My 6 Most Significant Moments in 2013

1. The Boston Marathon
I was scheduled to work that day at 100 Boylston st, a block from the finish line. I had a good friend running in the race though, so I called off to see him run. On top of that my best friend had planned a social event for our sorority and our brother frat. I wanted to spend the day with good friends & finish it watching my friend cross the finish line. So, a few girlfriends & I headed out to Allston with a few cases of beer and a box of pizza. We were one of many houses on the block filled with college students celebrating Marathon Monday. I planned to leave around 2:45-2:50 to hop a train to Copley Square to see my friend finish. At approximately 2:50pm, as I was gearing up to leave, I received an Associated Press alert on my iPhone saying that a bomb had reportedly gone off at the finish line. Without hesitation, I bolted out the door. I can’t really recall the next hour. All I remember was running. I ran… for several miles. There were no available taxis. So, I kept going until I flagged one down. From the moment I got in the cab I felt like I was living a scene out of a movie or a terrible nightmare. I was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic with a cab driver who barely spoke English and the radio on full blast with minute-to-minute updates on the bombings. It felt like doomsday. My phone, which was at full battery when I left was now completely dead. No one within the city had cell phone reception. I tried over and over to call my friend but his phone would go straight to voicemail. Family & friends were trying to contact me from home but my phone showed nothing. After 45 minutes and $30 dollars in the cab I jumped out. I decided I would get to my friend faster if I was on foot. I needed to get to him. His last text to me was to say he planned to finish by 3:30. I had to make sure he was OK. By some miracle, I reached the area of Brighton he was in to reconnect… And we sat. It wasn’t until 9pm that my best friend, who had thrown the social event in Allston, swung by in one of the few available cabs to take us home. The area in which I lived was just a block or two away from the finish line. There was no getting into that area of the city until well past dusk. My roommates, my friend in the race & I sat on the floor in tears. For the next few nights I didn’t sleep. I’d watch the news, call my mom in tears at 2am, or find myself on hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floors just out of anxiety. Acts of hate are a hard thing to wrap your mind around. On Thursday night I took a nap around 6pm. My sleeping schedule was all out of wack. I woke up around 11pm. I turned on the news channel 5, which out of all the local stations had the best coverage. A bulletin flashed that there was a reported shooting on the MIT campus, about a mile from my apartment. I turned to reddit to find police scanners. I watched the next 24 hours unfold live on my twitter feed. I didn’t sleep longer than two hours at a time. I’d wake up in intervals to get back online. The shooting slowly turned into a wild police chase. The police chase turned into a man hunt. The man hunt turned into a city-wide shutdown. It was the most tense day of my young-adult life. My roommates and I went up to our rooftop in Beacon Hill to look out over the city. Usually below it’s bustling but instead when we walked outside the only sounds were the choppers overhead and sirens below. It was as if the hold world was holding its breath for the bombers to be caught. And I was caught in the nucleus.

2. Summer in Nashville
For the second year in a row I applied for an internship at Country Music Television. I have always wanted to apply music, writing and television into a career, CMT seemed like the perfect fit. I had so many amazing moments this summer, from hiking waterfalls in Tennessee to working Bonnaroo and being front & center for Tom Petty. Bonnaroo exposed me to so many new things when it comes to music. My world expanded as well as my taste in music. It changed my life. I worked the CMT Music Awards and rubbed elbows with country music artists I have literally grown up listening to…(And also made eye contact with Ed Sheeran and blacked out for a second).

5. Roadtrip West

At the end of August my best friend from high school took a road trip with me across the country. We began in our hometown of North Canton, Ohio. Our first stop was Chicago. We took a boat tour of the architecture, had authentic mexican food then went to the Navy pier for margaritas. After watching the sunset, we began the two hour drive to Madison, Wisconsin. Steph had her window rolled down and it was getting a little nippy out. She went to roll it up and it stubbornly refused. She tried a few more times to rev up my window’s motor. Instead, the entire glass window dropped into the door. We covered ourselves in a blanket and blasted the heat the entire way to Madison. We arrived in Madison shortly before midnight. We stayed at my childhood-best friend’s college house near her campus, The University of Wisconsin-Madison. My entire livelihood was exposed to the elements of Wisconsin for a night. Luckily, nothing was taken, though one of my favorite boots went missing and now i’m having doubts…

We fixed the window and traveled to Denver. We had an amazing day of hiking. Then we ate dinner on the roof of a beautiful restaurant that overlooked the city. In the morning we had breakfast and set out of the Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. Only, I felt a little sick and asked to stop at a rest area. We ended up at that rest area for two hours. I had altitude sickness and could not stop throwing up. Poor Steph had to drive seven hours through the state of Colorado while I threw up in a plastic bag in the passenger seat.

We got to the Arches at night. It is my only real regret in life.

There were other legs of the trip. Legs that I should not go into detail on here about…i..e.. Las Vegas. But know that it was the most beautiful, incredible week of my life with one of the most amazing people in it.

6. Fall in Los Angeles

Interning in Los Angeles for one of my final semesters of college was a great idea. It allowed me to get to know the city and the industry before making a decision to move there. Plus, I was with a fun group of girls who were as curious as I was to explore the west coast. We traveled almost every weekend. We took trips to San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Disneyland and every good beach and hiking spot within an hour of LA. Driving the PCH all the way from San Fran to LA was the highlight of my time there. It was the most aesthetically beautiful trip I have ever taken. We cruised for 8 hours with good music on and the windows down. If I were to envision bliss, it would be that day.