25

Well, here I am on my final day of being 24. In just under 7 hours it will be my birthday and I will officially leave my early twenties behind (although 24's already arguably not "early" 20s anymore). I'm a little nervous, although I'm not sure why. I guess once you're 25 you're supposed to really be an adult and that's an unnerving feeling.

I think somewhere in the back of my mind I have this nagging feeling of, "you should've accomplished more by now." But when I look at my life, I think I've really done well for myself. At this point I'm married to the man of my dreams, we actually own our own home, I have a good job and career, we have great friends. Who could ask for anything more?? But I do, I want more.

I don't want to live from week to week, which sometimes I feel that I do. I want to have some real goals for myself and push myself to accomplish them. I want to continue to discover who I am and who Jarrod and I are together. I want to focus on and develop the things I love and not just "float along."

So I've been thinking about the things I'd like to accomplish while I'm 25...
*I want to be content in my job and find a good place where I'm happy with what I'm doing... no matter what it is.
*I want to expand my cooking expertise. Basically I'd like to be more comfortable working without a recipe and just ingredients!
*Open a Roth IRA. This may be a long shot, but I've always said I wanted to start one before I turned 26, so it's my last chance.
*Finally, I just want to enjoy being young and in love. We're still celebrating our first year of marriage and I just want to live in that moment of growing together while we're not tied down with other responsibilities. I'm definitely looking forward to starting a family someday, but I have the rest of my life to experience that, so I want to really take advantage of the time we have now.

Magical March

Ahhh, I love this time of year (so I know I say that every month, but I really mean it!) March means the beginning of Spring, basketball, and most importantly, my birthday! Although I'm not entirely sure how I feel about my impending birthday this year. It's the BIG ONE... the 2-5! Aren't you supposed to be all grown up by the time you're 25?

Anyways, I'm excited to say I accomplished all of my goals for last month!

-Budget - I've got a pretty good one worked out now and have a good handle on where our money is going. Now, we've just got to stick to it!
-File our taxes - Done! Ready to get that check
-Get my filing done for 2010 - Got it all organized and put away. It's amazing how quickly it all piles up.
-Figure out a good system for writing - Well the issue here is that there's no good system for writing, at least not without spending a lot of money which will mess up my budget! However, I'm very proud to say that I wrote a chapter in my book! Yea!

Now for the month ahead...

-Keep honing the budget, because I think I can get it even better than it is now.
-Get plans nailed down for my sister's bachelorette and wedding shower.
-Find some time to relax, because starting at the end of the month, just about every weekend is booked through the summer.
-Turn 25 with dignity and grace... and a fabulous celebration!
-Drive 11 hours to Florida to visit the most awesome cousins!

Comfort in silence

Wow, I've been very absent from the blogging world this month. And it's not even that I've been unusually busy. I think it's more that I've been caught up in day-to-day life and although I've had the chance to spend a lot of this month with the people I love the most, it's not been anything particularly inspiring. I've actually been very productive this month (but I'll get into that in my month-in-review post tomorrow), and I'm glad to have made some progress on the more mundane aspects of my life.

As I said before, much of this month was spent with the most important people in my life. Jarrod and I found some time to relax and unwind, just the two of us; I got to host dinner for my bestest friend and her new husband, before he heads off to military training; I got to see my beautiful big sister looking gorgeous in her wedding gown (and fabulous new shoes!) and celebrate with her at a bridal shower; and now my awesome cousin is in town from Florida for the week, so I've been trying to grab as much time as possible with her.

There's that quote I've heard before, something like, "The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had." Well that's what this month has been like for me. Nothing earth shattering or newsworthy. Just being with the people I care about. Sitting on the back porch after a cookout playing word games on your phone with the people sitting next to you...

The "Mushy Stuff"

My parents have always had a wonderful, loving relationship. They set a great example for my sisters and me of what it takes to make a marriage work. They also weren't afraid of being affectionate around us and I remember we'd always cover our eyes with our hands and say, "Eww, mushy stuff!" So, in honor of Valentine's Day, here's my "mushy stuff."

This time of year always brings out all those lovey-dovey feelings, not just because of Valentine's, but because this is the week that I met my husband for the very first time. This past Wednesday was actually the 5 year anniversary of that very date. This is how our love story started out...

It was a typical Thursday night in February my sophomore year in college and I was going out with the girls (Rea and another college friend). We went to a downtown Raleigh locale that will remain unnamed (because it's way too embarrassing to put out there for all the world to see!) I won't go into all the details, but I actually had some drama going on with a couple different guys who turned up at the same place that night. So when I saw this amazingly handsome guy standing on the steps across the room, I decided to go for it and ask him to dance. (Ok - so it wasn't as much "asking" as it was "grabbing his hand and pulling him out on the dance floor." What can I say? I know what I like.) We had a lot of fun that night, and I gave him my number at the end of it.

The next day I went to Myrtle Beach with a couple of friends for a concert at the House of Blues. It's actually while I was at that concert that Jarrod first called me, but we couldn't talk too long so we said we'd get up once I was back in town. That Sunday, we came back from the beach and I had just settled down to work on a paper that I had due the next day and hadn't even started on when my friend called me and said the guys, including Jarrod, were going out to eat and had invited us. I decided the paper could wait. I remember hanging out at the restaurant and giggling about the guys with my friend when we went to the bathroom. He was so shy though, it was very endearing.

And two days later was Valentine's. I had to work that night at my restaurant job, and I won't go into all the details of that night, but let's just say that I got flowers from 3 different guys that night (none of which were Jarrod!) but at the end of the night, all I wanted to do was talk with him for hours. It was the first long, real conversation we had. It was pretty awesome. I think it was about a week after that, that my parents came out to Chapel Hill and we were having lunch and they asked me if I was seeing anyone and I remember saying, "I've got my eye on someone..."

Then 4 years later, on February 13, 2010, Jarrod and I had an amazing dinner at the Angus Barn and at the end of the night he asked me to marry him. It's a pretty good bookmark that 4 years, nearly to the date, after we met we decided officially to spend the rest of our lives together. It's been the best decision I ever made.

Fabulous February!

Seriously?? It's already February? I can't believe the first month of 2011 is already gone... and I feel that I got very little accomplished. Well that just means I'm really going to have to buckle down for February.

 

February always brings some fun with it: there's the Superbowl and Valentine's Day and a couple of great anniversaries, including the first day I ever met Jarrod and now we'll celebrate 1 year since he asked me to marry him! Wow, it just hit me that it'll be 5 years since we met. I have mixed emotions about this because part of me says, "I can't believe it's been 5 years!" and another part is like, "What? I've only known you for 5 years? What did I do for the 20 years before that?!"

This month also begins my more stringent budgeting. I'm going to be more on top of exactly where our money is going. I've discovered that having a lot of friends getting married is very expensive! So that means keeping an eye on other things. I suppose that's a big goal for the month, so onto the monthly list!

 

Last Month's Goals

-I'm going to have at least one chapter written. I've been doing some planning and research, but it's time to get some words on paper. Even if I end up throwing out the whole thing later, the process is starting! I totally did not do this and I'm very disappointed with myself. The one goal I set that's actually got some real purpose behind it and I can't even complete it. There are a number of things I could blame: my work schedule, how tired I am during the week, not having a good place to sit and write... but really it's just a lack of focus. I've been caught up on other things going on this month... stressing out over a number of things is more like it. I need to figure out a good system to keep me motivated and on track.
-Look into graduate degree programs. It's something I've been thinking about for a while, so I want to see what my options are as far as time and cost. [CHECK]
-Put up picture collage in living room. Finally got some pictures printed off! [CHECK]
-Have a fabulous birthday celebration for my husband! [CHECK]
-And celebrate the wedding of my best friend in the whole world [CHECK]

 

I also started implementing some of my yearly goals by reading more and eating healthier. That's always a good feeling.

 

Goals for February

-Budget!

-File our taxes. Can't wait for the tax return!

-Get my filing done for 2010, since right now it's all scattered around our office.

-Figure out a good system for writing, because sitting on the couch with my computer is not going to cut it.