Ten on Tuesday

1. Fill in the blank. Sometimes I wish my life was more ______.
adventurous. I'm really happy, but I wish I could go on more adventures. Like randomly jump on a plane and spend the weekend in NYC or something.

2. How do you cure the hiccups?
Make myself burp. It's gross but it works every time.

3. What are three of your favorite indulgences?
Jackie Collins novels
Beer
Fast Food

4. Where is the most exotic place you would like to travel to? The most mundane?
I always thought it would be cool to go on a safari in Africa.

Back to my hometown or to visit my Dad in Chicago. Anywhere that my family is.

5. Does having your time planned out stress you or relax you?
I definitely like to plan so it relaxes me. And it's so nice to have my significant other be a planner as well. I've never had that before. In fact. He's more of a planner than I am. At the beginning of each month we go through the calendar together and write out important dates.

6. What are your favourite fabrics to wear?
Usually anything comfortable. But I wore a pair of silk pj's once. It felt so awesome. I felt like royalty or maybe Hugh Hefner.

7. Do you sleep through the night?

Usually. Unless I have a bad dream.

8. When you were younger, what did you think you would be doing at this age? How close is that to what you are doing?
I really don't know. I changed my mind so much on what I wanted to be when I got older that I can't really say. Honestly, I couldn't really picture myself past college. It just seemed SO OLD! lol

9. What has surprised you most about growing up?
That it's definitely not as easy as I thought. I never knew how hard it would be to find a job after college. I really learned that. I've also learned that it never gets any easier. Only different. But, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

BTW... you know when you were a kid and people asked you what you wanted to do when you grew up? Well, are we "grown up" now? If so, I really don't feel like I am.

10. Are you good at keeping secrets?

Yeah I am. Although I am a horrible lair. So, if the secret involves me having to lie in an elaborate way I'm basically screwed.

Finding a Balance

When I was single I did what I wanted, when I wanted. Spent time with my friends, went to work, cooked myself dinner. Everything. Now that I am in a relationship I spend most of my time with my boyfriend; I guess maybe because it is still a relatively new relationship.

But, I know from experience that he can not be my whole life. I don't want him to. I don't want to lose my friends or myself. He wouldn't want me to either.

So, right now I'm struggling to find a balance. I say struggle because for some reason or another, I'm having a hard time with it. I absolutely do not want to be like that friend that we all know that can't do anything without her boyfriend. That WILL NOT be me. But yet I am becoming her.

I also know that I want to be a better friend. I realized recently that a lot of what I know about my friend's lives is from their Twitter posts. I should not rely solely on their facebook/ twitter/ blog posts to inform me of how they are and whats going on in their lives.

It's all about finding a balance. A balance between all the loves in my life. My lovely lady friends, myself, my family and my wonderful boyfriend. I know tomorrow is February, but this is my new, new years resolution!

Since Faith totally called me out for not blogging enough... I suppose I better thank her for my awesome award :-) Thanks Faith for the Happy 101 Award. *tear* I didn't even have an acceptance speech prepared!


So as part of the Happy 101 here are the rules:

1) List 10 things that make you happy
2) Tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day
3) If you are one of the 10 bloggers awarded, link back to my blog and continue brightening people's day!

Ten things that make me happy:

1. The Beatles (I can tell what song it is just by the first note)
2. Coffee (I have no idea how else I would wake up in the morning)
3. When D calls me (yeah I still get excited)
4. Facebook (it's my job to be on it all day and I love it... not to mention Sorority Life... I really do like playing that game!)
5. Going out to eat (I love food)
6. Metallic blue 1965 Ford Mustang convertibles
   
7. My beautiful niece Zoe
8. When D tells me he loves me!
9. Spending quality time with my good friends
10. Making movies

10 bloggers that brighten my day

1. Chelsea from Chelsea Talks Smack
2. David from The Rest is Still Unwritten
3. Sleepy Jane
4. Jen at Welcome to the Jungle
5. A Damn Good Shot
6. Ashalah Blogs
7. Jenn at Living Life
8. Julie from The Ordinary Days
   
9. Stephanie at Bits and Pieces of My World
10. Erin from Mama Said No!
    

The Traveling Necklace

So many people ask me about this that I thought I would share the story on here.

A couple of years ago my Mom and I took a vacation to Santa Monica, CA for my cousin's wedding. One of the days that we were there we went shopping. And at a little boutique we both came across this necklace at the same time. We both REALLY liked it. So we bought it.



As some of you may or may not know my Mom and I live about 1000 miles away from each other and only see one another a couple of times a year. We are also really super close. Probably as close a mother and daughter could be.

So, when it came time for me to back to my end of the country and her to hers, we discussed who would get to keep the necklace. We both really like it and wanted to keep it. So, my Mom came up with an idea!

"Whenever we see each other, we will trade the necklace. For example if I have it when I go to visit her I will give it to her. Then next time we see each other she will give it to me. We call it the traveling necklace"

Both of us get SO many compliments on it. Even before people know the story behind it. It was probably less than $10 at a little boutique in Santa Monica that I can't even remember the name of, but yet it has come to mean so much; to both of us.

To Be Yourself is All that You Can Do

When I was growing up I thought that being liked and loved was the most important thing. In school, I was never the popular girl, the athletic person, or anything like that. Even if my so- called friends were mean to me, which happened a lot especially in middle school, I would just take it. In fear that I would be without friends. I would do anything to please them. And they took advantage of me.

As I grew older, I realized that if they were doing that then they weren't truly friends. Now at 25 almost 26 I don't have "friends" like that. But old habits don't die that easily.

I still have this complex that if I disagree or say something wrong that someone may not like me. Even people very close to me.

D tells me all the time that he loves me for me. But yet I still sometimes just want to agree with him when I don't. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's a fear of him not liking me anymore and leaving.

It may sound like something so simple for some, but being myself all the time is something I really do struggle with.

I consider myself a very truthful person. I don't lie. I hate liars. Trust is the most important thing to me in a relationship, yet sometimes I find myself agreeing with things I don't agree with or don't know anything about. For what? Why do I do this? For things that are so small, minuscule.

Do you ever feel like you don't know yourself very well? That maybe some people know you better than you know yourself? What are some good ways to get to know yourself better?

A Brand New Year

Well hello 2010! You just kinda sprang outa nowhere. I know this is a very sorry excuse for a blog as of late. But when you blog as a career, it's hard to get the motivation to do it on your off time.

Well, it looks like it's a new decade as well. I really wish I had pictures from the past decade to include in this post like my friend Faith did. But that would require a scanner and a bunch of time. Unfortunately I have neither. It would have made a very interesting post though. Perhaps I will make it a project of mine for sometime this year.

Anyway, 2009 wasn't half bad. Actually half it sucked while the other half totally rocked. I honestly don't even remember the first half. Looking back at old posts, it looked like I talked about the same 3 things over and over. Boys, weight loss, and finding a job.

And then fate happened when my mom told me about a website called plentyoffish.com; a FREE dating website. What could be better than a single, poor chick looking for a guy? I dated some creepy interesting guys. But on one night in late July I had a date with a guy. A guy I would fall head over heels for. I know it's only been 5 months, but I seriously feel like I have known him forever. He treats me exactly the way I want/ deserve to be treated. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us.



And just as importantly I landed my first professional job! For almost a year before that I felt worthless and like my education was for not. What a horrible feeling after spending 6 years in college. My job is amazing! I feel like I am not only using my degree but learning new things in the process. The company is so good to me. I even got a paid vacation only after 3 months of working there. I feel appreciated and like the work I am doing is really helping the business profit.


Of course slipping into comfort zone with the BF has left me with some not so healthy eating habits. BUT I haven't gained back everything... some... not everything. But we both belong to a the same gym, so we are encouraging each other to start working out again. It's much easy with your partner by your side.

So here is to a new year, a new decade, and as always working towards a better ME!

Reasons why I haven't been blogging.

Well it hasn't been because I have been going to the gym everyday. That's for sure. But today is the day I'm going back. I just need to get back into the habit. Once it gets routine then it wont be as hard.

So, on to the real reasons why I haven't been blogging.

There is the work stuff....

Here is me in my office.

I really love my job. I get to go to cool social media networking events... I did today even and I also get to edit video! What the heck you say??? Yeah that's right ya'll. I'm actually using my degree! Who'd a thunk it?

There is the many social functions that I have attended...

Like Julie's bachelorette party...

John's 30th Birthday party...

This is John's birthday cake. 30 but somehow still 12.

Since it was a kid themed party, saying goodbye to John's youth, they had dress up stuff for us to play around with. Don't you love my glasses?!

Halloween....

D surprised me with a trip to the pumpkin patch. He bought us two pumpkins but when it came time to carve them one had started to rot. So, he let me carve my stencil. Here it is...

Here I am as a roman empress. D was a gladiator so we kinda matched. I'm not sure what was up with me hair but we had a good time anyway.

Then there was Julie and K's wedding...

Here are just a few from that night. We had a BLAST!

Lauren, me and Kandis... we were all are part of the House Party, the official cake choppers.

Julie's beautiful bridal cake. Yummy too!

Julie and her bridal party.

Julie and K during their first dance.

And this is me... I photoshoped it a little bit :-)

Then of course there has been fun times with D...

We were bored one Saturday so we took a trip downtown... he showed me "the internet" or where the servers are for the web development company he works for.... not too exciting but he took me out on the roof of the building and it was pretty cool view.

There was also an event going on called "Chalk it up" where different artists from around the city came down and drew some of pieces in chalk on the sidewalk. It was actually pretty cool!

D also took me to the zoo...

Speaking of D... I was at an event today at a hotel right by D's work. When I got in my car today after the luncheon... this is what I found on my windshield...