Summer.

I wish I could recall all that happened this summer, in every weekend and every minute not spent in my cubicle, between the borders of June first and August thirty-first. I want to say it moved quickly, but my trip to Vegas seems like a long-lost dream because of how much time seems to have passed.

Part of it is that once I came home from my early kick-off to summer, my boss had surgery and was out for three weeks. Anything I did in my leisure time was sucked down a black hole of work. Even when she came back, she was physically impaired and I almost found it harder to help her and do my own work. So in that respect, I think June slipped away from me.

My iPhone helped me remember I did do things in June. Clockwise from top left: Lyndsay's graduation party, a minor league baseball game, my cousin's fiance's bridal shower, and a cornhole tournament at a friend's house.

July was slower and I was able to savor it a little bit more. Erik’s parents went on a three-week vacation, so I spent many weekends escaping to the alternate universe of north Jersey. Even with the hour commute, I found myself looking forward to it, and not just because I got to see my boyfriend.

  

Festive Fourth of July cocktail, "breakfast" shot with orange juice chaser, lunch in Erik's backyard, domesticated Erik and Cody Banks!

August was VEDA, plain and simple; making videos, watching videos, forgetting to make videos on weekends… just as it always goes.

 

I also did non-VEDA things in August, like take artsy pictures, drink more drinks, and celebrate Erik's mom's birthday.

Now I’m here on the other side of warm weather and the late-setting sun. Mornings are chillier and coffee shops are serving pumpkin spice lattes, which, not complaining one bit on that one. Still, I wish my vacation had been spread out over the summer instead of jam-packing into this upcoming month.

September will see me in Mystic Island (down the shore), somewhere else in New Jersey to visit Melissa, and then all the way to Florida to spend time with Erik’s family. I will count down the days until my cousin’s October wedding and Erik’s twenty-fifth (!?!?!) birthday.

I will also be back here, in my little spot on the internet. Because after putting my face on camera for thirty-one days, I realized I really missed doing this.

Summer Goals: End of Summer Update

In June, I wrote up a list of summer goals that I hoped to accomplish in the three months of sunshine and sundresses I love so much. Considering the first day of autumn has come and gone (that being said, where did the past three weeks go?!), I figured it was as good a time as any to see how those four goals went.

Get on a regular, normal-person schedule. This... never really happened. It's embarrassing and if I think too much about it, I feel like an absolute failure. Why? Well, I stay up too late and sleep too late, which throws off my eating patterns and does nothing to improve my health. I'm absolutely terrible at waking up in the morning, mostly because I have no reason to do so. It's so easy to hit snooze five hundred times when the only 'obligation' I have most days is to look for jobs... something I despise so much, I sleep in to avoid it. Somehow, this has to change. I feel that if I could just get a handle on my sleeping habits, everything else would be easier to fit into place. Epic fail.

Journal more and work through some of my recurring 'issues'. I did this a few times, but not nearly as often as I had planned. My Joy Juice prompts are piling up in my inbox and I really can't tell why I'm not making them a priority. The one major issue I did journal about -- my inability to ask for and/or receive help -- ended where it started, with confusion as to why I'm physically and mentally incapable reach out to my friends when I'm going through a rough time. But, writing about it did help a bit. Mild success, could've been better.

Read more. Considering my reading frequency was hovering around never, I was bound to make this a success. I just posted about this on Friday, so you know how it went. Success!

Jazz up this space. I got a proper web address and tweaked a few things, but for monetary reasons I didn't look into a new redesign. While I'm happy with my current layout and could probably fashion a new one for myself, I wanted to get something really snazzy, but it'll have to wait until I find a job. Mostly a success!

There you have it! I'd say I did pretty well, considering I kind of forgot these halfway through the summer. I'm hoping to get into my journaling very soon -- I just have to start making a habit of it, either daily or weekly.

How was your summer overall? Did you have any goals? How did they go?

summer goals.

{♥}
I’m constantly making goals around here, which is weird because until recently, I thought making goals was a little silly. I figured I would be better off living life day-to-day. I didn’t see this as aimless but more as taking things as they come and trusting that what was ‘supposed’ to happen in my life would.

There are a few goals I’ve set for this month, most of them rolling over from previous months. Instead of limiting myself to June, I’m going to allocate some bigger ones to summer. The little ones – like making doctor’s appointments – I will still intend on accomplishing by the end of the month (it’s on my calendar to make those appointments this week, so I’m putting my foot down).

Without further ado, here are my Summer Goals.

Get on a regular, normal-person schedule. I’ve finally taken the initiative to identify a more specific set of goals than just “get healthy” – I have a subset of goals and how exactly I plan to achieve them. This one is absolutely crucial because not only do I need to start feeling better but one of my best friends is getting married in September and I need to be in tip-top shape to be a supportive bridesmaid and friend.

Journal more and work through some of my recurring 'issues'. Working on Joy Juice has already kick-started this for me. I adore having specific prompts and questions to think and write about. However, there are also some issues (about things like my past and my personality quirks) that keep my brain up at night. Writing about them will help me work through them and this summer is my chance to do just that. I don’t expect to settle everything, but I hope to tie up a few loose ends in my mind.

Read more. Simple, really. I plan on taking the “to-read” list I have on Goodreads, print it out, write down call numbers, and make my way to the library a few times every month.

Jazz up this space. My blog is almost three and a half, so it’s high time I got a big-girl web address and a pretty new layout.

Like many others, I see summer as a time to really tackle some goals. I don't know if it's the nicer weather or what, but I find energy and inspiration in these three months. Let's see what the summer of 2011 will bring for me.

happy july!

{via}

I can’t believe it’s already July. That means half the year is officially finished! Yikes. I’m pretty sure I was just out celebrating the New Year like, last weekend.

July might possibly be my favorite summer month. It probably comes from being younger and attributing June to still being a school month, and August being the beginning of the end. July, though, is filled with the idea of barbecues, beach parties, and of course, plenty of fireworks and sparklers for Independence Day. Looking at it that way, it’s pretty clear why it wins the title of best summer month.

I have mentioned several times that beginnings of months, years, and even weeks motivates me intensely. So, here I am again, hoping to set forth a few little goals.

Get healthy. Yes, I know. I write about this basically every month. If you’ve been reading for any length of time, you’re probably rolling your eyes (it’s okay, because so am I). But, my mom found me a nice little book that told me to stop eating sugar and limit my carbs, which sounds like it makes sense. It also told me to drink more water, which is the single-most thing with which I struggle.

I grew up drinking very little, unconsciously training my body to be okay with only about two bottles of water per day or less. As crazy as it sounds, I just don’t know how to drink more because I never feel thirsty, and unless I’m noticeably thirsty, I have a hard time drinking a large quantity. It’s kind of insane.

Figure out what I’m doing with my career. I recently looked up information about the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) exam and found out that it changes as of January 1 of next year. It’s going to be harder, include more information, and have a completely different format. Needless to say, I had a nice little mental breakdown that day.

Now I really need to decide if this is what I want to do. My family has put a little pressure on me to take it even if I don’t want to be an accountant, because 1) it’s something to fall back on and 2) it gives me something to do while I work on getting better. If I take this on, I would really have to dedicate myself to it as I would a full-time job in order to finish it in six months. The exam normally has an eighteen-month window to complete all four parts, and I’m considering doing it in a third of the time. That’s a huge decision to make, but I have to get moving if I’m going to do it.

Craft. I’ve gone back and forth on this idea because I go from thinking I’ll make wonderful things to being completely intimidated by the crafting skills of the people already out there. I love what I make, but compared to what others make, I just don’t think it compares. But, I’ll never know until I try, and I’ll never get better until I work at it, so I’m going to find time to start making a few things here and there.

Some other things on my plate for July include planning (and possibly throwing) a little summer party with friends, helping Mark move into his new house for school, taking up yoga, and finally getting my computer fixed. This weekend – a couple of barbecues and my grandmother’s eightieth birthday party – will be a nice kick-off.

memorial day weekend.

{Where I should have been this weekend. Taken summer 2008.}

It’s 4am and I’m eating Cheez-Its, trying to produce a lovely blog post for today. This is when the magic happens, people. If only you could see me – drippy post-shower hair, tattered college sweatshirt… I know, it’s almost too much beauty for you to imagine.

My weekend was thoroughly uneventful. My Special Monthly Friend came by for Memorial Day Weekend and decided it was a good time for me to be cranky and exhausted. Awesome, just what I wanted. So instead of being down at the shore, I was in my room, mustering up the energy to touch up the paint on my furniture only to realize that the touch-up paint didn’t match the original shade… of WHITE. How does white not match white? Seriously.

The most exciting thing was my brother coming home drunk, something I didn’t even witness but had to overhear the next afternoon from my dad. Apparently he dropped his keys outside, got leaves in his hair, then fell asleep in the recliner downstairs. My dad had to usher him upstairs and get him to bed, all of which I missed because I was taking the longest shower in history, apparently.

My social activities were limited to the confines of this family save for the AIM chat with my two guy friends (which I say like I don’t have any other guy friends… which is partially the truth). That’s always good times, except when it ends in me creating, uploading, and sending off an embarrassing video to them. And not even embarrassing in the “oh I was drunk and wasn’t that silly!” way, or the “that was so crazy!” way, but in the “this is really awkward and kind of lame, I regret having the ability to do this, I should be banned from the internet” way. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it was something that sounded so great at the beginning and ended up being not that great.

So. There you have it, my wonderful kick-start to summer. Thrilling, I know. This week I actually have real-life, in-person plans, including a baby shower for one of my childhood friends WHICH IS THE CRAZIEST THING EVER. Sorry, unannounced caps attack.

How was your Memorial Day Weekend?

only me.

Only I can...

• be the one sober person dancing like a fool with a bunch of tipsy people.
• get low in a mini skirt.
• look drunk in candid pictures when I most definitely am not.
• forget I'm dressed like a nurse and therefore act really confused when people fake an injury and ask for help.
  
• find a boyfriend who doesn't like to dance when I love it (but I love him anyway).
• not feel hungry all day, then come home to The Boy's house and have pasta, chicken, corn on the cob, ice cream, Rita's water ice, marshmallows, and crackers with cheese in the span of an hour and a half.
• turn on the air conditioning, get too cold, but put on a sweatshirt instead of turning the air off.

I love the Labor Day Weekend block party in Mystic Island. Love, love, love.