a birthday in review

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It was my birthday on Sunday and that means I got to celebrate all weekend. (where my Virgos at???) I turned 26, which means I am now in my late 20s. I'm okay with that. Although, I might be okay with that because last year I started telling people I was 26 by mistake... Do you remember when you were a kid and your parents had to think for a second before they told you how old they were and you used to think it was crazy that someone couldn't know how old they are because your age is so important? That's me now, I'm the one who has to think for a second. But not right now, because I just turned 26... so it's still pretty fresh. Anyways, I digress...

I had massive amounts of fun this past weekend including seeing my (fake) boyfriend Ryan Gosling in his new movie Drive, which I highly recommend. He was like a dreamy stoic cowboy, but with cars instead of horses. Will also gave me my birthday present, a Kinect! He knows I have been wanting to get more active and EVERYONE knows my love of video games so he thought it would be a good gift and it is! We played it for a little bit and it was tons of fun. Will and I then went to Philly where we hooked up with some friends, went out to dinner at my favorite place Mixtos, and drank about 4 pitchers of coconut mojitos. What? They are delicious...

We then went to a bar where I sang karaoke while my mostly gay entourage cheered me on. Now, this is something I thought I could never do. Me? Sing in front of a group of people? No thanks.... But the friends thought it would be great, I figured it would be a great start to a new year of taking chances and living life, and I had some liquid courage to help me out. So I ended up belting out "these boots were made for walking" by Nancy Sinatra and no, I wasn't wearing boots. But for future reference, that song goes over really well in a gay bar, just in case, you know, you're ever in need of a karaoke song to sing at a gay bar.

The rest of the night was filled with different clubs, lots of dancing, laughing, and passing out at a friends. Sunday, my actual birthday, was just as great. The friends, Will, and I went out to eat a late breakfast and when we got back to their place, they surprised me with a delicious cake! YUM! Will and I then went to meet up with my Dad, step-Mom, and step-sister in the city for some good eats and super yummy ice cream. (It's okay to have multiple desserts on your birthday.) Afterwards, we headed home and spent the evening eating leftovers and catching up on our Hulu shows, which is one of my favorite things to do!

It was a pretty awesome birthday celebration if I say so myself. I just wish I had taken pictures! I am so lucky to have such great friends and family to share my special moments with. A year ago, I wrote a list of things I wanted to do this past year and even though I didn't get all of them done, like go on a vacation or lose the amount of weight I wanted, I did do others, like get a tattoo and try to be a better friend! I'm still working on the things I would like to improve about myself. The whole being a grown up thing, as boring as it is, is really helpful in keeping my life less stressful. I can't wait to see what I learn and how I change this year. Thanks to everyone, even you internet friends who only know me through my blog, for making my year a good one. Here's to the next one!

the uge

In the midst of making plans for my Project Grown Up, I went through a family crisis. If I DID have regular readers, this is where I would apologize for the lack of posts, but since I do not, I will instead cry softly to myself.

Kidding (kind of). So things were put on hold to deal. Now, I would get into the details, since this is my personal blog and all, but since most of my crazy drama has to do with other people, I am not sure how I feel about putting all of that out there for the world to see, for their sake. For now, I will just leave it at: stuff happened, I dealt with it and will continue to do so. Isn't this vagueness annoying? I thought so.

So I have begun my planning! Doing this research has been kind of fun, honestly. Good thing I love to read and learn about stuff. I hope you guys will enjoy my upcoming posts on the matter as well. So, I was in my room taking some "before" shots of my make up table and dresser which I will die of embarrassment from later when I post them... and I was just messing around with my camera, pretending I can take pictures. Let's over analyze them, shall we?

the fingers are not in focus, what does that MEAN? also, nice arm hair

don't wipe your screen, that layer of dust is on my mirror. i feel it adds a bit of mystery... don't you think?

i totally cleared away other stuff for this "pretty shot". ps, I found that hair band. is that gross?

the strap of the camera in the bottom right really adds to the point of view.....

Question: does anyone know why blogger always rotates my vertical pictures and is there a way to fix it? I upload my photos to photobucket but it still does it.

5 Years

Will and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on February 28th. (Exactly 2 weeks after Valentines day, it's our month of LURV!)Even typing that is weird because it seems like such a long time, although I guess in the perspective of a life time, it really isn't. Now you may think of this as an accomplishment, but I don't really see it that way. I see it as a sign of hope. We have had a lot of ups and downs already in our marriage, and if we can get through those, we can get through anything, cause at times it was pretty rough. This was a really special anniversary for us because we are mending our relationship after being separated for almost a year. I feel that now, our relationship is on it's way to being the best it's ever been and I am so excited for that. Also, even though we have had tough times, we have both learned from them and even grown up because of them. (We got married when we were both 20.) I still look forward to spending time with him every day, laughing, and teasing each other. I am still amazed at how much he cares about me and the things he does for me. He is an amazing man and I am lucky to call him mine.

Sorry for all the sappiness, I just can't help myself! I want to get into some things I have learned from being married for 5 years. Also, I think it will be interesting to look back on when I have been married for 10! Now, every relationship is different, so these things may or may not apply to you but I feel that real, honest advice is always useful... whether or not you follow it is a different story.

1) Be honest. I know what you're thinking, "uh, duh" but there are many ways you need to be honest in a relationship. First, and probably most important is being honest with yourself about what you want, don't want, and what you need. For me, it's sometimes hard to know what I want until I go through something and I'm like, "Ahh! I don't want this!" You then need to be honest to your partner about the things that are important to you. (Yeah, you may feel like you "need" a lot of things, but you need to prioritize and pick the ones you can't live without. This is how relationships help you grow and mature.) Lastly, you need to be honest honest, and by that I mean no lies. Any lies and the trust starts to dwindle and that's a huge problem in itself. (Lies about whether you bought a new pair of shoes or not may or may not apply...)

2) Take advice about your relationship with a grain of salt. I always feel it's good to get outside opinions, but realize it is just that: outside opinions. These people don't know exactly what your relationship is like, the dynamics, the history... only the two of you in the relationship do. When you spend 5 minutes ranting about some fight you were in with your partner, your friend/family member/stranger on the subway only hears YOUR SIDE of a minuscule moment in your relationship. Just be aware of that. Also, I'm not talking about the delusional abused woman syndrome, "but he is is a nice guy when he isn't punching me!" so please don't take it that way. That's part of #1, being honest with what's important to you.... being abused should probably be important to you....

3) Have fun! When a relationship is on the rocks, talking it over with your partner to solve the issue might be all you want to do. While it is important to make sure they know what the issue is, it's MORE important to remember why you are together in the first place. Go out and do something you both love. Go to an amusement park, a concert, go out on the town for the night. Go on a vacation! Staying up night after night having those "talks" is so draining. After you relax and have some fun and remember why you love your partner, it's so much easier to talk to them. You never have fun with your significant other? Well, chances are pretty good that you don't belong together. Even if your relationship is great, it's good to surprise each other once in a while so you don't get into a boring daily routine. You know what your partner likes, treat him/her to something special just to show you care!

While I could probably go on and on about other things I have learned, I think these might be the most important. I am definitely NOT saying I follow all these to the T and I am a perfect person in a perfect relationship! Noooo way! Like you, I am still learning everyday how to be a better person, and a better wife!

What do you think is one of the most important things in a long term relationship? Anything you would like to add or do you disagree with me completely? (Probably)

Aww SO CUTE!

LOVE YOU WILLY-BEAN!