of other (now legal) activities going on in my life to help the healing process!


February
And in February a wonderful new man came into my life!  He was my roommate's best friend, so he had been around a lot, but suddenly I was able to look at him in a new light.  That light only began to shine even brighter when I woke up on Valentines day to find flowers... Isn't that the sweetest??  
Also, peep our first official picture together at Chinese New Year at my friend's restaurant!


We had a very unnaturally warm day in February, so I had to take advantage of it on Appalachian's gorgeous campus! 

And then we had to have a mini bachelorette party for the lady on the left who was marrying into my family!  Time for a trip to my favorite winery... 



March
At the beginning of March my best friend and I went to a Cole Swindell concert!

Aaaaaand then it immediately snowed us in.  But my new boy got to come over and hang out, and since he is my roommate's bestie it couldn't have been any better!  Iconic college moment right here.
St. Patrick's Day!  And cue one of my first friends to turn 21 with me!
And then it was time for my cousin to get married to the best girl in the entire world; we all love her dearly!  This was also the first time my boy got to meet my family!  It couldn't have possibly went better, he fits right in.
And then we ended the month with a trip to Grandfather Mountain!  If you have never been and are in the Boone area it is a must do, there is a mini zoo, a mile high swinging bridge, a mineral museum, lots of hiking trails, and a mountain you can climb all over.  I have went almost every year for my whole life!

April
We began April by getting dressed up for my roommate's birthday dinner.
And then we kicked off a hiking epidemic that lasted all the way through the summer!  This is my friend and I at Hebron Rock Colony along the Boone Fork Trail with little tiny waterfalls.
Finally, I made my parents ultimately jealous by attending a Jimmy Buffett Concert!  It was definitely a moment to tell your kids about.

May

And then it was May and exam time was rolling around.  We had a pool at our apartment we had yet to utilize in the year we had been there, so it was time to go study by the pool!
But along with exams and the end of school came the time to pick back up my summer job.  Once again I was working the breakfast and lunch shift at a restaurant on the parkway.  Good money, though not my favorite kind of work.  

But hey, you can't beat these sunrises out the front window.
The end of May came with another concert.  This time it was Willie Nelson with the Country Outlaw tour.  But guess who didn't show, Willie!  To say that was a bust would be an understatement...


June
In June the hiking craze really kicked in full swing.  My mom and I decided that we needed to visit some of the many gorgeous places around us that we had never been to.  We started with a waterfall right on our road, and near my place of work, Grassy Creek Falls!  We also went right after flood-like rains, so it was HUGE!
My boyfriend even got in on the phase and we snuck into Howard's Knob one evening to see the sunset.  Totally worth it.
We then went to Roaring Fork Falls (and spent waaay too much time setting up a self timer to take this picture... I fell a couple times.)
My boy came to visit me at the restaurant I work at, and we had some fun enjoying the drinks and views instead of serving them!
My mom and I made our second trip of the year up Roan Mountain in hopes of seeing the rhododendron in bloom... We saw one flower.  But it is a gorgeous place so it was still time well spent. 
We were dying for a vacation by mid-June, so we took a spur of the moment overnight trip to Asheboro North Carolina to go to the Asheboro Zoo!

And as seems to be the trend, we ended June with yet another concert.  This time, it was Hank Williams Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd!  Once again, definitely one for the books. 

July
July began with the annual Allen/Buchanan family Fourth of July Celebration, complete with the yearly, and ever growing, "kids" picture.  (Half these kids have kids...)
Come mid July it was mini vacation time again with a trip to Pigeon Forge for my brothers 14th birthday.  (He's growing up too fast!!)  While there we went to Ripley's Aquarium, which is always a favorite!
After our mini trip we returned to our hiking escapades with Tom's Creek Falls.
I also spent at least a little time with friends this summer!  The lovely lady on the left was my favorite coworker this summer; she invited me to a golf tournament where we got to hang out, have some drinks, and sell raffle tickets for her uncle!  On the right is one of my friends from high school, back having fun at the wineries!  Can you tell my favorite drink?

My brother had never been to a college campus and was begging to go, so at the end of July when we moved me out of my old apartment, we took him on a tour of App, and even got to play on the football field!
And here we are in July breaking trend and ending with a hike instead of a concert.  Here I am with pink hair again at Setrock Creek Falls.

A lot happened this year, and I have missed telling you all about it too much to skimp on adding aaaaall of the details, so if you would like to see Part Two you can find it here!

If you want to keep up with me more currently, here are the links of websites I actually update:

Personal Instagram - www.instagram.com/bethanyallen15

Thank you for accepting me as I am, poor posting schedule and all, but I am happy to be back :)

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