Tag Archives: life

Big Announcement #3

Posted on July 6, 2011 | 8 Comments

Alright friends, I think this is my last big announcement for a while. All this excitement is tiring!

My blogging schedule took a nose dive back in the spring as life got busy and things started to happen that weren’t internet public. I didn’t too too great a job at managing the stress of life, job searching, and the blog, but know in my heart that I needed to focus my energies on the task at hand – finding my next job.

It wasn’t easy but after a few months, I’m excited to announce that I accepted a new job!! I will be doing fundraising, education, and outreach for overseas communities at a non-profit and am excited for a change of pace (back to quick-paced!) and the opportunity to develop new skills and refine current ones! The other big announcement tied to this – the organization is in Dallas, Texas and I’m absolutely thrilled to be moving home!!

DC has been a wonderful home over the past 4 years and I truly cannot imagine who I would be without the people and experiences that have been a part of my life here. But there is also the reality that most of my family is home in Dallas and while it might seem small, winter and I are not meant to live together forever. My brain and mood just don’t love it. This was a big goal I set for myself at the start of this year and I’m extremely proud of being courageous enough to trust my heart that this was right and to go for it. Life is meant to be lived, right?!

As I’ve slowly uncovered more of who I am and what my dreams and goals are for the future, it became clear to me that Texas (and more specifically, Dallas) was the right place to start making them happen. Baby step by baby step, I started putting pieces into motion that led to me accepting this new position. While my full time job will continue to be outside of the world of health and nutrition I will continue to focus energy on school, building my future business, and learning all that I can.

It seems so surreal that just weeks after my 4th anniversary of living in DC (which is today!) I will be moving but I could not be happier. The stress and anxiety that I’ve lived with for the past couple of months is gone and in its place is a huge smile on my face, a calmness and clarity in my mind, and an overall sense of ease and confidence that I absolutely made the right decision for myself in this point in time.

The reality of leaving my friends is starting to sink in which makes me sad since they have been my DC family all this time. I know it’s not goodbye though which hopefully makes it a little bit better. But I will still miss a lot of people :/

There hasn’t been a day since I made my decision that I’ve regretted it even for a second and that feeling of certainty has been one of the best gifts I could give myself. I accepted my new job on my birthday and am excited to start off a new year happy and excited for all that is to come.

So there you have it – as of the end of July I will officially be a Texas resident once again!

 

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Big Announcement #2

Posted on June 30, 2011 | 5 Comments

After Big Announcement #1 a number of you were excited to learn if there would be more announcements. In keeping with my theme of the summer up to this point, I of course responded cryptically. Well, it’s now time to make another big announcement! And this one is something I’ve been eagerly awaiting for quite some time!

I officially gave notice at my job and my last day is next Friday! I have some mixed emotions but deep down I know this was absolutely the perfect decision for me to make at this time. While I will miss many colleagues, when I spoke with my supervisor I couldn’t help but continuously grin as I acknowledged that I listened to my heart. I’m eager to begin the next phase of my life and career and will take away many valuable lessons and an appreciation for getting back to work after being laid off in 2009. Leaving a job on my own terms is such a unique feeling and I am greatly enjoying the process of leaving by choice!

This move, while potentially sounding spontaneous, is actually just another piece of a puzzle that was first planned out months and months ago. Perhaps this will be a bit of motivation for those of you dreaming big dreams and contemplating big change. As someone who doesn’t love change, dreaming and planning for this moment helped me feel at peace and eager to move forward.

So far this summer I have enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and resigned from my current job. Who knows what’s next ;)

“Don’t wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater.”
~ Mary Manin Morrissey, author

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25 Lessons I’ve Learned This Year

Posted on June 24, 2011 | 4 Comments

I’m kind of a big birthday person. I’ve always really loved celebrating people’s birthdays. Every year that I can remember I looked forward to my birthday, perhaps because it’s smack dab in the middle of summer or it meant doing something fun that I got to choose. I also think that anticipating milestones helped – being 10 and holding up 2 whole hands to show my age, turning 13 and officially becoming a teenager after celebrating my bat mitzvah just 4 days before, the big 1.6. and getting my license(!), 21 and the joys / convenience that brought. They were all wonderful things to celebrate, with friends and family around to share the love.

This blog is the product of my quarter life crisis at 24 and last year I’d like to think I accepted turning a Quarter Century with grace and comfortable with being 25. Which brings me to this year and my general lack of excitement for turning 26.

I feel like an adult now. I’d like to think I look more adult than I used to (which makes sense and yet bouncers, bar tenders, and restaurant waitstaff don’t see it.) I’ve embraced a lot mentally and physically that makes me feel in charge of my life. I think I’m in a better place and kinda love adult life.

In honor of turning 26 I thought I would share the 25 things I learned over the past year. I think all of these lessons will continue to guide and inform me for the rest of my life. Here’s to an incredible year!

  1. Own your mid-twenties. It’s really not that bad, unless a 20 year old college sophomore calls you old ;)
  2. YOU are in charge of your life!
  3. Making big decisions can be scary but procrastinating them only makes them scarier than they really are. Just do it!
  4. While you can’t always choose what happens to you you can choose your attitude. I’ve forced myself to try to be positive with everything this year!
  5. Own your feelings. Sometimes they’re awesome and it comes naturally to feel happy, excited, or proud. Other times it sucks and you just have to accept those feelings of angst, uncertainty, or fear.
  6. Teenagers aren’t the only ones with angst.
  7. I’m in the driver’s seat of my life.
  8. Mom and Dad will always be some of your biggest fans. And life coaches. And knowing that makes life just a little bit easier.
  9. Summer happiness is frolicking through a strawberry field that smells like fresh strawberry jam on a sunny day.
  10. Saying yes opens a lot of doors.
  11. Eat real food. And treats are necessary every once and a while too!
  12. Being strong and healthy are important. Being stick thin isn’t.
  13. Love those muscles – you worked hard to earn them!
  14. An old dog can learn new tricks. And apparently, learn to like country music!
  15. Confidence is a beautiful thing.
  16. Apparently I can be funny. Although definitely not on cue.
  17. Getting pushed out of an elevator was one of the best things that’s happened to me all year.
  18. Take a risk!
  19. The right educational opportunity exists. And when you’re lucky enough to discover it, just do it!
  20. Sometimes giving the silent treatment is the mature way to handle a bad situation.
  21. Take the risk and share your feelings. Someone will agree or at least relate to them.
  22. It’s okay to embrace new technology and stay “current.”
  23. Having great friends is like having a magic talking mirror – they always tell you what you need to hear and show you your own reflection / remind you of things you already know and love.
  24. Thank people. Whether they’ve taught me something new, supported me, listened, challenged me, or something else, I’ve found that thanking people is just one small way to be kind to others often.
  25. There is such a thing as feeling like an adult and it’s feeling pretty good!

Here’s to a wonderfully exciting and adventurous 26!

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A little bit of honesty

Posted on June 7, 2011 | 2 Comments

In line with the title of this post I have to be honest and give Amanda credit for what you’re about to read below. She wrote some quick admissions of things in her post tonight and I could relate to a few and decided to write my own. So what am I about to share? Nothing to scandalous or crazy, just some things that will hopefully explain a shift in my blogging over the past few months.

Without further ado, some quick confessions:

  • A lot of my meals are things that you guys have seen time and time again and with a lot of other things going on I don’t find it interesting or worth readers’ time to blog the same meals every few days.
  • There’s a lot going on in my life right now. I try to share the fun things. I’m going to be sharing at least one good bit of news soon when the time is right. There’s also a lot that I can’t / won’t write about so I tend to go silent for a day rather than write a big teaser. (yes, this bullet point is hypocritical)
  • I’m doing a lot more and living life, seeing friends and don’t always document it. I guess I still have more to learn to balance living life and sharing it here on the blog!
  • It’s going to get old real fast but summer and the past few weeks have made me really, really happy and I’m living in the moment with those feelings. Yup, I’m owning my gushy-ness :)

There ya have it. A little bit of Tuesday night honesty. I hope you’ll stick with me along for the ride. There will be more gluten free goodness and life updates soon. I just want to make sure I’m excited and have the time to do them justice on the blog when I do write about them!

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