Christmas time (aka the "emotional post" Sara has been waiting for)

Sara, I hope you appreciate the title call out.  :)  XO!

I know I teased about writing this big emotional post about Christmas time... and then I basically when blog MIA for the rest of the week. Good job Megan!

I talk about it every year on this blog, how much I love Christmas time.  Heck, I even had a 25 days of my favorite Christmas music countdown.  I am one of those people that is generally excited when the stores start putting up Christmas stuff in October.  I listen to Christmas music starting in November.  I decorate.  I have a holiday party.  I LOVE that Christmas spirit and general feel that the holidays brings.

But since my break out a few years ago, I find myself "forcing" that good cheer.  Since my breakup happened a couple of days before Christmas on that year, it's been really hard to move on from that bad feeling.  No matter how much I feel I have moved on from the relationship.  Just like any event in your past that made some sort of impact - it never really goes away.

I think the holidays amplifies the emotions of everyone - be it the positive or negative ones.    This year seems to be harder.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm frustrated with work right now.  Or that two of my amazing friends just moved away.  Maybe it's the lackluster dating - or lack there of.

Whatever it is, it's making me feel like a Christmas Cheer phony!  So I am doing my best to work myself out of it.

I'm making attempts to get myself out and about so I am not just stewing at home. I've got my holiday party next Saturday.  I'm doing what I can.

#100 - Own a real vintage dress

So after my experiences vintage shopping, I realized that this may be harder than I thought.  Given my height and size, I have not been finding dresses with a waistband bigger than a size 2.  Seriously...

Anyways, I have found that my vintage sweet spot is accessories - HATS - and maybe coats.  Or furs.  Or all of those.

So I am revising this to "Own a real vintage - something" and counting my fabulous coat and cape from my most recent vintage shopping excursion.  DONE!

Photo repost from yesterday.  I love the swinginess (yep, that's a word) of the bottom of this coat more when I wore it around.

And the original photo of my cape, because I haven't worn it yet.  But man, I can't WAIT to wear it.

December already...

It's crazy - December comes so quickly each year.

I was planning to write a longish - emotionally centric - post about the holiday time, but then I wore my new coat and felt it deserved a post.

So the emotional post will have to wait until later this week.

In the meantime, VINTAGE COAT!!! :)

Also, I had this alternative wreath idea pinned for over a year and decided this holidays, I was finally going to do it.

Here is my version:

I promise I straightened it after taking this photo. :)

Goals Update: November

I don't think I realized before this year, but by the time it hits October/November, I'm so ready for the year to be over.  At least when it comes to these goals.

1. Complete at least 2 items from my 101 IN 1,001 LIST each month - I did not do anything.  For some reason, November blew by in a complete blur.  I don't remember accomplishing much - probably because I spent the first half of the month freaking myself out about work.

2. GET IN SHAPE - Thank God for volleyball because otherwise, I would be solely relying on walking Samson.  Getting in shape is going to be my ONLY goal of 2014.  I'm going to do my best to get to the gym in the next 6 weeks to hit the ground running in January.

3. EAT BETTER -  Eh.  I eat what I eat.  Lots of veggies.  The holiday season is always tough because of all the goodies and the hearty food.



Can you tell I am losing interest in this?  :)  See you for the final follow up in December.

2013: The Year of Travel

2013 ended up being the Year of Travel.

I don't think I really thought about how much I would be traveling, but it ended up being at least once a month and only a couple times were for personal travel.  Almost all of this is for work.

Don't get me wrong.  I do enjoy traveling.  But when you take into consideration a day before the prepare and then a day after to get back into the groove, it ends up being a lot of time away.  No wonder I didn't feel like I accomplished much towards my goals this year.

For those of you who weren't following that closely, this is where I was this year:

February - San Diego
March - New Orleans
April - Baltimore
May - San Antonio
June - San Francisco, Palm Springs
July - NYC
August - Atlanta
September - Barcelona, Paris, NYC
October - Austin
November - Orlando
December - Nothing!!! :)

Did you see that last one?  No travel in December - mostly because the holidays really cut into half of the month.  And no one in my industry does things in December.

2014 is going to be starting off pretty similarly as I will be heading to Dallas, Vegas, and San Francisco in January and February.

Yay, Thanksgiving week!

I'm super excited that it's Thanksgiving week.

I am really looking forward to a short work week.  BUT I am also really looking forward to spending some time with my family.

Plus the cooking.  I'm looking forward to cooking.

I don't cook as much as I like for myself.  Because it's hard to cook for one person and honestly, I get lazy.  Why bother really cooking when its just me and I can throw some veggies in and be done.

So I am forcing Sprangers to come over for dinner tonight because I really wanted pork chops (well, I really wanted mushroom gravy).

Happy Monday!

Happy 3-0 Melissa!

Today is Friday (yay)!  And it's also Melissa's 30th birthday.

Even though I am having a seriously frustrating day, I am looking forward to seeing her and her family this evening for the Evanston Christmas festivities.