Thrive

I’m hoping you’ve all made it through this Monday so far and have landed your happy little ass on the couch with the remote and a beer… but if you haven’t, then I hope you’re already in bed. Or maybe you had an awesome Monday and can’t wait to continue on with the awesomeness. Mondays are pretty hit or miss, that’s for sure. As I sit down to write tonight, I just feel – blah. I wanted to talk about every awesome thing I did in the last couple weeks (clearly “awesome” is the only adjective I know how to use tonight… maybe it’s because I watched quite a few episodes of HIMYM this weekend…) but I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe I’m just tired, or maybe I just want to read my book instead. Just a slump for the overly wordy blog entry for the day. But I did find something that made me happy, and opened my eyes a little bit. I know I’ve said multiple times that I wish I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I realize I may not be a “grown up” for many years, but I just wish I knew what I wanted to do forever. I’ve always wanted a CAREER. I don’t just want a job. I want to find something that I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to be challenged. I want to learn new things. I want to meet new people. I don’t want a sedentary lifestyle where I’m unhappy with what I’m doing. I want to be active and try new things. I just haven’t figured out what exactly that entails. Does that involve me being my own boss? Does that mean I need to move somewhere else? Or does that mean I just need to find something that works for now, and until I have the resources to do my forever job, settle? I don’t know what it means. I’ve got an ongoing bucket list, and my list for things I want to do this year. I also realize that I’m 26 (and a half) and there’s no hurry for me to figure out what I want to do FOREVER, right now. I just don’t know. I get on social media sites daily, hourly (depending on what I’m doing) and I see people getting new jobs, getting engaged, having babies, getting divorced, going back to school, complaining about how “hard” their life is, and I just want to punch people. Is that terrible for me to say? Probably a little bit. But it’s how I feel. I’m happy with where I am in my life – I just wish I had a little more direction. Maybe I’ll have an epiphany some day and just wake up and BAM – I know what I want to do forever. I just want to THRIVE. I don’t know what I will be doing while I’m thriving, but I have extremely high hopes for myself. Back to what made me happy and open my eyes a little, my quote. Well not MY quote, Reba’s quote. The one that opened my eyes and made me happy. “To thrive in life you need three bones. A wishbone. A backbone. And a funny bone.” Like I said – I want to THRIVE. I want to be happy and healthy and challenged. I have high hopes for my future. Maybe my future is 20 years from now, or maybe it’s 6 months from now. To get what I want (whatever it may be) I need a backbone. Stand up for what I want and love; and stand up to people who don’t care about you. That will never get you where you want to be. And most importantly – a funny bone. Make sure you’re able to laugh at yourself, or with yourself – whichever you prefer. I don’t understand how people can go through life being SO unhappy. Laugh, be happy, and spend time with people who bring out the best in you. So – my goal for the rest of the year: thrive. No matter what I’m doing – whether it’s work, getting in shape, or my to-do list. Thrive. Do things that make me happy, with people who make me happy. Challenge myself with things I’ve never done before. Or challenge myself with things I want to perfect. But by the end of the year – I will continue to thrive. Remember: all you need are a wishbone, backbone, and a funny bone. Sara

Time Well Wasted

Well kids – we’re halfway done with 2013. How’s it feel? Do you feel accomplished? Anxious? Hopeful? Or do you have an overwhelming feeling of “what the hell have I been doing the last six months?” I think I’ve got a combination of all of the above. Accomplished because I’ve done a lot of new things this year; anxious because I don’t know where to go from here; hopeful because I think I’m on the brink of something great. And then of course the “what the hell have I been doing the last six months” because it feels like just yesterday I was nursing a New Year’s hangover. The last six months have flown by, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year.

And now, for you tonight: a recap of the end of June. And I will have you know – I actually wrote an outline of what I wanted to put in this entry. Usually it’s just a fly by the seat of my pants type post – but I felt like being a little more organized today. Perhaps it was the green tea flowing through my veins that helped keep me on track – or the fact that I got more sleep this weekend than I have in a LONG time. Either or.

Monday was my typical Monday. Too tired from the weekend to wake up early for a workout, and no time the rest of the night to work out since I’d be at work till 10. While I was at work number one for the day, I came across a little blurb of information: “7000 jumps with a jump rope burns ONE pound. Do 1000 jumps each day during the week and lose one pound.” Well shit. I can totally handle that. So I decided that for my work out that night, I would do 1000 jumps. Surely it can’t take that long – I can do it in 200 jump increments and be done in no time. Well as it turns out – I am TERRIBLE at jumping rope. My feet hurt, I wanted to throw up, and I nearly Hulked out and tore a jump rope in half because I kept screwing up. Maybe I won’t get this done. I got my 1000 jumps in and headed home so I could wake up for an early trip to the gym.

Flash forward to Tuesday morning when my alarm went off at 5:00 am. That shit wasn’t happening. Back to bed until 6:30-ish. Finally I crawl out of bed and get ready for work. I was excited for dinner that night – yes I was ready for dinner at 6:30 in the morning – because I was trying out a new recipe (thanks Pinterest!) Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Bake. YUM. Worked out and died a little after work – then headed home to mix up my concoction. This was a DELICIOUS meal. Chicken, Frank’s Hot Sauce, crumbled blue cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, and tater tots. It looked pretty AND it tasted good. That rarely happens. Followed dinner up with She’s All That – which reminded me that each movie I watched in the 90s gave me unrealistic expectations for what the real world was going to be like. So disappointing.

Wednesday ‘s work day needed to get here and get done – I was taking the day off from working out so I could head to Mickey’s downtown for the launch party for the new Juice. I was so nervous I wasn’t going to get a Juice glass that I left work a few minutes early to make sure I was one of the first 300 people through the door. Well I was plenty early – got my glass and got to spend some time chatting out on the patio while I indulged in some delicious Summer Shandy. We spent a good hour talking about food and I was getting hungry – so to follow Mickey’s, we headed to Wasabi Tao. I’m really starting to LOVE sushi and can understand how people develop an “addiction” to the stuff. We started off with spicy edamame – which is SO MUCH BETTER than regular edamame. Holy crap. Then we decided to go from plain sushi, to sushi sushi, and “OMG I LOVE THIS” sushi. Let me elaborate. Plain sushi = the California roll. Sushi sushi = Tiger Roll. OMG I LOVE THIS = Out of Control roll and the Kirkwood roll. I was seriously drooling. They were so good. I love sushi. And that was an amazing end to my Wednesday.

Thursday was going to be another long and exciting day and night. (Clearly I wasn’t scheduled at either of my part time jobs so I had some more time for fun things. Not that folding and refolding clothes isn’t fun… but you get what I’m saying.) After an early morning and long day at work, I headed to the gym for an all weighted workout. Haven’t done one of these in a while – I was definitely in for it. After plenty of squats, bench press, an ab circuit, and other lifts I forgot about, I was ready for a good laugh. We had some free tickets to the Funny Bone that night – and I was pretty excited to laugh my ass off. And that I did. I was cracking up – and terrified that sitting right next to the stage would be cause for a huge amount of embarrassment. But there was only a little embarrassment. And as if I hadn’t had enough fun there, we decided to head downtown to Pints for a while to people watch. I can only handle so much people watching before I need to go home – so it was a fairly early night.

Friday sucked. I mean work was work – but I was super tired. I had zero plans of doing anything exciting that night. So after a trip to Jimmy John’s for some sammiches, a trip to Hy Vee for some honeydew melon, crackers and hummus, and a short trip to Redbox for some movies – I was so ready to take off my pants and bra and not do a damn thing. It was wonderful. Two and a half movies later, it was bed time for this girl.

Saturday’s wake-up call didn’t come till 9 and it was AWESOME. I definitely needed a full night’s sleep. I drank some coffee and got ready for a quick shift at the mall. After work, I really wanted to go to the Art Festival that was in town for the weekend. However – rain off and on the whole day didn’t really appeal to me. So after work, it was another sushi night! This time we headed to the East Village for Miyabi 9. I’ve heard only good things about this place – so I was so sure I wouldn’t be disappointed. Sadly though – I was a little disappointed. I mean don’t get me wrong, I loved the sushi – but I didn’t love it more than other sushi that I’ve had. We again went for the plain sushi, sushi sushi, and OMG I LOVE THIS sushi. Plain sushi = Hawaiian roll. Sushi sushi = Tiger roll. OMG I LOVE THIS = Acapulco roll and the Miami Heat roll. Very good place – but more expensive than Wasabi Tao, Sakari, Haiku… and it wasn’t my favorite. So now I’ve got that checked off my bucket list – I can move on to try more sushi places! To follow our GINORMOUS amount of sushi, we headed to The Rooftop for a drink while we decided what to do with the rest of our night. I forgot about that place until I looked up during dinner and saw it. On a hot day that place would be PERFECT. There’s an awesome breeze flowing and an open patio to work on my tan. But when it looks like it’s going to rain – I got nervous. After lots of discussion, we decided to hit up a movie. And not just ANY movie – we were going to see Monsters University. Yes I realize I’m 26, but I am a serious Disney/Pixar kid at heart. Always have been, always will be. As I’d hoped – Pixar didn’t disappoint. I still like the first one better – but I’m probably going to buy this one when it’s out on DVD. Another early night for me on Saturday – awesome.

Sunday was an unexpectedly busy day. Another late wake-up call, and then a trip to Gateway Market for brunch. It was a gorgeous day so I thought a walk to the Art Festival would be a great morning activity. A loop through Western Gateway Park was a good start to the day – to get my creative juices flowing. Because after that I was heading to a bridal shower and I knew I’d need an extensive vocabulary for the shower games. (Scattegories and “How Well Do You Know the Bride?” were on the docket for the afternoon.) So many talented artists and great works of art – I wish I could be so creative! Sadly though – my creativity is in my writing. Looks like that will have to suffice for now. I did finish out my night with some laundry (super exciting) and some homemade breakfast sandwiches. I had one for breakfast today and YUM – definitely an A+ in my book. Home run FO SHO.

I was cleaning out my phone today – deleting pictures of sayings from my phone, multiples pictures of Toby (don’t judge) and extensive food shots – and came across a lot of great words of wisdom. And I think this is a perfect way to start out the halfway mark of 2013:

“Time is precious. Waste it wisely.”

Like I’d said before – these last six months have completely flown by. Time is so precious. But if you waste it wisely – spend it wisely, whichever you choose – then it’s worth it. Although half the year is gone, I enjoyed it. I have loved nearly every minute of it. Sure – shit happens. But you get over it. And other AMAZING things have happened. Waste your time wisely, with people you love. Don’t spend your time doing something you hate with people whom you cannot STAND. Waste your time doing something awesome, with people who are equally as awesome as you are. You won’t regret it.

Have a wonderful Independence Day/week – ‘merica

S