This Week!

I have been a  lazy blogger once again!

1) I joined a gym- a big one, with lots of fancy machines that I'm excited to learn how to use. I missed the gym at BW so much, and I missed having the option to lift weights, and I missed my classes, so I am very, very happy. Also I found all the 20somethings in Youngstown.

2) Becoming a real Youngstownian (?)- It's 2 degrees outside and I went to Handels to buy a quart of ice cream. I think this makes it official.

3) Next Week's Trip to NYC- I'm going to visit Tyler next weekend, which I'm really excited about, and I also got cheap tickets to visit Megan in Nashville. Add work trips to Chicago and Las Vegas plus a trip to Seattle, and I've got a nice year of traveling scheduled.

4) Sodoku- I officially have become super old and started doing sodoku puzzles in my apartment just to help me get out of the habit of watching tv all the time. I love puzzles. Send me puzzles, friends!

5) Letters from my Grammy- They make me so happy. She tells good stories and has good advice and is just made of magic.

Bartholomew -The Silent Comedy

Current new obsession.

Be Alive.

"Try to learn to breathe deeply,

really to taste food when you eat,

and when you sleep really to sleep. 

Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, 

and when you laugh, laugh like hell. 

And when you get angry, get good and angry. 

Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough”                                                             
                                                     -William Saroyan


This quote makes me cry happy tears.

Manatee Crush Monday

Dreaming of being somewhere warm where I can visit one. 

Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

“We treat our future selves as though they were our children, spending most of the hours of most of our days constructing tomorrows that we hope will make them happy... But our temporal progeny are often thankless. We toil and sweat to give them just what we think they will like, and they quit their jobs, grow their hair, move to or from San Francisco, and wonder how we could ever have been stupid enough to think they’d like that. We fail to achieve the accolades and rewards that we consider crucial to their well-being, and they end up thanking God that things didn’t work out according to our shortsighted, misguided plan.”

Some Thank Yous!

I have had a lot of "this was the worst day" "this was the worst week" type experiences (almost all of them travel related) and when I compare them to this week, I recognize that this was not, in fact, the worst week ever. Actually, it was pretty survivable (everything but the last thing is). 

But it was tough. I was the kind of sick that turns you into a baby, and that combined with some medication issues and living all alone was a real bummer. And by "bummer," I mean I cried a lot. I never used to do that, and I need to knock it off, so I'm calling this week the end of the cry-baby period. 

Sometimes I get caught up in focusing on my scarcities, and I forget to recognize what I am not without. You live with what you don't have, and maybe sometimes you miss it and maybe sometimes you never had it. But you can live with anything. 

I did not have my friends. But I had Mitch checking in on me, always offering to share my burdens and push me to inspiration (seriously, he should be a life coach). I didn't have my parents, but my mom checked in on me every hour via facetime. My dad came by after work one night to bring me things I needed. My aunt sent me a package, which is such an awesome thing to come home to. My grandmother wrote me a two-page letter. I walked through my anxieties with Tyler and like always, he cheered me up. 

I would like to have more of these people in my life. I'm ready to proactively make new friends in my area, meet new people, and start making connections. I think winter is a good time to hunker down, start at a new place, and get comfortable living on your own-- and I've done that. But now I want to plan for spring. I am ready to have adventures with new people and gain perspectives and share stories.

I believe in moving forward. 

For Cheering, on a Sick Day.

How To: Celebrate Valentine's Day Alone

I love Valentine's Day, not for the consumer-poaching Hallmark holiday that it is, but because I will pretty much find an excuse to celebrate anything if you let me. I have celebrated Valentine's day with long-term boyfriends, with boys on our first date, and with groups of friends. I have made mailboxes and gone out for frozen yogurt and one time even celebrated with post-wisdom teeth removal  complications.

But, this is the first year I've celebrated Valentine's Day totally alone. I decided a few weeks ago that that was no excuse for not enjoying the holiday! So here are my top essentials for making a single-girl Valentine's Day:

1) Waffles with Nutella- I got up early to go on a waffle run (getting up early makes everything feel more special) and had the most delicious carb-fueled, sugar-stacked breakfast a girl could want.

2) Spearmint Eucalyptus Candles- My absolute favorite from Bath and Body works. I bought one last month when they were on sale and I've been saving it (they're so expensive but they know how to cure a headache) for a special occasion.

3) Parents that Love You- Mine came up to visit and took me to a fancy antique mall, where we almost bought some very ridiculous decorations for my apartment. My favorite was a huge mosaic lobster plaque.

4) Vin Diesel- I took a break from depressing Oscar nominees for The Fast and the Furious. I love fast cars, muscles, and ironically hip soundtracks. They make me happy.

5) The Right Attitude- When you decide today is the day you get to spoil yourself silly, there is no sadness. While I may have overdone it on the carbs, just having a day where you decide to be nothing but nice to yourself really helps with the February blues.

BONUS: Having a new spirit jersey from BW and a pair of fleece leggings. They make you feel slightly more dressed up than sweatpants, without sacrificing any of the comfort! Basically, an all around win.

Happy Galentine's Day!

Love to all my lady friends!

Mary Oliver

She is so good for the soul.

Song of the Month: Arsonist's Lullaby

Top 5 Things I get Excited For (in the mail)

When I was in college, I got a lot of care packages from my family with goofy toys, candy, and craft kits. I loved it. Now that I'm an "adult" I still get care packages and fun things in the mail, but instead of mac and cheese or peanut MnMs, my day is made by:

1) Candles - Tea lights, $5 from Kmart or $20 from Bath and Body Works, I love candles. There are probably only 5 or 10 minutes a day that I don't have a candle lit in my apartment (while I'm there and awake). I have candles specifically for the morning, I have candles for at night, I even have candles designated to different rooms. There must always be candles burning.

2) Loofahs - Did you know you're supposed to throw those suckers out every 4 weeks? They're nice for care packages because they aren't heavy and they double as a huge packing peanut.

3) Quarters - These are awful to send in the mail! It probably makes more sense to just send money in a card, but I can't do laundry with anything but quarters. And by the time I get home from work, the bank is already closed and I don't have a chance to exchange. But my coin jar is dangerously low for a person that likes to wear clean clothes.

4) Heartfelt Recipes - As a picky eater, I love getting recipes with notes like "I know you like eggs and have been trying to eat low carb, so try this!" As a picky eater, mostly it's just nice (but totally unexpected) when people remember what you do and don't like and have fun ideas for you to try.

5) Bubble Gum - Some things never change.

So thank you to all my family that continues to send me mail so I have something to look forward to when I get home!

Evolution of a Sick Day

Elementary School: Are you kidding? Becky Greene was in charge of my life, I never got sick. I can specifically remember having the stomach flu in kindergarten and chicken pox during one of those early years, but there weren't a lot of sick days while I was at Sandycreek. I know I didn't have perfect attendance, but I wasn't a sick kid.

Middle School/ High School: If we stayed home from school, we weren't allowed to watch TV or do anything fun and since I genuinely liked school, I don't remember ever wanting to stay home. I had strepp a lot, and I missed for my wisdom teeth, so it was really only when the doctor told me I wasn't allowed to be around people. I did start to have fainting spells and get sent home early, but towards the end I would just lie down until I felt better and then go back to class.

College: It seems statistically impossible to have the stomach flu as often as I did in college, but there you go. That's what happens when you leave the germ-free world your mother created for you. When I was sick, I was more than happy to skip class but I usually made it to at least one during the day (this was only a problem senior year when I had the same professor for multiple classes a day). Living on the floor, I always had sisters around to take care of me, or just roommates. I think senior year I was more likely to go to class if I wasn't feeling well because that's where all my friends were and none of my classes were very formal, so it didn't seem like as big of a deal.

Post-College: I've worked really hard to stay healthy, but the migraines and the fainting spells still show up once and a while. Unlike college, if I take a sick day I just end up sitting around being bored, so I'd rather go to work anyway and get something done. I am terrible at zero productivity. With the internet I can still help out at the office without sharing my germs with all them, but it's only 10:30 and I'm already going stir-crazy.

Style Inspirations for the Winter Workwear

I love my skater skirts/a-line dresses, but I've been playing around with what tops go with which skirt. Patterns on top, or bottom? Three quarter sleeves are more of my thing, but I'm starting to love the big sleeves that slim at the wrist. I also love the lace on the bottom of this one, but it may be more for spring. 

I also love my green pants, but they've been retired for a while because I've been sticking to more feminine outfits for work. I like the simplicity with the white collared shirt, and I think maybe with the right statement necklace this could be less of the Katniss look I get when I usually wear my army green and brown. 

I still haven't gotten this one right. I love the belted cardigan over the dress, but I can't seem to get the right length-- this looks cute if you're standing still, but once you start walking the cardigan starts pulling the dress up or just swallows it all so I look more boho than anything. 

The long shirt with leggings and boots is fairly classic, but I my riding boots are just a little too tall for me and I end up more stumpy than anything. I think maybe this is just a body shape thing-- I have some socks for my boots to peek out like these, but they always seem too tight on my calves. Maybe this is something I'll have to revisit once I lose some of the weight, but when it's slushy outside I always prefer tall boots. Plus, I hate wearing my usual jeans that get soaked with snow and leave my feet wet the rest of the day. 

I love this color combination-- I tried to mimic it with a new green dress I bought, but it isn't a dark enough green so again, it looks far too springy and looks silly with the blue. Finding the right green is tough, I've decided. I do have the cardigan and shoes, so maybe I just need to pair it with one of my green shirts that gets closer to the right contrast and go for darkwash jeans or something more neutral. 

Martin Harley

I am on a serious blues kick right now.