did i move to cali and not notice?

sooo true life: i survived an earthquake!

for anyone who happens to live under a rock, there was an earthquake throughout the east coast yesterday!

Let me be honest here: I've been sick and my doctor put me on a new medication yesterday, so I was in the middle of a nap when the earthquake started, and for real thought I was hallucinating from my meds when I woke up because my bed was moving so much. Only when my brother ran into my room did I realize that the entire house was in fact really moving. MOVING! THE WHOLE HOUSE!!!!! I started freaking out, my brother thought that maybe a pipe burst on our block or something and thats what was going on. Being the social networking addicts that we are, we both immediately went onto facebook to say something about our house shaking, and discovered that every single one of our friends was posting the same thing: IT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE! in NEW YORK!!!!

ok so i know the earthquake was actually in virginia, where my sister and her family live, and i was super concerned and calling them trying to get in touch to make sure they were ok. again, thanks to facebook, one of my nieces posted a comment on my status to let me know they were ok. (yayyyy facebook!) my parents are also are down south in myrtle beach. As i called my dad in full panic mode to tell them we had an earthquake (this was before i found out it was not just in new york but all up and down the coast) and my dad answers, hysterically laughing: " I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW, EVERYTHING IS MOVING!!!" yea duh dad, thats why im calling, BECAUSE WE'RE HAVING AN EARTHQUAKE AND THE WORLD IS CLEARLY ENDING!!!

yeah, i've watched one too many end of the world movies, so I know how this is gonna play out. i need to move out to the midwest and climb the tallest mountain i can find to survive the coming tsunami (deep impact), find an astronaut to save us all (armageddon) or find some money to buy a ticket for a spot on a giant ark deep in the middle of nowhere (2012)

to sum this all up: there was an earthquake, everyone is ok, and last night we got an ice cream cake to celebrate, complete with " i'm all shook up!" written on it :) oh and after we figured out that an earthquake had just happened, and i was bugging out, my brother turns to me and says, "so....whats for lunch?" good to know he stays calm during natural disasters.

im just so thankful that it wasnt like the earthquakes in chile or haiti, and pray for the people who were affected by those disasters.

survive an earthquake? check that off my bucket list, along with surive a tornado, and two hail storms within weeks. i'm having quite the eventful summer.

be brave loves,

drumroll pleaseeeeeee: announcing my tips of the day!

ok so on my way back from visiting my old friend in boston I managed to avoid all traffic until I was just a half hour away from my house. THIS NEVER HAPPENS TO ME. (i mean traffic always happens to me, making it so close to home without hitting traffic, THAT was the exciting part) no joke. i have the uncanny ability to not only get lost everywhere i go, but to also find myself smack in the middle of traffic jams. It dosen't matter what time I leave the house, what day it is, or my destination, I still manage to add atleast an hour and a half (at the least!) to any traveling im doing. I don't really mind though, my friends have come to expect me hours later, and I've managed to locate the best places to stop along my most favorite routes to grab a coffee or refresh myself. truth be told , theres an outlet in ct with the cleanest bathrooms, and employees at the fossil store right next to it that know me by name when i walk in to say hi (my issues with public restrooms i'll save for another lovely post).



whoops...i definitely went off on a tangent there. my point was that I was almost home traffic free, which was a new experience for me: and then i got stuck in traffic, during which i was talkingto a friend about some issues she was having at work and she said that i was like her life coach because I always had good tips and advice for everyone when people talk to me about their current issues. (Please note, I never take my own advice, ever. For some reason I don't learn my lesson until I find out for myself) So I started making a list of "tips" I would love to give people about things I've noticed the last few weeks. so without further ado, my tips of the day (week, month, life, whatever)


#1: don't conduct your phone calls in a publicly, shared space (if it's not an emergency). It's rude, and people such as myself will feel compelled to contribute to the conversation. And i assure you, you don't sound that cool or important. You just sound like someone who wants complete strangers to know their business.




#2: don't sweat the small stuff. when the baker adds some yellow to the frosting of the birthday cake you ordered, it is not the end of the world. (I'm talking to you gabriella's mom, who was a complete stranger) Do not freak out. It's a cake. You will eat it, it will go into your belly and it'll come out...eventually in some way. In the grand scheme of things, your intense freak out over some yellow color not fitting into your envisioned color scheme is not that serious. better yet, make your own cake and save yourself the 300 dollars you shelled out to have someone else make the cake for your kids birthday. You might even find it relaxing. Trust me on this one. My brother and i still talk about the cakes my dad used to make for our birthdays. Im talking huge, mountains of frosting, awesome themed cakes. get over yourself, and bake your own.



#3. Nail salons (and for that matter hair salons, gyms, bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants, shoe stores and pretty much everywhere that is not your home) are not a free daycares. (disclaimer: i realize that you realistically can't just leave your kid with someone whenever you need to go out and do something, i went everywhere with my parents when i was little but i also knew to be quiet, polite, to entertain myself when necessary and my parents let me be a part of everything and explained things to me bc i was curious and asked questions, they didnt just ignore me) If you choose to bring your child with you to any and all of these places, you should be fully prepared to keep an eye on your kid. Don't take advantage of the employees at these places and assume they'll entertain your kid while youre getting whatever done. As I felt like telling Gabriella's mom while she was complaining about how awful her life was due to a cake fiasco and how awful her daughter was (Please refer to tips 1 and 2, these came up because of her) that no actually her daughter was not disturbing me during my manicure when she was repeatedly ramming her mini rolling chair into my chair, it was actually her who was bugging me more, for talking so badly about her five year old daughter and making the nice people at the nail salon chase after her daughter while she picked up everything she could reach, because mommy couldn't be bothered to get off the phone with every single person shes ever met, in order to complain about her life. Pay attention to your children! Love them, teach them, help their little minds grow! Don't ignore them and blame them for all your pretend issues.



my list goes on but i think i need a nap, and this is turning into a longish post. soo ill be back later :)



be brave loves,

being sick in bed has its benefits...

I've been sick in bed for a few days soo here's what I've managed to do with my free time while camped out on my island of germs:
- watched the entire season of america's next top model cycle 15
- caught up on all the blogs I follow
- got deeper into the book I picked up at a borders closeout earlier this week
- caught up with some school friends
- (online) window shopped for things I was supposed to buy today, had I left the house
- planned my dinner menu for next week when I'll have free reign over my kitchen
- lotsss of other random, semi useless, almost productive things that cheered me up even if they were silly :)

anyhoww, whats up with every one I know getting engaged? it's seems like every single time i sign onto facebook theres a whole new batch of people throwing out congratulations to a new happy couple. sigh. don't get me wrong, I am fully capable of being happy for them, every single (or should i say coupled) last one of them, but I really, really, reallllly cannot wait for when it's my turn. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me "when you least expect it, youll meet someone" I'd be seriously rich by now. I spent a few days with one of my best friends from college earlier this week, who happened to date the best friend of my ex, and we both agreed that while we do not miss that dynamic duo, we do miss the idea of them. being able to share your life with someone, who becomes not only your best friend but perhaps your biggest fan and supporter. i miss having that person who is interested in my life , lights up when they see me across the room, and reaches for me in the middle of the night. someone who makes my life better by being in it, and i do the same for them.

i have hope though. i honestly, really do. i dodged a bullet with my ex, i realize that now. i was settleing for something that i thought i deserved. maybe i was afraid or maybe i thought that we could work through our issues to make it all work...but really it shouldnt have been so hard. and i deserve more. luckily, my old friend is now in a wonderful relationship. being in the home she shares with her love, just watching them interact, listening to how they spoke to each other, hearing her talk about him and finally seeing it all for myself did something for me. it gave me renewed hope. and as much as it makes me a little nuts to see another engagement annoucement every day...and lets be honest here, i also feel a slight stab of jealousy..those couples fill me with hope too. every day i get a little bit stronger, a little bit braver, and that crack in my heart heals itself up just a little bit more.


oh and that new book i picked up at the borders close out? "dating for dummies" :)
yeah, yeah, go ahead and judge me. but i was waiting for my friend who was looking for cookbooks and i wanted to sit down in a quiet spot and just hang out, gather myself together after running around in the rain in boston, and read. and i know you might not know this about me but i always have a book handy, alwaysss! except ofcourse this one time. luckily, i was sitting in a bookstore that is practically giving everything away. AND i happened to have chosen to sit down right next to the self help section. AND i just walked up to a shelf and grabbed the first book that caught my eye, and it just happened to be "dating for dummies", and the only copy. soo i took it as a sign. and i am BIG on signs. especially after spending a few days talking to my friend about her relationship and our past relationships, love, moving on and all that stuff.... soo thats where my friend found me: wet hair braided with a headband plopped on my head, hanging out in a sunny spot sitting on the floor in a corner of borders, deeply interested in my new find. i had to get it.

:)

so judge me if you must, (it's totally okay since I don't actually have anyone following my blog)

but on the rare chance that someone actually stumbles upon my little ole blog and wants to give me some dating advice as i attempt to get back out there, feel free and be kind :)

so i dont want to jinx it or anything but...i feel really happy today and stress free :)

happy tuesday!

it's august already?!?

i cannot believe the first day of august is about to come to an end! today was the first time in awhile that ive felt like i didnt screw up the entire day. i didnt stress out about whos mad at me, what im going to do once this summer job is over, how long it will be until someone wonderful comes into my life or any of the other thoughts that have been keeping me up every night and making me feel anxious and lost.

i had a really great weekend visiting my best friend and just enjoying being with someone who knows me, lets me ramble, and makes me feel like im not so crazy- that maybe my ideas and dreams arent so far out of reach. we talked, shopped (of the window variety), got dolled up and went out for "just a drink' which really turned into us stumbling into the best pub ive ever stepped foot into.

i danced like i havent danced in months, really, in almost a year. i felt pretty and comfortable in my own skin. my hair was wild and huge, and i didnt care. i was a sweaty mess, and i just wiped myself off and didnt care. i ditched my heels for some sandals, which for some people isnt so huge but for 5'1 me, its a big deal :) i didnt care if anyone wanted to dance with me or buy me a drink or think i was pretty. i was happy , and carefree, and having a grand old time just dancing with my friend. and i didnt care how silly i looked. maybe it was because i didnt know anyone within 100 miles of the place...but maybe, just maybe, im finally healing.

I keep up to date with everyones blog but my own..whoops :(

soo, i'm the worst blogger ever, since i've managed to faithfully check on the blogs i read daily, but not write anything on my own since september.

a lots happened since then but that's neither here nor there. short recap- i had a rough couple of months, things looked pretty dark for a while there but i got past it and am starting a new adventure in my life :)

i feel unsure about a lot of things lately: where am i going, what am i doing, who am i?
but im trying not to stress out about it all because really i think these are questions people ask themselves every day. maybe somewhere in this big wide world, there's someone else wondering about their life the way that i am right now.

some days i think to myself that i can live in this town the rest of my life and be happy about it. there's something to be said for the feeling you get when you run into people that have known you your whole life just running to the store. but at the same time it gets very tiring..people who've know you your entire life tend to remember you only one way and in my case its the 16 yr old version of me -as someones sister, someones girlfriend, someones daughter, someones friends and never as my own person.

all i know is that im ready to have an adventure of my own!

wish me luck :)

That was then..THIS, this is now

So I haven't kept up with my blog as I thought I would so here's a quick catch up:

I turned 25, and did, as i was warned, have an actual quarter life crisis. I sat around the weekend of my birthday wondering just exactly how I ended up living at home, back in college, with no idea what I was going to do with my life, states away from my boyfriend and my best friends, having to tell my parents where and who i was going out with, and wondering how i was going to stretch my latest pay check while my best friends were making plans to move in with their boyfriends, planning their weddings, loving their careers and basically living the life i thought i should be living. I wanted to go back to that life asap, needed my year to fast forward so i could get on with the plans my boyfriend and i had made for when i graduated: move in together again somewhere in boston, get engaged, invite all of our friends over for awesome grown up dinner parties, joint bank accounts, finding an amazing job where id feel fulfilled every day, another puppy, continuing our lives together again....and then he broke up with me.

Cry me a river right? should i have some cheese with that whine? yes, yes, i know what i sound like :)

lets just say my world got a little knocked off course...to say the least.

so now i've spent my summer in non stop summer school, working, and basically re evaulating what i want for myself, my now suddenly completely open future, and every aspect of my life.

heres what ive come up with so far:

1. i do want to have a better, more positive view of myself.

truthfully, thinking i was going to spend my life with someone and then suddenly... not, has not done wonders for my self esteem. i am constantly questioning what i did wrong, what i could have done better, what i should have said, maybe if i had been thinner, prettier, whatever-er..you know typical break up stuff. everyone under the sun has given me advice on how to get past this but its hard when you feel slightly broken, missing a few pieces.



2. i want to be around people who genuinely care about me

new friends, old friends, it doesn't matter how long you've known people, sometimes you meet people and you just know, they are your people.

3. figure out what I want to do after graduation and make a realistic plan on how i can make it happen

find a new job, pass my certification tests, look for a place of my own, save money, but most importantly: take chances


ok, so this is a short list but it's a start :)