Posted onAugust 2, 2023|Comments Off on A Few Months Of Celebrating (or Enjoying Each Age)
I set my monthly challenge for July to be to celebrate the last full month of my 30s. I know that’s not really a challenge like some of the ones I’ve done in the past, but I did want to make an effort to celebrate my age because I think it’s important to do so. Age is such a weird thing and I hate the stigma that seems to come with certain ages.
I didn’t stress as much as I thought I would 10 years ago about turning 30. I think turning 29 was almost a harder birthdate. For some reason, there was a block in my mind about what I was supposed to accomplish before 30 and I saw my 29th birthday as the cutoff to get those things accomplished. I don’t know why 29 was as tough for me as it was, but I was grateful that turning 30 wasn’t as bad as I feared.
I haven’t had a big issue in my mind about turning 40. I find it a bit tough to believe because I don’t feel like I’m 40. I think the pandemic made a few years feel like they didn’t happen, but also there was an idea in my mind when I was a kid about what 40 meant. I remember seeing all those over-the-hill gag gift things for someone turning 40, and I don’t feel like I’m headed toward the end of my life. I actually think that my life has been so much better in my 30s than in my 20s had been. I think I really stopped caring about some things that don’t really matter, and that made things a lot better for me. I also had some really great steps with improving both my mental and physical health and that helped this past decade a lot too.
I think every age is important, and it was extra important to acknowledge all the things that happened to me in my 30s. I had so much growth and celebrating that felt like the right thing to do. I didn’t do anything in particular, but I did make sure that I got out and spent time doing fun things with my friends to enjoy the last full month of my 30s.
And my challenge this month is kind of the same as what I did last month. Turning 40 is a milestone birthday, even if it doesn’t have the same feeling now as I thought it might when I was younger. I think it’s awesome that I’m turning 40 and I think that this coming decade will be even better than my 30s. I never knew how amazing my 30s could be, and I am so excited to see how my 40s surprise me. I don’t fear growing older or a specific age, so I want to celebrate how cool it is that I will be 40!
I am planning a casual birthday gathering since I haven’t really celebrated my birthday in the past few years. And I have the usual birthday traditions that I’m planning on doing again this year. I want to start off this decade by trying to spend time doing things I want to do, which I don’t do often enough. I’ve been doing better about getting out of my house and seeing friends, and I want to keep doing that. I want to make sure I take advantage of this month and enjoy as much time as I can. I know that I won’t be able to do that all the time, but making the effort to celebrate my birthday and my new decade is important to me.
I know this is another easy challenge to do, but I think it’s the perfect one for me this month. I haven’t had other life milestones yet that a lot of other people have that they celebrate (like a wedding), so celebrating a big birthday is an important one for me and I want to make sure I start off this decade in the best way possible!
Posted onJuly 12, 2023|Comments Off on 4th of July Fun (or Continuing The Traditions)
I think many people felt like having a holiday in the middle of the week was a bit odd. I have to agree. I only had the 4th off, so I worked Monday and Wednesday. Some people had an extra day off, but I was just happy to have an extra day off in the middle of the week. But that made things a bit harder to plan to celebrate the 4th, but fortunately, I could still have some fun.
The party that I go to most years for the 4th was the weekend before the holiday. But that was perfect for me since I didn’t want to stress about how early I might have to be up the next day. And that gave me some time to prepare something to bring with me. I don’t always have the time to make something, but I was grateful I did this year because I was able to bring drunk fruit again with me. This is something that I like to make since it’s easy, and it’s also something that people seem to love. And I had time the day before the party to get everything together.
I usually make it more than a day in advance, so this time they weren’t quite as potent as they have been in the past. Maybe since I was making them later, I should have added a little extra tequila, but normally the pre-made one is perfect for this. I still think everyone enjoyed them and I liked the combination of strawberries and watermelon.
The party was pretty low-key as they have been lately. It was a nice time to hang out with friends and have some good food. It wasn’t too hot, so we were all mostly outside during the party. And of course, my friends and I had to get our traditional photo done. We were missing one member of our group this year, but we still took a photo to add to the collection.
We’ve been doing this for almost 10 years now and only missed 2 years (one year due to the pandemic and one year due to my friends having a new puppy and not having a party). It’s so silly and ridiculous, but we also love it! And I think our other friends who are not in the photo but at the party get a laugh out of us acting a little crazy to get the photos done. But it’s such a fun thing to have to remember my friend group over the years. Also, considering how long we’ve been doing this, I don’t think any of us look like we’ve aged about 10 years!
I was at that party a bit later than I planned, but that was ok since I was able to sleep in the next day. And then I started my normal work week with work on Monday.
On the 4th, I slept in a bit and then went to a workout. I was debating about trying to make some plans to go watch fireworks or something else, but I ended up just hanging out at home and enjoying a day without work. I think a lot of my friends did the same since nobody really went out and did much. Maybe that’s a sign of us getting older or maybe that’s because it wasn’t a weekend and a few of my friends had a regular work day the next day like I did. But just having time to relax and not worry about doing much was nice and a luxury. On my days off, I’m usually trying to get errands done or other things I can’t do during the week. As much as I try to do all of those things on Saturdays so I can relax on Sundays, it doesn’t always work out that way for me. So I took advantage of this free time and didn’t stress about doing anything. It might not have been the most social holiday, but it was perfect for me.
I’m glad that I had the party the weekend before, so I had some nice social time and got to feel like I celebrated a holiday a bit. And I was able to take the day off work to make sure I was ready for the rest of the work week and feel a bit more refreshed when I have been a bit exhausted lately.
As I wrote last month, I seem to pick monthly challenges at the perfect time. I pick things that end up being exactly what I need at that time and it really has benefitted me. And sometimes, those benefits have been just to focus on something that I know will be taking up a lot of my time. And that was the case for June.
I set my monthly challenge to be as involved in union service as I could be. There were some limitations that didn’t allow me to do everything I wanted to do, but I was getting a lot done last month. I was continuing to support the strike against the AMPTP as much as I could. I didn’t get out to any picket lines, but that’s just because of my job and not really having the chance to take time off while things are a bit crazy at work. But I was still supporting things as much virtually and sharing information so others could make it to the picket lines.
But the bigger thing I was working on was mainly behind the scenes because it wasn’t announced until the end of the month. Normally during union elections, there are 2 major slates that both have candidates running for various positions. This year, there has been a big sense of unity among union members and that has also changed what will be happening in the elections this summer. Instead of the 2 major slates running their own candidates, we will be having a unity slate with some candidates from each of the major slates. This is a big deal and it took a lot of work to make it happen, but I think this is something that will really benefit the union and could be a refresh for elections that we all need. There are still other candidates that will be running outside of the unity slate and there might be another slate created since there have been talks about some independents doing that in the past, but having the 2 main slates combined is going to make things very different this year. And I’m so grateful I have been a part of the work behind this (although a small part compared to others) and that I will be running on the unity slate.
I will still be doing a lot with union service this month, and likely more than normal since it is still election season. But I have picked another monthly challenge for July that I think will be perfect for me.
July is the last full month of my 30s. I turn 40 at the beginning of August and I’m pretty excited about that. I haven’t really been scared of aging, but I think that I was a bit more fearful of turning 30 than I am now about turning 40. I think my 30s have been the best decade of my life so far and significantly better than my 20s. And I want to celebrate how great my 30s were before I celebrate turning 40. So my challenge for this month is just that simple. I want to spend July celebrating and enjoying the last full month of my 30s. I know that aging is something that some people don’t look forward to, but I think more people now are enjoying aging. And age really is just a number and I believe that there is no guideline of where you need to be in life at certain ages. When I was younger, I believed in that idea more. But now, I am just enjoying my life and I don’t really care about the number attached to my age.
I don’t have anything in particular that I want to do to celebrate the end of my 30s, but I will be making sure that I appreciate what I accomplished in the last 10 years and how I have been setting things up to be even better in my 40s. And I’m thinking I should be doing something bigger for my birthday this year since it is a milestone, so planning my birthday will also be a way to celebrate what my 30s meant to me. I’m excited about this birthday and about being in a new decade of life soon, but I also don’t want to forget everything I was able to do in my 30s and remembering how that time turned me into the person that I have become and will be going into my 40s.
I knew this past week of workouts would be better than the week before. I was feeling much better, which always helps me have a good workout week. But this week was unexpectedly good in ways I didn’t plan for, which made things even better!
Monday’s workout had an interesting format. For cardio, we had our blocks back to back. But for the rower and the floor, we switched between blocks. So when we started on the rower, we went rower, floor, rower. And on the floor, we went floor, rower, floor.
I started on cardio, and we had 3 blocks that focused on 30-second intervals. We had 3 30-second intervals before a recovery in each block. Sometimes those were base, push, and then all-out. And sometimes it was a push, push to all-out, and all-out. I used my normal resistance levels for these and when we were supposed to be between a base and push or push and all-out, I used the level between those.
On the rower, we had the same thing each time we were rowing. It was a 3 1/2-minute row with a 30-second all-out at the end. Rowing for 4 minutes isn’t the worst thing, but it’s also tough to do sometimes. I tried to limit my breaks on the rower, but I did have to take a few. And on the floor, we also did the same thing each time we were at that station. We had bicep curls, lunges, tricep extensions, and push-ups.
On Monday evening, I went to look at the Orangetheory app because I knew on Tuesday we had a benchmark class. I wanted to see my past times so I would be prepared for the next class. I took a look at that but noticed something else pretty amazing. The app also tracks how many in-studio classes you have taken (it doesn’t could any of the at-home classes done when things were shut down). And I missed noticing this before, but Monday’s class was a milestone one for me!
I knew that this milestone was coming up, but I wasn’t paying that much attention to when it would happen. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it, but I’m proud of myself. When I started going to Orangetheory, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to keep things up even though I knew I wanted to. But I was quickly hooked and it’s become a part of my routine now and I’ve missed it when I haven’t been able to go to class. When you could my home workouts, I’m over 1700 workouts, but I also know I didn’t work out as hard when I was at home compared to when I was in the studio.
Tuesday’s class was the 200-meter row benchmark. This is a fun benchmark to do because it’s always very fast. Since I knew my past times for the row, I had a goal in mind for what I wanted to do. I wasn’t going for a PR since I know I can’t PR every time, but I wanted to be close to it so that was the goal I had in mind.
I had my cardio work first, and it wasn’t too intense since we were supposed to save our strength for the benchmark. The first 2 blocks were 4-minute distance challenges. I set my resistance level to be just below my push level so it wasn’t too hard but not too easy either. I think that was a good choice because it did feel challenging, but not impossible. In the last block, we had intervals of a push pace to a base pace with an all-out at the end. I did use my normal resistance levels for those, but I didn’t go too crazy since I was about to row.
On the rower, the first block was more of a warmup and prep for the benchmark. We did have 200-meter rows, but we weren’t supposed to go hard and be closer to a push row. Between each row, we had lunges. I felt pretty ready for the benchmark in the second block. And that’s all we had in the second block to do. I didn’t rush into starting since I had 4 minutes and I knew the row would be less than a minute. And I was very happy with how it went. I was rowing a lot harder than I thought I could do and I was keeping my form to a sprint row form. I didn’t get a PR, which is what I expected, but I was closer to it than I thought I could. Only being .15 seconds off is probably more about a tiny bit of form than anything else so maybe I’ll be able to beat it soon.
The last row block gave us another chance to do the benchmark, but I was exhausted so I just did push rows again instead of going crazy. I also still needed a bit more recovery time from the benchmark, so I was happy I had the time to do that.
And the floor was also a bit easier than normal since the entire workout was designed around the benchmark. Each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises that were supposed to help people get ready for the benchmark if they did the floor first. We had high lows to low rows on the straps and hip hinge swings, plank pikes and superhero planks, and single-leg deadlifts with the straps and plank pull-throughs. I know I was still a bit sore from the row so I didn’t do anything extraordinary, but I was trying to work harder than I would have if I still had to do the row after.
Wednesday’s workout was a bit of a recovery workout. I might have overdone things on Tuesday or I might have just been having a bad hip day. I wasn’t sure what was causing the pain, but I was hurting so I had to just be cautious. But I was still pushing myself quite a bit.
For cardio, our 3 blocks focused a lot on incline work. We had base, push, and all-out paces with inclines and a lot of base paces without inclines between them. For the resistance levels, I did try to increase them compared to what I would normally use, but I struggled to do exactly what we were supposed to do. So for most of the workout, I did just one level higher than normal when we were supposed to have inclines. It was still harder than normal, but not quite as hard as it could have been if I did what I might have done if I wasn’t hurting.
On the rower, we had one long block. We started with a 600-meter row followed by front presses with a medicine ball. Then we had a 400-meter and 200-meter row also with the front presses. Then we worked our way back up starting with a 200-meter row but we had overhead presses with the medicine ball between each row. I did a lot better with my rowing than I thought I would. Even though I did need some breaks in the long rows, I didn’t need as many as I thought I might have to take.
And on the floor, the focus was on load and explode movements. So we had back-to-back exercises that worked similar muscle groups. We first had goblet squats to regular squats. Then we had lateral raises to uppercuts. And finally, we had bicycle presses to sit-ups. I did have to do a few modifications for some exercises, but they were expected modifications for me and not necessarily because of how my hip was doing.
When I showed up to Thursday’s workout, my coach had set up the brag board to celebrate my milestone. It was set up to say I did 1500 classes, but that class was going to be my 1503rd. So I joked to him that I was going to fix it later, which is exactly what I did before I posted it online.
I really appreciated that because it’s always awesome to be celebrated. But it’s more awesome to be celebrated for something that wasn’t easy to start and could have been very simple to give up on. But I have stuck with it. Even though now it’s something I’m used to, I still make a choice to go early in the morning when I would rather be sleeping in a bit more.
I only celebrated the milestone for a quick moment before the workout started and it was time to get into things. For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first block was focused on 30-second intervals with a base pace, push pace, and all-out. We did that twice within the block. In the second block, we did bases at inclines, and I was able to use the resistance levels I should have used. And the last block had 90-second base paces with 30-second push paces with the focus being more on the base pace and making sure we could get back to a base without needing to recover.
On the rower, we had 3 blocks that all had 150-meter rows. The first block was just rounds of an all-out 150-meter row. We could take whatever recovery time we needed before doing another all-out row. In the second block, we had 10 step-out squats between each row. And the row was supposed to be a push row instead of an all-out row. And in the last block, the rowing was supposed to be more of the recovery than the focus. We had 10 squats to start and then the 150-meter row was a base row.
And on the floor, we had one long block. In that block, we had skater lunges, cleans with weights, kneeling shoulder presses, lunges, plank taps, and double crunches. I didn’t go extra heavy with the weights I used, but I did try using the heavier weights before going to the normal ones I use. I’m glad it was just one block of work because it allowed me to take my time to work on each exercise and not feel rushed.
When I started this past week of workouts, I knew it would be a benchmark week, but I had no clue it would be a milestone week. I’m so glad I happened to look at the app on Monday so I could see that I hit such a cool milestone the day it happened. Of course, I would have celebrated it even if I didn’t notice until I was past it, but I’m happy I got to celebrate as I did my 1500th class! And based on how many workouts I do on average, I’m about 2 1/2 years away from celebrating my 2000th class!
Posted onApril 6, 2023|Comments Off on Another Santa Barbara Birthday (or A Quick Trip To See Family)
When I went to Santa Barbara for my niece’s birthday, I wasn’t sure if I’d be making it back up there for my nephew’s birthday a few weeks later. His birthday was going to be on a weekday and I knew my brother and his family were going to be out of town right before his birthday. So I thought his party might be on a weekday, which would mean I would have to miss it. But after I was in Santa Barbara in February, I found out the party would be the Sunday before his birthday so I would be able to go!
So this past Sunday, I made the drive up to Santa Barbara for the day as I have done so many times before. It’s not a horribly long drive, but with some traffic and road construction it was about 2 hours for me to get there. Fortunately, I knew ahead of time that I’d be driving up so I had a bunch of podcasts saved so I could be entertained on my drive.
I knew the party would be pretty low-key since my nephew was turning 3 and he doesn’t have a ton of friends yet. And I appreciated that it wouldn’t be a huge party full of people I didn’t know. It ended up being my family, my sister-in-law’s family, and 2 of my nephew’s friends from preschool. And they set up the bounce house I got my niece and nephew again for the party, so it was fun seeing all the kids having fun on it (and knowing that it was a good gift since not all of the gifts I’ve gotten them have been hits).
Since my nephew was busy playing with his friends, I spent most of my time at the party with my family and my sister-in-law’s parents. Even though I had seen them all a few weeks earlier at my niece’s party, there was plenty to catch up on. And I didn’t realize my sister-in-law’s mom hadn’t seen all the photos from my condo remodel, so I was showing her those and sharing what we did for the renovation and how it’s been since I moved in almost a year ago.
Everything about the party was casual and chill. They had a taco bar for lunch and I was eating outside with my parents (which was much quieter than being inside). And instead of a cake, they had cupcakes. My nephew loves garbage trucks so the cupcakes were decorated with little trucks.
And both my niece and nephew loved them, but I think my niece had a bit more fun making a mess out of the frosting and seeing how crazy she could get.
After cupcakes, the party was winding down. My parents had the dog with them, but he wasn’t able to be inside for the party so I was hanging out with my parents in the driveway so I could also spend a little time with Tucker. We mainly were just sitting in the front of the house for that, but it was still nice to see the dog since I don’t get to see him too often. And after my niece and nephew went down for their naps, my brother and sister-in-law hung out with us for a little bit before we all said goodbye.
I know I could have stayed a little longer if I wanted to and continued to hang out with my parents at their rental house, but I wanted to get home before it was too late. I know that going back on Sunday evenings can be crazy, and I wanted to avoid as much traffic as possible. Even though I didn’t leave that late, it still took me almost twice as long as normal to get home. But that’s ok since it was worth it to get to have some time with my family. I know that isn’t as easy for everyone to do as it is for me, so I like to take advantage of it whenever I can.
I’m not sure when my next trip to Santa Barbara will be, but I’m sure that there will be another day up there at some point soon. I usually plan them around when my parents are there, so I’ll just have to wait until they plan their next trip. And even with this trip up there being short, I’m glad it was still full of family time and it was on a day that I could make it.
Posted onFebruary 28, 2023|Comments Off on SAG Awards Time (or I Wish I Had Watched More Movies)
I know that I’m very lucky that I have so many opportunities to see movies, and most of those opportunities are free for me. Things still aren’t exactly the way they were before the pandemic, but there are still free movie screenings at theaters and screening venues, I just haven’t been to one yet. I know that I’ll start going to those again eventually, but I’m still hesitant to go to theaters. But fortunately, I also have the chance to watch things at home when we get screeners for the SAG Awards.
When I first joined SAG-AFTRA, all the screeners we got at home were DVDs. This included TV shows where we would sometimes get an entire season of a show on DVD. There was one year we got a free month of Netflix so we could watch all the Netflix shows directly on the service. And over time, we started to get more and more screeners as either digital downloads or through various online screening services. I liked the digital screeners because they were instantly available for us and we didn’t have to wait on the mail. And once I got an upgraded AppleTV, I was able to watch the digital ones on my tv instead of on my computer.
In the past few years, we were given the option to opt out of physical DVD screeners and just get digital ones. The first year it was offered, I paid attention to what we got as DVDs versus digital options. And everything that was a DVD was digital too, so I opted out of the DVDs since I didn’t need them anymore. I found the online screening services pretty easy to use, so I didn’t see any reason to get DVDs.
Most years, I make a good effort to try to watch everything that is nominated. I don’t usually make it through everything, but I try to get through the majority of them. And this year, I tried to make a plan to figure out how many movies I’d need to watch each week in order to get through all the movies before we had to vote. It pretty much came down to watching 2-3 movies a week, which is a lot but doable. Or at least it seemed doable until I got sick. I couldn’t focus enough to watch an entire movie. I also didn’t feel up to watching anything and just wanted to rest. And after I was feeling better, I had a lot of things I needed to catch up on that were more important than spending a few hours in front of my tv. So by the time we had to vote for the winners, I had only seen a handful of movies and none of the ones that were the front runners. I decided not to vote this year since it didn’t seem fair, but I still planned on enjoying the awards show and seeing what happens.
Previously, the SAG Awards were on cable. But this year was the first year the show partnered with Netflix. In the future, the show will be streamed live on Netflix once they get their live streaming service set up. But this year, it was available on YouTube through the Netflix YouTube channel.
I actually loved this new format. There were no commercial breaks, so the show was shorter than normal. In place of commercials, between awards they had short compilation clips of past winners and past shows. I really liked how that worked out and it felt much more of a celebration of the union as a whole and not just those who won. And I think those who won had a similar feeling as many of the acceptance speeches recognized SAG-AFTRA members who are not household names and are still working hard for their next role. I really felt inspired by so many of those speeches and I have a feeling I’ll be rewatching some of them in the future when I need a pick-me-up.
Even though I don’t have access to the screeners anymore, I hope that I’ll be able to watch several more of the nominated films. I know they’ll be online eventually and I’ll just have to make the effort to find them and watch them. And hopefully, next year I’ll be able to plan watching screeners better or be able to watch more movies over time if I start going to in-person screenings again.
This past weekend was my niece Presley’s 2nd birthday. I was happy her birthday fell on the weekend because I was able to drive up for the day to celebrate with everyone. I wasn’t able to do that for her 1st birthday, but I still was able to go up the next day to be a part of a mini-celebration. But I was excited that I could be at her birthday party this time.
It was a small birthday party. The only non-family people there was another family that has 2 little boys around the same ages as my niece and nephew. But I think a bigger party might have been overwhelming for my niece, so a small party was perfect. And it was a really nice afternoon.
For most of the party, all 4 kids were busy playing with all the different toys my niece and nephew have. They have a few different little motorized toys, like garbage trucks and bulldozers. And they are still young enough that they weren’t turning them into bumper cars or anything. But what I think was one of the biggest hits was actually a gift I got my niece and nephew for Hanukkah this past year. I got them a mini-bounce house that was set up in the backyard. It was the perfect size for all the kids to play on it and they all kept going down the slide into the grass.
I’m so glad that my niece and nephew loved the bounce house since it can be tough to pick out good gifts for kids. But I had a good feeling that would be a hit and it was nice to see that it was!
Of course, since it was a birthday party, there were presents and cake (but cupcakes since it was a small party).
Opening all the presents was a bit overwhelming for Presley, so she opened most of them while I was there. But she did open the gift I got her, which was a little flower-building kit, while I was there and she did start playing with it right away. So I think that gift was another hit! I know that she has a lot of toys already, but I wanted to find something fun for her. I’ll probably try to find non-toy presents in the future, but it was fun to find something cute this time.
After a couple of hours, it was naptime for all the kids. So the other family headed home so their kids could nap and then my brother and sister-in-law worked on getting my niece and nephew down for their naps. Both kids were probably over-exhausted and were fighting a nap, but they went down after a bit of a fight. And when they were asleep, that was time for me to head out.
I could have stayed and hung out with my parents for a few hours, but I was going to see them again in a few days when they got to LA, so there really wasn’t a discussion or plan for me to stay in Santa Barbara through the afternoon. And I had things at home that I wanted to get done, so I was fine making the drive home so I could have the afternoon and evening to get things checked off of my errands list.
My nephew’s birthday is only about 6 weeks away, but since his birthday is on a weekday I’m not sure if I’ll make it to his party. I’ll just have to wait and see what day his party is planned for. I did give him his birthday present early since I didn’t want to have to ship it (and he wouldn’t really know the difference between getting it now or later). If I don’t make it to that party, I’m sure I’ll make it to Santa Barbara another time in the future. And I’m so glad that I was able to make it to Presley’s birthday party and have a nice family afternoon with everyone!
Posted onFebruary 14, 2023|Comments Off on Celebrating The Love In My Life Today (or There Is More Than Just Romantic Love)
I haven’t always enjoyed Valentine’s Day. It can be tough when you are in school and never have a boyfriend or someone who likes you. Even as an adult, there can be so much out there implying that if you are single there is something wrong with you. I’ve never had a significant other on Valentine’s Day, and this year is no different. I’ve had random dates that happen to be on February 14th, but they aren’t necessarily Valentine’s dates. And I guess there is still a chance for that to happen this year, but I’m okay not doing anything special tonight.
But just because I don’t have a boyfriend or someone I’m seriously dating this year doesn’t mean that my life is lacking love. I have spent several years realizing that love and relationships go beyond just the romantic ones. I really hate when a guy asks me on a date about my longest relationship, but I’m always tempted to ask if it has to be a romantic one. I’ve maintained platonic friendship relationships for decades before. I think that should count for something. And in the same way, the love I have from friends and family counts as me being loved.
Yes, I know it’s not exactly the same, but when I’m having low moments and wondering if I’m unloveable, I have to remember that there have been people who have loved me for a long time and that proves that I’m worthy of being loved. I am so lucky to have amazing people in my life who are so willing to help me out when I need it and that is showing love. When I was sick and needed cold medicine but didn’t feel safe to drive, my friend didn’t hesitate to help me out and she even went to 4 stores to find me what I needed. When I needed someone to drive me to a medical thing, I’ve always found a friend who would take me and even wait if the procedure took a bit of time. Even with things that I wasn’t going to ask my friends to help me with, like moving, I had so many people offer to help if I didn’t want to hire a moving truck.
When bad things have happened, I can call so many different people and have a sympathetic ear. I might not reach out as much as I should, but I also know that if I did reach out that there are people who love me and would do whatever they could for me. And I would do the exact same thing for them. I’ve always told friends that they could call me any time day or night if they need me, and I know I have the same ability to call them. Some of these friends don’t live close to me, so I can’t necessarily rely on them if I need help in person, but I still know they are there for me.
I do still want romantic love in my life and that is still something I’m actively looking for, but I don’t believe that my life is lacking love. I might not have every type of love right now, but I’m not missing love in general. And I’m choosing to celebrate all the love that I do have in my life today because it is important to recognize any love you are lucky enough to have. And I hope that if next Valentine’s Day I am in a relationship, I still remember to celebrate other types of love. All love is always important to have and celebrate, not just on Valentine’s Day. But this is a good remember to take some time and reflect on that because I know I don’t appreciate all the love I have as much as I should.
I’ve been celebrating my half-birthday for as long as I can remember. And I really doubt I will ever age out of celebrating it. I know it can seem like a childish thing to recognize, but I like having a bit of a checkpoint for myself. I do this with annual goals, but this also sets a separate checkpoint for myself when I’m halfway through an age. I don’t necessarily set goals for what I want to accomplish by each age, but it still gives me a chance to check in with myself and see how things have been going for me.
When I was younger, I definitely had ideas of where I wanted to be by certain ages. I had a bit of a tough time letting that idea go, but I think as I was getting closer to turning 30, I realized that those hopes I had for what would happen in my life just weren’t realistic for what was going on in my life. I remember being in high school and thinking I’d be married by 28 at the oldest. I’m glad I didn’t stick with that too much because the guys I dated in my 20s would not have made good husbands.
I think because so many of the ideas I had for my life were things that I expected to happen in my 20s, I really struggled with the idea of turning 30 for a while. It got easier as I got closer to that birthday, but I remember struggling with turning 28 and 29 as well because 30 was looming ahead and I was nowhere I expected to be in my life. It’s tough when you have all these ideas and expectations and none of them are happening by the random deadlines you set in your mind. It almost feels like you missed out on life or will never accomplish those ideas. And yes, some of the things that I thought I would do in my 20s are now things that I don’t necessarily want for my life, but I also have relaxed a lot more with the idea of things needing to happen by a certain age.
And I think because I have relaxed with those ideas, I’m not scared to turn 40 in 6 months. I’m actually excited about that birthday. It is a milestone birthday and I have no idea what exactly my life will be like in 6 months, but it’s still something big that I will celebrate even if it’s just on my own. I also think that aging doesn’t scare me as much as it used to. I have a lot of friends who are older than me, and I can get an idea of what my future holds. Turning 40 now is very different from turning 40 in past generations. And even though there is still a stigma with aging, I think that most people accept that 40 isn’t old anymore and that you can still have a lot of life to live after 40.
I’m going to enjoy the last 6 months of my 30s. Honestly, my 30s have been so much better than my 20s. It hasn’t all been easy, but I have been able to enjoy my life so much more in my 30s. I haven’t cared as much about what others think, so that allows me to live more freely. I have gained confidence that I never imagined I could have when I was younger. I don’t want to say I’m totally confident in my body and how I look, but I feel more in control of my appearance and I appreciate things in my body that I didn’t before such as my strength. I might do some things to feel younger like dye my hair, but that doesn’t mean I’m not proud of who I’ve become in my 30s.
If the last 6 months of my 30s are anything like the last 9 1/2 years, I’m sure they will be filled with a lot of awesome things. I know that there may be some heartache and pain, but I expect to finish out my 30s even more excited to turn 40 and see what my 40s will bring!
Posted onJanuary 6, 2023|Comments Off on Another Low-Key New Year’s Eve (or At Least I Made It Until Midnight)
I continued my tradition of having a low-key New Year’s Eve again. I know that some people love going out or going somewhere fancy and festive, but that’s just not who I am. I do love occasions where I can dress up, but not when it’s going to be super crowded and likely overpriced. So doing something that isn’t too fancy is much more my speed. And pretty much every year I do the same thing, hang out with my friends and just have a very easy evening.
I’m glad I got to spend time with my friends and it was a smaller group than normal for a few different reasons. But we all still had fun and a nice time being together. It was a little crazy getting there because of the rain storms, but at least I wasn’t in a rush to get there and could take my time while driving. And I lucked out and found a parking spot very close to my friend’s house so I didn’t have to walk too far in the rain.
Since it was storming, we all pretty much spent the evening inside. We sometimes went outside to get fresh air, but it was cold and windy as well. So I’m glad it was a smaller group since we were inside a lot more than normal. Everyone there also were people I knew so it wasn’t like I was around a lot of new people who I couldn’t be sure took as many precautions about things as my friends and I do.
And like many times when I’m with my friends, we just enjoyed spending time together and we didn’t need to do anything crazy. Most of the time I was there, I was just talking with my friends about various things. One of the friends in our group just moved back to LA so we were talking about their job hunt and move. We also occasionally would glance at the tv and joke about how we all must be old because we didn’t recognize the different performances going on. There was also some karaoke happening, but I don’t usually join in for that since I don’t sing. But I do love seeing my friends having fun.
Once it was closer to midnight, we started to play a new card game my friends got for Christmas. It was called Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza and it was really fun! There were some moments when we were all confused about a rule, but most of the time we were playing we were laughing and making fun of each other for some of the silly mistakes we made. I was shocked that I did well in the game, but I ended up not winning in the end. But that’s ok.
I was a bit tired while I was there and there were moments when I wondered if I would have to leave before midnight. I knew I didn’t want to drive if I was tired, especially in the rain. But after the game was over, it was only a few more minutes until midnight so I managed to stay late enough. And when it officially became 2023, we all celebrated together. A lot of people in our friend group have had a rough year (or a few years) and we could celebrate making it through another year and still all of us being in pretty good health.
Only a few minutes after midnight, I decided to head back home. There was a bit of a break in the rain so I wanted to drive before the next storm started. And I never like staying too late since I’m less likely to be on the road with a drunk driver right after midnight compared to an hour or two later. Maybe one year I’ll stay later, but I don’t mind leaving earlier than many of the others since I do have one of the longer drives home.
Once I was home, I realized I took no photos while I was at the party. Usually, I’ll take at least a few, but I guess I was more focused on spending time with my friends and enjoying the moment. So that’s ok with me. Even without photos, I know I had a nice New Year’s Eve and I have fun memories from that night. And I’m sure that in a year, I’ll be doing the same thing again with another low-key night and enjoying it just as much.
Getting Myself Set For The Summer (or Union Things And Celebrating)
