Life Update: My Next Career Chapter Begins!

      Popping in on this Tuesday morning with a little life update: I am starting a new career today!

2024 in Review: Highlights From My Year.

      Once again it's time for my favorite blog post of the year (and the longest post of the year!).  Let's recap all that happened in my life in 2024. Spoiler alert: a lot of life change! And that's what inspired me to change my Word of the Year halfway through the year for the first time ever. My original word of the year was "Celebrate" but I changed it to "Transform." 2024 definitely became an incredibly transformational year for me. 

Wedding Wednesday: Wedding Week Reflections

       I can't believe it's finally here: I'm getting married this week! For my final Wedding Wednesday post before the wedding, I simply wanted to share a few reflections for how I'm thinking and feeling during this notable week. 

30th Birthday Celebrations Recap.

      Before it gets too far past my birthday (3.5 weeks ago), I wanted to recap and reflect on my 30th birthday celebrations. I had fairly low expectations for this birthday with all that's going on my life this year, but it ended up being so special. It even had a few special surprises in store! 

Chapter 30!

     I can't believe that today is my 30th birthday! Although the last few weeks haven't given me a ton of time to work on my blog, I wanted to share a few quick thoughts for turning this milestone age.

A Day in My Life! (Summer 2024)

      It's no secret that 2024 has been quite a transformative year in my life so far (to quote my own Word of the Year!). From job loss to planning my wedding, there's been no shortage of life changes. And the year is only halfway done!

     Today I have the honor of having a post I wrote about a current day in my life being shared on one of my own personal favorite blogs to read, and I wanted to make sure that you knew about it.

Revising my 2024 Word of the Year.

     Each January or February for the past several years, I've selected a "Word of the Year" for myself for that year. Kind of a year-long personal mantra if you will? A word that I always hope will encapsulate my personal growth, experiences and memories during the next 12 months. As per usual in 2024, I had picked a Word of the Year and written a blog post about it back in the winter. But for the first time I ever, I am changing my word midway through the year! 

The End of My Radio Era.

     On April 19th. I unexpectedly lost my job working on-air in morning radio. I took a few weeks to process the shock and grieve privately before I could start writing about this. Blogging has been a constant in my life for over a decade, and it's wild to realize that I have documented the entirety of my radio career on here. As difficult as this post is to write, it felt like a fitting and necessary written conclusion to years worth of career updates on my blog. Let's talk about the end of my radio era.

Wedding Wednesday: Our Engagement Photos!

     This is a Wedding Wednesday post that I've been very excited to share!! We took our engagement photos in mid-March, but I have waited share them on the internet until our guests had received our save-the-dates in the mail. I feel like there are so few things these days that are truly a surprise, and I wanted our guests to have the magic of seeing our engagement photos for the first time when they arrived in their mailbox. I have no regrets on that, and would recommend to any other brides-to-be as well. 😊

    Without further ado, here are our photos!! Our wedding photographers are Jake and Jennifer Vinluan from Vinluan Photography, who are based in Virginia Beach. Jenn is the one who did our engagement photos!

101 in 1001: 18 Month Update

      I can't believe I'm 18 months into my current 101 in 1001 list! There's been some great list items that I've been able to cross off in the last six months that I am so excited to recap today. The 101 in 1001 is a type of bucket list created by blogger Mackenzie Horan from Design Darling. You try to hit 101 goals in various categories of your choosing in 1001 days! I'm now on my second 101 in 1001 list, and love doing these. 

My 2024 Word of the Year.

      I usually try to get my Word of the Year post published before the end of January each year, but it totally escaped my mind this year since the first month of this year was so busy with wedding planning. But better late than never, right? 😊 I am really excited about my 2024 Word of the Year. This year's is such a good fit for my current life stage, and it also has such a positive connotation attached to it. I'm also sharing a few photos of one of my favorite casual winter outfits! 

2023 in Review: Highlights From My Year.

       How is it already time once again to write my favorite post of the year? I love taking the time to write and reflect on each year. Let's take a deep dive into all things 2023: the highs, the lows, the big moments and the everyday. This was certainly a memorable year! 

We are ENGAGED!!!!!

       I cannot believe I get to share the most happy news of my life with you on the blog today! It did not feel real typing out the title for this blog post. (Yes, five exclamation points in the title were 100% necessary!)

     

101 in 1001 List: 1 Year Update.

      It's already been a year since I started my latest 101 in 1001 list! Let's get right into all of the goals that I've hit over the last six months. If you haven't ready any of my past 101 in 1001 posts, you can see them here. The 101 in 1001 is a type of bucket list created by blogger Mackenzie Horan from Design Darling. You try to hit 101 goals in various categories of your choosing in 1001 days! I'm now on my second 101 in 1001 list, and love doing these. 

 

29 Fun Facts About Me For My Last Year in My 20s!

      Today starts the last chapter of my 20s. Real talk though- how am I 29?! I swear that internally I don't feel older than 23/24 (and sometimes I still feel 18). 29 just seems so grown up to say out loud. In some ways, I am living beyond my wildest dreams in my late 20s. In other ways, there are certain life milestones or experiences that I would've guessed back when I was high school that I would've hit for sure in my early 20s, and a lot of those still haven't happened yet. I guess that's the beauty of life though- things never end up going exactly according to our plans! 

      It's been about a year and a half since my last fun facts / about me post. Why not bring this type of post back for my birthday this year? 

A Couple Health Updates.

      The first half of 2023 brought some frustration and uncertainties when it came to my health. Luckily nothing has been serious enough to warrant hospital stays or anything like that, but everything still brought me anxiety.  Not only was there health anxiety, but financial anxiety as well from having not-so-great health insurance and a lot of medical bills in a short amount of time. I am so thankful now that one of the things seems to be on the road to healing, and the other thankfully ended up just being a scare that never turned into anything further. But it was a really tough first half of the year with these things going on, if I'm being honest with you! 

      Writing blog posts of a more personal nature like today's is always cathartic to me and can also help bring a natural sense of closure with life events. I'll give you a heads up that today's post is pretty lengthy! (I'm not offended if you skim since it is lengthy. 😉)

     

A Different Type of Moving Announcement!

     I've shared a lot of moving related announcements on the blog over the past decade. In fact- the whole idea of starting this blog was kind of based on the idea that I had just moved far away for college, from Maine to North Carolina! And in the years since college, there's been many more long distance and local moves within the various places I've lived for radio jobs. 

      Today's upcoming moving announcement isn't related to school or my career. I'm not leaving my current radio job, nor leaving the Virginia Beach area. It's a local move from one apartment to another. But it is a very big deal, and something that I might not have expected I'd decide to even as recently as a couple of years ago. On July 8th (this weekend!), I'll be moving into my boyfriend Ryan's apartment! 

This picture of Delilah in my apartment always makes me smile!

101 in 1001 List: 6 Month Update

      It's now been over six months since I kicked off my latest 101 in 1001 bucket list! I like doing check-ins a couple times a year to see how many goals I've managed to accomplish, and to plan which ones I'd like to tackle next. I am proud of how many I've knocked off in the first six months. Definitely a strong start I think!

Relationship Monday: Our First (Dating) Anniversary Recap.

       I've got a different type of Relationship Monday post for you today!! Ryan and I celebrated one year of dating on April 24th. I thought it would be fun to share a little recap of how we celebrated, as it involved a fun day trip that I hope we can make an annual tradition!

Relationship Monday: 2 Resources That Finally Changed My Mindset on Dating.

       Long time, no Relationship Monday post! I used to share these a few times a year but haven't written one now for about two and a half years. A lot has changed between my last Relationship Monday post in Summer 2020 to now. I've moved cities and jobs, seen life pretty much go back to normal post-2020, made a lot of new friends and started my social life over again in my new city, and possibly most excitingly- I've been in a happy long-term dating relationship for almost a year! I haven't wanted to blog much about my relationship with Ryan in the first year. It's been kind of nice to keep a lot private and special for myself! Waiting so long to have something so good has made me want to soak it all up and treasure it. 

      But for now, at the very least I feel ready to write about the mindset change I had with dating at this time last year. Winter 2022 brought a wakeup call for me with how I viewed dating. And there are two specific resources that I can really credit for helping me change my mindset! If you've also been single for a long time and find yourself getting bitter about the current dating culture but do very much want to find love and a relationship, perhaps both of these things could be helpful to you as well! 

      I should also note- I am a Christian and very much believe in God's plans for our lives, including our love lives! But with that said, I do also believe that God gives us the tools we need to make things happen in our lives. It took me a long time to realize that for a lot of people, God doesn't just magically make the right dating partner appear in life at the right time. Sure- some people are lucky enough to have an amazing meet-cute situation straight out of a romantic comedy to meet their person. And that's great for them! But that is not the reality for most single people navigating dating as an adult post high school and post college. Dating is usually a good deal of work, even as a Christian. And that's okay! I have grown to hate the phrase that's something along the lines of "Love will happen when you least expect it and don't look for it." Uhh.... nope! That was actually the opposite for me. Love finally found me when I was actively dating and "looking for it" as much as I could.