26!

first birthday!

happy birthday to me!

i am now 26 and pretty excited for it.
25 has been an interesting year - one full of uncertainty, change and travel.
and not where i expected myself to be.
i never expected at 25 to be collecting unemployment, living at home, working temporary jobs and at times feeling so unsure of myself. i've always been a planner and knew exactly what i wanted to be doing with my life. but this year has taught me to be flexible and to adapt and to enjoy what you are doing and to have fun with life and well to have a plan z.

25th birthday!

while 25 was at times a rough year i did have some great parts to it. i had a great birthday weekend up in connecticut, spent a few glorious days with amy in acadia national park, ran a half marathon, had a fabulous fall working conferences in dc, went to charleston, sc with amy, had a lot of fun weekends with friends up & down the east coast, went to europe for 3 weeks in january by myself (zurich, prague, budapest, vienna, cologne, amsterdam) and back to my favorite city and second home cork, went to 5 new states working conferences around the US (washington, indiana, alabama, mississippi, texas), wished george washington a happy birthday with my best friends, saw my carolina tarheels play in the sweet 16, got to see my friends a lot, moved to dc for the spring/summer, went to a friend's wedding, many mini road trips, a chestertown reunion , saw sugarland, U2 and keith urban, successfully ran two conferences for 350 high school students each session in washington dc. had a fabulous weekend saying goodbye to mystic and decided to move to charleston,sc.

so with all the uncertainty and the kinda living at home and job searching and sometimes feeling like a failure i really did have a great 25. it was a major learning experience and i gained some awesome skills out of it and well i had a positive outlook on life and i made the best out of my transitional year. i gave myself a goal of finding a teaching job by september 2011 and then i would find a different path. and well that end line is in site without a job - so i'm finding a new path and am taking the huge leap to move to charleston and well hoping for a great 26! i'm looking forward to a new city, meeting new people and hopefully getting myself back on track. i've loved this year but i want to be more stable and less nomadic.

so the goals of 2011 - let's see how i'm doing...

- find a full time job where i am happy (preferably teaching) -  hopefully charleston will have that in store. i've liked what i've been doing this summer but there is no stability
- move out and get my own place - kinda - i've been in arlington since mid april and i'm moving to charleston with amy at the end of august
-continue traveling both in the US and internationally (i would LOVE to get out west again) - i'm doing well on this one! with my 3 weeks in europe and 5 new states so far! must keep traveling! i have a friend in colorado this fall i want to visit
- read 100 books - i'm probably pretty close - with the kindle i haven't really kept a running list like i did in 2010 but i'm reading up a storm. (must go through and create a list so i can keep track)
- continue working out 3-4 times a week and run another half marathon - nope - with the crazy hours and traveling for work just hasn't happened. i want to do a half this fall in the south carolina area as i want to run a full in spring 2012
- save an additional $12,000 this year - biggest no - i wish i had $12,000 in my account right now. going to europe and having to use some money from savings this had my account not happy right now
- scrapbook more - not so much with traveling and conferences. once i'm in charleston i want to do more
- continue doing my photo365 - yesss! i'm doing awesome with this! and i plan to do  26 as well! i love photo 365-ing!
- cross 5 things off my 30 by 30 list - working on it. i've been to 5 new states, 6 new countries and a book signing. things are happening
- blog more (125 posts) - i've only written 49 posts so far so making the goal of 125 will involve a lot more blogging, like 3 posts a week.
- a relationship - had some fun this spring but my nomadness makes a relationship difficult. maybe in charleston?
- continue looking for the best in every situation - i've done a lot of this! and well just gotta keep staying positive and it all works out!
- enjoy life and have fun! i had a lot of fun (see above) and really am enjoying myself even though this isn't where i expected to be in life...


so happy birthday to me! i can't wait to see what 26 has in store for me but i will enjoy it and have fun when i can!