The Big 2-5

I’m turning 25 in a few days!  Oh lordy, I can’t believe I’ll be 25.  I don’t think it is the actual age that is freaking me out, but rather the fact that I always wondered what life would be like when I reached a quarter of a century.

Would I be a college graduate?  A writer?  Journalist?  Would I be married?  Dating?  Have kiddos?  Perhaps, I’d be dating around.  Or a partier.  Would I live in a fancy apartment?  Or a cute little house?  Did I make my residence in the States?  Or did I decide to travel the world?  

Some of those things are true.  And I’ve learned to make the most of every situation, so that I’m never unhappy.  Without the unconditional love of the Lord and my family, I’m pretty sure I would have been a bit rougher around the edges.  I always worried that I wouldn’t be able to “make it” in the big girl’s world.  That I’d never truly find my way.  But it didn’t happen that way.  I moved across the country at 21.  I was scared out of my mind.  And here I am 4 years later, a college graduate (Bachelors and Masters, mind you), a writer, a journalist, not married (but fully loved by many in my life), dating a wonderful man, I’m not a partier (but a dancer), living in a nice apartment, and I live in the States (but looking to travel the world).  Nice to see you, 25.

The World is Mine

My boyfriend and I recently got our passports and I couldn’t be more excited!  We are traveling to his brother’s wedding, which is a destination wedding in Mexico.  There are a few milestones here: it will be the first son in the family to get married, it is the first wedding I am attending as solely a date, and it will be Stephen’s and my first time out of the U.S.  We didn’t have passports prior so we needed to get them before I was comfortable looking for plane tickets.  Though we discussed getting passports since the beginning of the year, we waited quite a while to actually get them.  Then, it got down to the wire.  We needed the passports.  Mid-May, I realized that our passports might not arrive in time before the wedding since they take an average of 6-8 weeks to process.  I was extremely nervous that there would be a problem in getting them processed and that would mess up our plans for the wedding.  And Stephen can’t miss his older brother’s wedding!  

Stephen and I started filling out paperwork and realized that it was a lot more involved than we initially realized.  Since we are both still out-of-state students, the Department of State required much more paperwork from us.  So, instead of needing only our birth certificates and government issued I.D.s, we needed about 7 other forms of identification.  Days before we were set to go to the courthouse, I gathered check-stubs, tax paperwork, car registration, and anything else I could find that they would treat as proof of my identity.  Stephen had to do the same thing.  Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck by the time we got to the courthouse.  I had forgotten to bring quarters with us for the parking meters so we had to take a detour to a bank.  Then, we both brought our phones into the courthouse and were stopped by security causing us another trip to the car.  Thankfully, the application line wasn’t very long, but we had stacks of paperwork and the clerk said she had never seen people so prepared for their passport application.  Though we had all our proofs of identification, I had to fill out a special form confirming that I had known Stephen for over 2 years.  I swear, when Stephen and I go to apply for our marriage license, it won’t be nearly as tiresome as our experience with the passport application.  

Finally, we left the courthouse.  I was relieved to at least have the process done and over with.  We chose the expedited option for our applications so that we would receive them within 2-3 weeks, allowing us enough time to still by plane tickets.  For a whole week after the application process, I kept wondering if perhaps I had filled something out incorrectly or if the clerk forgot to tell us to sign somewhere and we would be denied our passports.  But, two weeks and a day after we filled out the applications, we received our passports in the mail!  

 Of course, I was happy that we could now attend the destination wedding, but I was also happy for another reason.  This passport was my key to traveling the world.  Why hadn’t I gotten one before?!  I get excited now knowing that if I want to travel internationally, all I need are to make plans for it.  Italy? Spain? Paris? Africa? England? All accessible because I have a passport.  I can’t wait to travel the world and see what new things I can learn.  I can’t wait to write about my experiences.  The world is mine! 

Autism Awareness

I wrote, shot, and edited this news piece to bring awareness to autism.  I hope to use my gift of storytelling to write more news pieces like this one.  I want to reveal that each person has a story to be told, whether it is through feature stories or through traditional news articles.

Tired. But the good kind.

I’m so incredibly tired. I can’t wait to fall asleep, but I wanted to make sure to get in a blog post before I drifted off into dreamland. Today was a busy day. As usual I got up at 7:30 so I could be at work an hour later.  Work was really busy, I attended meetings for most of it which is actually pretty draining. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy my work day, it was just more taxing and I did a lot of running around in between my meetings. I wanted to go home and take a nap but when I got off of work I realized how warm and humid it was. Perfect swimming weather! I called Stephen and asked if he wanted to join me in the pool so we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the pool to enjoy a bit of refreshment.

We spent a good hour splashing around in the pool. Swimming is one of those activities that makes me really tired.  Really tired and really hungry. Now, I’m realizing that after a long day at work and more time spent in the sun, I need a good night’s sleep. After my shower, and despite my sleepiness, I worked on homework for my summer class (like the good little student I am) and then I started to realize how tired I was. But alas, I wanted to write my blog post for the day. Here’s to sweet dreams and a restful night.

My Hair!

My hair is sometimes curly. 

 

Sometimes it is blow dried

It’s kinda blonde now

But it used to be dark brown

My hair is crazy and does what it wants

And I use rollers 

I love my hair. It took me a long time to come to terms with my naturally curly hair. I can do so much with it though it takes time. But it is part of me. Go hair!

 

 

 

Sleeping

I’ve been having the hardest time getting to sleep for the past few days. I toss and turn until I fall asleep then wake up a few hours later only to look at the clock and roll over to toss and turn again. Plus, the weather has been getting warmer so my apartment gets stuffy at night but I don’t like sleeping with the AC on. So, I wake up thirsty and stumble sleepily in the dark to the fridge to drink water.  Work has been busy and slightly stressful, so my brain is always thinking about my tasks for the following day. It doesn’t help that maintenance crews were ripping up the apartment parking lot early in the mornings.

In the past, I’ve used smushy earplugs to block out noise. I also blocked any light coming into the bedroom. After I moved to a new apartment complex, I didn’t need the earplugs so I switched them out for soft music. Eventually though I stopped using the music. But now I feel like I need another routine to help me sleep better.

What are some of your tried and true methods to get better sleep?

Weekends

So I haven’t written one of those “this is what I did during the day” posts in a while. You know, the “I ran to the supermarket and made dinner then watched tv” posts. And I miss it. I miss dissecting my daily activities. I recently went back and read hundreds of blog posts I wrote when I was an undergrad. It was neat looking back on that time in my life. I guess they say the only things that are immortal are the words you write. Soooooo, I’m going to write one of those posts.  If not for you then for me:

I absolutely cherish my weekends. I currently work banker’s hours so by the time I reach the weekend, I’m ready to sleep for 2 days straight.  But then I feel guilty for sleeping away my time off. So this past Saturday I got up and drove to Stephen’s. We lounged. Danced. Watched movies. Talked about our future. Our past. Told jokes. Laughed til we cried. Ate junk food. Contemplated. I love hanging out with my boy. He’s the best.

After I left Stephen’s, there was a bit if sunlight left so I washed my car, did laundry, and cleaned the apartment. I also cooked steak for myself.  I *guess* I’m getting the hang of this “adulthood” thing. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and soaking in the bath. Hmmmm…the life of a twenty-something.

Baths

So baths are becoming a thing.  There’s something so symbolically refreshing (not to mention actually refreshing, too).  I fill up the bathtub, pour in soft soap, and pour myself a glass of wine. Sometimes, I even enjoy a piece of cake in the bathtub!  *gasp*

After the eating part of my relaxation is done, I slip far beneath the surface of my day, washing off words and feelings of grittiness. Insecurities float to the surface. Fears touch the soup bubbles. Worries get muddied by the watery sound buffer. I can’t hear anything in my makeshift ocean.

Then, everything gets washed away. Down the drain, the insecurities, fears, worries. I’m clean. But, it’s a process. I have to bathe everyday.