The Good and the Bad: 2012 Edition

I know we still have about a month and a half left in the year, but I'm ready to call 2012 one of the most up-and-down years of my life.  There's been the good: Carnaval in Rio, many beautiful weddings of dear friends, a new, absolutely adorable addition to Mike's family, a trip to Fenway to see the Sox beat the Yankees, my sister graduating and landing a job in a theatre in Florida, IU Basketball being ranked No. 1, and so much more.

But there has also been the bad.  Like the NHL lock-out (seriously guys, get it together), stressful moments at work, the Nats losing in the playoffs, IU Football (but who am I kidding?  They've always sucked), and on a more serious note, the day I found out that my lovely boyfriend had cancer.  Now before you all start freaking out, he's totally fine and has been a rock star through everything.  Two surgeries later, they got everything out and there is no need for chemo or radiation, so we are thanking our lucky stars that we were given the best possible scenario.  I also want to take a second and give a shout-out to our friends and family because all of you were super supportive during all this.  Honestly, I don't think we could have gotten through the past couple months without you guys.  Thank you.

Needless to say, our summer was not the best.  Between surgeries and doctor's appointments, there was not much time for an extended vacation anywhere.  But now that things have temporarily slowed down, Mike and I have decided to get one more stamp in our passports before the year ends.  On Friday we are off to Turks and Caicos to get some much needed relaxation before heading up north to New England for Turkey Day.

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For those of you going "Turks and wha?" the Turks and Caicos islands are an overseas British Territory that is made up of eight main islands.  We are staying on the Providenciales island.  The country is about 620 miles from Miami, which means that the flight isn't super long.  There is supposed to be amazing snorkeling and some of the bluest waters you can imagine.  I'm getting excited to go exploring!  Throughout the trip, I'll be updating every once in awhile to let you in on our island-life experience!