Year in Review: January-May 2016

I haven't been keeping up with my blog as often, but since it's the last day of 2016, I wanted to do a recap of the highlights:

January:
I went on a mission trip to Belize, my first of three international trips in 2016. You can read all about the Belize trip here.

February:
It was my birthday month and I celebrated with my mom and several of my friends throughout the month.

March:
This month I tried out a clean eating plan called "Whole30" and enjoyed the benefits of getting back on a healthier track of eating. I did another 30-day round in September and it has become a life-style change, for the most part.

Also, in March, Daniel had his Junior Recital at the University of Tennessee and it was great to see his accomplishments as a drummer.

April:
Mom and I celebrated Easter together in Nashville. At the end of the month, I went to Knoxville to see Daniel play again and got to spend some time with Doug and Leanne.

May:
Fun times spent with my community group "Breaking Out" and with our church family at a picnic on the church property. I also hosted a cook out for Memorial Day.

Sister-Friend Cruise 2016

Back in March 2015, I got an email saying that I had won a cruise. Being the pragmatic skeptic that I am, I immediately called the number (it was a legit AAA office in Florida) and learned that I had indeed won because I had been entered in a grand prize drawing when I had won a gift card from a smaller recipe contest in the Fall of 2014. I went to pick up the cruise vouchers at the Nashville AAA office and got the info to start planning my free cruise for two.

Fast-forward to November 2016 and it was finally time for me and my sister-friend, Leanne, to go on the cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Leanne lives in Central Florida, so I flew to Orlando and spent the weekend with Leanne and Doug. On Monday, November 14, Leanne and I drove to Tampa to board the ship, "Brilliance of the Seas."

It was a five-night cruise that stopped at ports in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. My thoughts after the cruise were, "I've got to figure out how to do this again!"

Here are some highlights of each day: