Thoughts on Turning 30

It’s Friday the 13^th and among other potentially scary thoughts this marks the 8 day countdown to my 30^th birthday. Hard to believe.

But as I sit here and reflect on this “milestone” birthday I feel more happiness than sadness in saying goodbye to my 20’s. This might be a strange thing to say considering most 20-somethings consider 30 to be “old” (I could include myself in that category. When I was 25, turning 30 couldn’t have been more frightening), but I can safely say that the older you get the less scary these things seem.

The new definition of scary to me now is trying to find that first job, struggling financially, and going through dating and relationship hell—all of which occurred in my 20’s. Sure I had a great time in college but there is a whole lot of uncertainty that comes with being young, immature, trying to assert yourself and determining just what you want from life.

I can’t say I have it all figured out now (not by any means) but I definitely feel as if I have a better grip on who I am and who I want to be as I enter into my 30’s and to me that is a very comforting thought. 30 isn’t old to me anymore, it’s the beginning of living my life as a fully capable adult.

If you were to ask me when I was 20 where I would be when I turned 30, I would’ve said that I would be married with at least one kid. As you readers know, neither of those things have happened to me and honestly I couldn’t be happier. I am so glad that I didn’t get married young (not to say there is anything wrong with that of course) because if I would have gotten married to the person I thought I should’ve married I know it would have more than likely ended in a bitter divorce and who wants that? I know way too many people who are my age and have been married/divorced and have kids in the whole equation and it’s just one big nasty mess. When people tell you that you should wait until 30 to get married it really is no joke—and I am not just saying this because that happens to be my current situation, I’m saying it because I have seen it first hand with people who are close to me.

But I digress.

So what am I looking forward to in my 30’s? Here’s the shortlist:

1.  Being able to take care of myself financially
2. Feeling comfortable and capable in my chosen career
3.  Being in a relationship that is based on love, not selfishness
4. Getting married and possibly starting a family
5. Taking every opportunity to be the best aunt ever
6. Traveling
7.  Living healthier than I did in my 20’s
8.  Finding balance with life and who I am as a person

I guess you could say that I’m an optimist. At the very least I hope that I can look back on this list when I am 40 and know that I set some goals and tried to live the last 10 years as meaningfully as possible.  It seems to me that the future doesn't appear so scary if you are hopeful. 

Christmas Recap

Just a little post-Christmas update here—the last couple weeks have been crazy in my house. It seems I haven’t stopped shopping, baking, wrapping, cleaning—basically MOVING—for days. However it was all worth it to be able to spend some time with my family and Erik’s, share holiday traditions, and just enjoy each other. We spent Christmas Eve with Erik's family and had a fantastic time (Erik's mom outdid herself with the food and Erik's nephew got a visit from Santa) and Christmas Day was at my house with my parents who drove all the way from St. Louis to be with my brother and I.  The only people we were missing we my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew who were up in Ohio celebrating with my brother-in-law’s family, and Erik's sister Lori and her girlfriend (both of whom I haven't met yet) who were vacationing in Ireland. <---ugh, can we say jealous here??

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about hosting my first family Christmas at the house—mostly because my mom broke her arm a few weeks ago and wasn’t going to be able to help me with cooking and baking which meant Christmas dinner was up to me. Yikes! I wanted everything to be perfect for a couple of reasons: 1. My mom always makes Christmas so special for us at her house and I wanted to do the same for her and my dad, and 2. Erik’s parents were going to be joining us for dinner and it would be the first time our parents would meet. All in all I think everything went very well. Dinner was pretty easy-- I bought a Honeybaked ham (always delish), cooked green beans,  a squash casserole, an orange jello salad (a traditional Christmas dinner item in my family), and my mom was able to throw together her yummy scalloped potatoes. Erik’s mom brought dessert—an amazing white chocolate bread pudding that was too tasty for its own good. Everyone ate and chatted and seemed to have a great time.  The parents got along well (which I wasn’t too worried about if I’m being completely honest) so I was really happy about that too.

The only misstep that occurred this Christmas was mostly my fault. I made the mistake of giving the same Christmas list to my mom and Erik’s mom. As a result we got 3 immersion blenders (Erik bought one for me having not even seen the list—he just knew we needed one), 2 griddles, and 2 blue-ray dvd players! Admittedly this is not a bad problem for Erik and I as the receiver of these gifts but I did feel bad for both moms. Next year I guess I will need to focus on preparing 2 different lists. Lesson learned.

(Oh and just so you readers know the immersion blender was not the only thing I got from Erik. He also gave me an awesome Kindle Fire. Just felt he might want you to know that.)

So with Christmas behind us Erik and I are looking forward to celebrating the New Year together (god, can you believe it’s almost here??). We’ll be partying with my brother and some friends playing games, eating finger food, and praying that 2012 will be full of jobs, good health, and lots of love for everyone.  Oh and did I mention it will also be Erik and I’s one year anniversary? That’s right—we had our first date New Year’s Eve last year. Can I get a collective awwwww? It’s almost hard to believe because I feel like we’ve known each other forever. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have found such a fantastic, sweet, wonderful, loving, and caring person. You know it must be love when you can’t even think about the person without smiling to yourself…but enough of this gooey gushing. I only wish that everyone could feel as loved as I have this year. 

And with that, I hope everyone out there has a fantastic New Year! See you in 2012! : )

Christmas Up In Here

As promised here are a few pictures that capture the Christmas spirit I have tried to invoke at the house. My apologies for the picture quality--it is taking some practice to get good indoor shots. Hopefully this will improve will time and practice (and taking the time to learn Photoshop--sigh). Enjoy and Happy Holidays!!

Mantle

The Christmas tree--an eclectic blend of
ornaments from my mom and grandmother. Interesting fact:
the icicles were my grandmother's from the 50's/60's and
they glow in the dark . Random and a little creepy, I know.

Ornament my mom gave me to commemorate the first year
in the new house.

Table Decor

Side note--the contraption to the left is a stove top espresso maker
that I found at the local Goodwill. Haven't tried it out yet but I love the
way it looks with my vintage Santa Christmas card!

Sunday Project

Today I decided to tackle a project that I have been avoiding for weeks: cleaning out my linen closet. Check out these before and after pictures:

Before: an embarrassing disaster.

After: All fixed up!!

All it took was a few storage boxes I picked up from Target and filling up 3 bags of old linens to donate to Goodwill. I'm so glad its all finished though--no more panicking every time I open the door! Hooray for small victories!

I'm Baaaack!

Hello blog world! No I did not fall off the face of the earth--let's just say I took a little breather from writing to tend to what has been an interesting (but ultimately good) fall.

So what I have been up to lately? Well a lot of work, shopping, decorating, and a little vacationing. I had 3 big projects going on at the same time for work all of which needed to be completed by the end of October and 1 report that needed to be sent out before Thanksgiving. AND my department held a company wide meeting where each member of our team was responsible for a presentation. In my case I had two, both of which were updates on programs I have been working on for the company. Now, generally I will avoid public speaking like the plague (I hate getting in front of a crowd) but since I had no say in the matter I put on my big girl panties and rocked the heck out of my presentations (my boss actually complimented me afterwords--score!). So, yes work has been busy.

In terms of the house, the small budget has limited me from doing any big projects but I have my sights set on purchasing a leaf blower for Christmas (woo-hoo for grown-up presents) to tackle the insanity that has become my backyard. I've decided I hate trees--but only the ones in my backyard. However, in my attempts to forget about my yard I did get the inside of my house ready for Christmas. I'll post some pictures of my tree and mantle later (they're nothing fancy, but I think it looks pretty). Erik keeps joking that I have too many ornaments on the tree. Since when can you have too many ornaments on a Christmas tree??? I have also been hard at work making some homemade Christmas gifts which I am very excited to handout (hopefully the recipients will love them too)! I'll be sure to blog about them after Christmas because they're super cute and very easy.

In other news Erik and I went to my parents house in St. Louis for Thanksgiving. It was the first time he was exposed to my family for an extended period of time with no escape (haha) but I think it all went well.  Lots of good food, football, and sleep. Oh and this insanely cute little human being to entertain us all:

Regan!

We weren't able to take Lulu with us (due to many factors) so we boarded her at this local doggy daycare called Bark ATL which offers cage-free boarding, 24 hour staffing, and web cams. The webcams were great for us because even though she didn't know we were watching we were able to get some comfort by checking in on her everyday. She was a little confused when we picked her up and brought her home ("what did you guys just put me through???") but after slipping into a doggy coma (I am not kidding when I tell you she pretty slept for the next 3 days) she was her old self again.  I guess I can't blame her though-- she had never spent the night away from us before and with all the constant stimulation of being around other dogs 24/7 I know she had to have been exhausted. She was a trooper though and it's hard to believe she is going to be 7 months old next Monday. She is definitely getting big--33 pounds at her last doctor's appointment--but she is very tall and lean. It's amazing that she has gone from this:

 To this in only 4 months:

Sweet Girl!

      

So that's my life in a nutshell right now. I promise I will try and check in more often (since I know you all missed me soooo much-hehe). My goal for the New Year is to concentrate on my photography so I am going to try and accomplish various photo assignments--playing around with shutter speed, aperture, and all that good stuff so stay tuned if you're into that sort of thing. I also hope to blog more about DIY projects since I have become addicted to Pinterest and what's the point of pinning all of these awesome ideas if I am not actually going to try some of them?  Bring it on 2012!

Happy Halloween and The Walking Dead

So yeah, I've been horrible about blogging this past month. Sorry about that. I wish I had a good excuse but alas, I don't. We'll just call it a combination of laziness and being a glutton for perfect fall weather.

That being said, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Halloween is one of my very favorite holidays of the year. I love the magic of it all--especially the fact that it's the one day of the year it is socially acceptable to be someone (or something, hehe) else.

In the past, Halloween has always meant dressing up and parties for me but this year has definitely been more low-key. Yes, I've decorated the house and bought some candy for any potential trick-or-treaters (since this is my first Halloween in the new house Im not sure if we'll have any kids come by so I was kind of conservative in my candy purchase) but I didn't get a costume and did not attend any parties this past weekend.

Instead, Erik and I decided to thoroughly creep ourselves out by watching the first season of The Walking Dead on AMC. If you don't know about this show, I'll try to give a basic summation without giving too much away. Basically the show follows a group of people who have banded together outside of Atlanta, GA mere months after the Zombie Apocalypse. The city has been overrun by "walkers" (a.k.a zombies) and those who have survived are either hiding out in abandoned houses/buildings or camping in the woods. It seems as if no one really knows what has caused the zombie epidemic and there is definitely no known cure at this point. All the characters in the show know for sure is that: 1. don't get scratched or bitten. This leads to a fever, which leads to death, which leads to reanimation, which equals zombification. 2. The zombies are attracted to light 3. The zombies are also attracted to loud noises which means gun shots, yelling, and screaming are all bad ideas when trying to stay hidden.

The first season of the show is only 6 episodes and they are gory (do not watch if you have a weak stomach). The main characters find themselves in numerous terrifying situations including being trapped in a department store with the "walkers" breaking down the doors, and the infiltration of their safe camp in the woods (because of course the zombies are hungry and having eaten everyone in the city are now migrating to the country). Now I am no zombie apocalypse expert but I do have a few issues with the show thus far:

1. How are the Zombies able to rip into animals and humans with so much ease? Does zombification include superhuman hand and jaw strength?
2. In the first episode of season 1 (spoiler alert) the characters cover themselves in zombie guts in order to escape the city. It seems to work until a pop-up rainstorm washes the dead smell off of them and the "walkers" catch on. Rainstorm aside, this method seemed to work pretty well yet the main characters never really use this tactic again to escape from any other close calls (ok yeah I realize its horrifyingly disgusting but its called SURVIVAL right??). What's up with that? If it works it WORKS.
3. There isn't enough backstory on the characters themselves. The show gives snippets here and there of some of the characters pre-ZA life but not enough to make me really care about what happens to any of them. This is especially true in season 2 so far. Watching the characters get out of run-in after run-in with the "walkers" is really starting to get old. Also 3 episodes dedicated to a missing girl and a boy needing surgery for a gunshot wound is a little much. This is the Zombie Apocalypse for goodness sake! There is no time for that!! There needs to be more substance.
4. Finally I must mention the Farm of Doom in Season 2 (a.k.a the Greene farm out in the GA countryside). Something weird is going on here. How do they still have electricity and hot water? And how are the zombies not attracted to the lit up house at night? And what's with the fat guy? We're talking several months of scavaging for food and running for your life--how is this guy still overweight?

I know this is just a show and for entertainment value purposes (and a good Halloween scare) I would definitely recommend it. However, can those of us who are watching agree that there needs to be some plot movement (and answers) soon? Things are getting just a bit ridiculous...

Speaking of ridiculous (and scary tv shows) who out there has been watching American Horror Story?? It's a train wreck but I can't stop watching!

Happy Halloween!!

Welcome Fall!

If you know me then you know that I live for this time of year. I love fall--especially the month of October. The weather is perfect, the leaves are beautiful, pumpkins are in season (which means pumpkin pies, breads, coffee...), and there is nothing better to come home to than a cup of hot cider. Oh and it is also the month of one of my favorite holidays--Halloween!

So in honor of my fav time of year here is what my house is looking like these days:





Mums, pansies, and pumpkins!



The Mantle

 


Love these retro Halloween greeting cards!

Couldn't pass up this cute little sign I found randomly at Barnes and Noble

The Dining Room--my pumpkin tea light centerpiece is from Home Goods



My cheap (but effective) candle decorations



Pumpkin candle and Haunted House luminary I scored from
Bath and Bodyworks last year