29 Candles

It’s 8:12 pm this Sunday night and my goal this weekend was to start the second season of Stranger Things. Chances are looking slim at this point, but to say this weekend was a lazy one would be an understatement.

Let’s back it up to Monday when I made my one millionth attempt at using a planner, but my first using a Happy Planner. Scrolling through Instagram looking at #plannergoals was a bit of a mistake. People who have been doing this for years flooded my phone and compared to my attempt…let’s just say I made the jv squad. With all of that said, I had a lot of fun and after I finish up this post, I’m going to plan out my week! At least I have 52 chances to improve.

Honestly, weeks blend together now. Work is busy and challenging, all in good ways. If I think back to my very first agency job to where I am now, it’s a night and day difference. Especially in terms of confidence in both myself and my craft.

Flash forward to Wednesday. I see a release of a Funko that was on the list of things I wanted to get my bf for Christmas. I tried pre-ordering and failed. The Toys R Us site keeps crashing and if that wasn’t happening, the payment system was not functioning. The next day, I tried again and found out that all the inventory in the Pre-Order was sold out. That was definitely not in my plan. There was an option to pick it up in a store (which mind you, it was sold out in the Pre-Order, mind boggling that it was in store), so I chose that and had a family member pick it up. Ironically, my boyfriend texted me a picture of it that day saying he thought it was cool. Little did he know, I had gotten it for him!

The way it all turned out, I was able to give it to him that night and he was pretty excited by it. The next day we happened to go on a work field trip to a Cider Mill and then at night, it happened to be Friday Night Lights and we sat in the cold and rain while our team brought home the W.

Over the 4+ years we’ve been dating, wrestling has made it’s way into our lives. My boyfriend was a huge fan in his youth and has refound his love for it over the last couple of years. Basically due to osmosis, I’ve found it to be interesting and love going to the events. Over the weekend, we traveled two hours to a casino and watched one of our favorite promotions in an inaugural event. Did I pay an exorbitant amount of money for a room? Yep, especially since they were sold out. Was it the best show we’ve seen? Not by a long shot. In fact, there was a lot of drama. Between the dad behind us upset that profanities were being thrown around to the drunk guy who poured his beer on a wrestler and who is lucky all that happened to him was getting shoved (with authority mind you) and kicked out, it was an event.

Then we both got the worst night’s sleep we’ve ever gotten and drove home. We’ve been dog free since Thursday and it’s strange, coming back to a house without having a dog jumping on you. It’s also nice not having to let him out every 5 minutes. It’s been one of those half lazy, half anxiety ridden days. The feeling that you should be doing something, but then take a two hour nap – you know, one of those.

A new week is only hours away and my two big goals of the week are to drink more water (consistently) and to take the stairs at work.

 

| I’m grateful for pumpkin-scented candles and h20 as my preferred beverage |

October is my favorite month. Pumpkin candles. Halloween. Fun size Kit Kats. Leaves turning. Football. My Birthday. Speaking of birthdays, today is the day I turn the big 2.9.

I woke up with some pretty terrible allergies (not a surprise since they setup shop in my sinuses earlier in the week) and a pretty low voice. I had a lovely, fun-filled girls weekend planned, but due to the excessive snot and harsh cough, it got postponed. I’ve always been weird about opening gifts before my birthday, almost like I would jinx it if I accepted the gifts. But this morning, it feels different (and I’m not talking about just the sore throat).

It started like any other morning – dog jumps on me, let dog out, check my phone. But there’s a hint of inspiration in the air. For the last few weeks, I had no idea how this blog would take shape. Heck, it took me literally a day just to design the header. Texts, Facebook notifications, Instagram Stories, wishes of Happy Birthday start pouring through my computer screen and phone. It’s truly an indescribable feeling the amount of love and support of family and friends.

Angsty sinuses won, and it was a day of total relaxation – college football, Jimmy John’s with Cheesecake Factory dinner on the horizon. One thing I’m trying to be better at is going with the proverbial flow. Ya girl is pretty stingy with plans and when things change, everyone around me will know (and probably be miserable).

As we approached the Cheesecake Factory (sidebar: the one by us has Mediterranean decor but serves American cuisine – is this a thing elsewhere?), we saw people waiting outside, which isn’t out of the ordinary. What was different was the two-hour wait at 9pm on a Saturday night. We ordered cheesecake to go and settled on our second favorite Mexican restaurant that was 10 minutes away.

Going to bed, I was very content with my day. It was relaxing. It was rich. It was ironic (I didn’t end up eating my cheesecake). It was everything I could’ve wanted (despite the excess snot) and more.

| Today, I was grateful for the love and support from my family and friends, cheering me on for completing another year |

 

29. Today I’ve completed my 29th year and am officially the age of 29. My 30s are on the horizon (mind you, 365 days away but still) and my 20s are on the way out. Should I be scared? Should I start to do the stereotypical, “ugh, I’m going to be 30!” act whenever someone asks me how old I am? Nah.

I’ve tried this whole blogging thing several times before and it hasn’t really stuck. A few weeks ago I thought, “what do I want to do my 29th year?” and then it came to me – bucket list! I set some ground rules because listen, I know first hand how challenging it is to continually create content for a blog and before you know it, the anxiety comes drizzling through my body because I smell failure.

I started to think about what I wanted to get out of this? Who was this for? What was my end goal? First, I want to prove to myself that I can maintain something for at least a year. Second, I want to write for me. Third, I want to document all of my accomplishments, failures, do-overs, and milestones for the duration going into my 30th year.

Here are some of the goals that I have set for myself:

1. Post at least once a week
2. List what I am grateful for
3. Learn hand-lettering and wrap at least one gift with said lettering
4. Exercise consistently
5. Fit into something at Lululemon
6. Become a better daughter, girlfriend, coworker, and dogmother
7. Be positive 75% of the time

 

Let the days begin!