A Quarter of a Century

Yesterday, I turned 25.  I won't bitch go into too much detail about how I spent my entire birthday grading the 1st years' assessment administrations.  But I did.  And it was one of the lamest birthdays to date.  

BUT!  As I was looking through pictures to post, I realized that even though yesterday was lame, I had a pretty good weekend ...

Went to The Post to watch the Cards beat LA

Headed to the Casino...where I made $3.52 off Dan's $20.
So really I made $23.52.  Boom.

For my birthday Dan made me pancakes!
And got me flowers.
And a card with a cow.

My family spoiled me.

I got lovely texts all day :)

I convinced Dan that I NEEDED a cookie dough blizzard
for having such a sad birthday. ;)

We ended the day cuddling with this cute dog.

And this morning I got myself a venti from sbux.
Because when you get a free birthday drink, you take advantage.

 I'm not sure, yet, how I feel about 25.  Ten years ago, I expected life to be pretty different than it is now.  ... I think.  I guess I don't really remember being 15...haha.

I think I am OK where I am, though.  It feels weird realizing I'm closer to 30 than 20, but life keeps getting better.  Before 30, I will be DONE with school, getting a big girl job, and starting a family, and I am ready for that stage.  ...

Just have to struggle through 25 the rest of grad school ;)

home?

I moved to St. Louis in August of 2007, when I began undergrad at SLU.  The summer after my freshmen year was spent back in BloNo, but with the exception of those 2.5 months, I have been a St. Louisian for 6 years.  Since I moved here, there have been MANY things that I have quickly fallen in love with.  How can you NOT love a city that has so much to do?  If you're bored here, it's because you aren't trying.  The zoo is FREE.  During the summer, there are FREE concerns at the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday nights.  The city museum is a blast.  There is pretty much always some sort of concert/show going on.  Forest Park is a gorgeous place to spend a day, and it's common for some sort of event to be going on here.  Food Truck Friday was my newest love this summer in Tower Grove Park.

BUT!  There is also a lot that I hate.  Driving here gives me the most ridiculous anxiety.  Besides the fact that MO doesn't make kids take drivers ed, which still makes absolutely NO sense to me, the lanes throughout much of the city are freaking SKINNY!  Like, my jeep just fits, skinny.  I also don't love how everything is spread out.  I am used to everything being 10 minutes from my house, but that's just not how things are here.  Dan and I both have to commute about 30 min in opposite directions every day.  If we lived in BloNo, that would not be the case.

Most importantly, I really dislike being 3 hours from my family.  After we graduated, I wanted to move back home.  I wanted to raise kids in the same town as their grandparents.  Mostly for the free babysitting, but also because I have wonderful memories of weekly visits with my mom's parents.  The Mr. was a rockstar, though, and got a wonderful job while he was STILL in college that has transformed into the perfect job for him now that he is done.  He would not be happy giving that up and working for "the Farm" at home.  

On Fridays, I have to drive through/around downtown to get to the city my practicum placement is in.  Sometimes it still amazes me that this is my home.  First of all, I can't believe that I can actually drive on 70 without hyperventilating.  That was my biggest fear when I got here, and even though I get stressed, I manage ;)  But mostly driving by the arch and seeing Lumiere and the stadium, etc....  It's nice.  Dare I say that today, it felt like home?

It may have taken 6 years, but I can feel my roots digging in here.  I feel like I may be OK with raising a family here.  I think I may be falling even more in love with the city that took me from home, and I am OK with that.

Right now, I'm grateful I took a big chance and moved to STL without a single person I knew.  But I am extra grateful that Dan chose SIUe and that we have both found our place in this city :)

workouts as of late

I have been struggling in the motivation department, lately.  And the food department.  So I haven't weighed myself in 2 weeks (I typically weight myself once a week).  I don't see a reason, currently, to confirm what I know.  If I keep at it, I will be packing on some holiday weight before any holidays start!

Tracking my workouts has continued to help me, though.  I put a workout "task" on my google calendar for each day at the beginning of the month, and my current goal is to work out 4 days a week.  Because really, what excuse do I have?  From Jan-May, I worked out 5-6 days a week, so I can handle 4, dangit!  For me, checking off each workout feels good, and I like looking at the week and month view to see how successful I have been.

This week (10/6-10/12), I worked out 5 days!

Sunday - treadmill intervals and some dumbbell work
Monday - the sworkit app (it's my lazy workout...but it's a workout!)
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - treadmill
Thursday - bootcamp!  Which I have been LOVING!
Friday - off
Saturday - treadmill intervals to 2.25 miles and some dumbbell work

I also got a head start on this week and did some sprints on the treadmill today before working arms on the total gym and finishing with some squats.

I am not too interested in switching up my food right now.  So many things sound WAY too wonderful, so if I want them, I am pretty much giving in.  Hopefully I am burning enough calories to at least stay pretty stable and not pack on the weight before Christmas.  I am currently about 15 lbs lighter than I was in last year's Christmas pictures, so I would like to keep it that way!

stress city.

It is NOT a good day when you are in tears three times before noon.

School. Sucks.

And that's about all I have to say about that.

Who am I kidding?

I also have a headache.  Probably a little from crying...and I also think I am having some serious sinus pressure.

Also. Also. Dan brought home candy from his dad and stepmom.  Thank God.  That chocolate is helping.

As did the margarita I had with lunch.

Gotta do what you gotta do.

Just cross your fingers, please, that at some point BEFORE Christmas (because I really don't think I am going to make it that long before a legit nervous breakdown) school stops being so ridiculously crazy.  I just need things to actually start falling into place for my required practicum projects.

And now I need some headache medicine.

solo weekend

Oh man, guys, I had THE BEST WEEKEND EVER.  OK...not really.  It was actually pretty lame, but I am going to tell you about it anyway!

Dan went out of town Thursday night and took our puppies.  He will be back sometime today, but it was so weird not having my dogs to keep me company!  Oh, and not having my husband home.... ;)

I spent 75% of said weekend grading WPPSI administrations, which are IQ tests that are given to kids between the ages of 2 and 7.  The children were so adorable and had the most hilarious responses.  Seriously, if I could get hired by a district to do their early childhood assessments for children they are concerned about, I would jump on that job in a heartbeat.  I LOVE listening to little kids tell me the things they know.  They are so proud and so accomplished when they look at that picture and know it's a guitar.  It's the little things ;)

Cleaning also took place this weekend.  A lot of cleaning.  I hate cleaning.  Our guest bedroom was still FULL of wedding stuff, though, and we have guests coming for the next 3 weekends, so I HAD to de-clutter.  A lot of stuff was thrown away, the closet was organized, and the vacuum was ran on the poor floor that hadn't seen the light of day in probably almost a year.  It looks great now, though!  You can actually walk in it, and guests will have floor space to throw their suitcases!  Win.

I also got the living/dining/kitchen area all picked up.  It's amazing what a woman can do when the husband isn't here to make it all messy 5 minutes later!

I also put wedding pictures in all of our new frames.  There are still frames to be bought, but I am caught up.  Now to build more walls so that we actually have somewhere to hang them all...

Sunday, after having successfully talked myself OUT of working out the past 2 days, I hit the pavement treadmill.  I really need to get back to running a few days a week because my current schedule of kickboxing, bootcamp, and running only once or twice is making me hate my runs even more.  2 miles feels like death.  So yesterday I did some intervals, changing between 3.2, 5.6, and 6.  I spent most of my time on 6, so no judging ;)  But getting to 3 miles with even a few minutes of 3.2 walking was HARD.  And I am sore today.  Oh dear.

Finally!  I went grocery shopping.  Alone.  Which I also hate ;) so that I could make chili for my hubby to come home to.  And I talked myself into ingredients for a few other meals this week because I should probably go back to cooking and not eating mac n cheese and frozen pizzas (like I did all weekend...oops).

Anyway.  That's enough rambling.  Check out my pictures from the weekend that SCREAM Fall! :)

Fall/Halloween decorations and chili!
My house was oozing Fall last night!

First really Fall outfit!
I plan to wear variations of this over the next few weeks!

5 on Friday

I have never tried this before, but I figured, why the heck not!  Attempting to "link up" for 5 on Friday!  (We'll see if it actually links to anything)

1 -
I spent roughly 25 hours of my week / weekend grading the administration of standardized IQ tests that the first years in my graduate program are learning.  Repeating that this week.  Then next.  Then the next.  And so on until the middle of November.  Totally going to try not to tell y'all about it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. but you know, it's a lot, and it keeps slipping out!

2 - 
Dan headed back to BloNo this weekend to dog-sit his dad's dogs, so he took ours.  Our puppies LOVE his dad's yard and playing with the other dogs, but I couldn't sleep well last night.  I need my cuddle buddies!  My house is so eerily quiet right now.  I could never live along, it's decided.  Dan is stuck with me forever.

3 - 
I am SO excited about the rest of this month.  Some of my favorite people are coming to visit for fun Fall activities!  I am thinking some fires, pumpkin martinis, haunted houses, and more!  LOVE LOVE LOVE!

4 - 
Totally just came home from "work" (I use quotes b/c I am a practicum student, so they don't pay me...but I do SOME of the stuff a grown up school psych does) and took ~ a 2 hr nape.  Guess I am in denial about that 25+ hours of grading waiting for me ;)

5 - 
I BOUGHT SOME PUMPKIN SPICE COFFEE CREAMER!  I will tell you all about it next time.  Fingers crossed it is everything I have been searching for because I couldn't handle any disappointment right now!

happy October!

I may have mentioned that Fall if my favorite season ;)  but in reality, it is OCTOBER that I love!  It is by far my favorite month of the year...and I will tell you why!

1. It's my birth-month!  Who doesn't love a month day ALL ABOUT THEM?!
2. The weather!  Typically it is perfect!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE wearing jeans, hoodies, but still being able to rock my flip flops!
3. The leaves!  They finally start to change colors.
4. Walking on crinkly leaves!
5. Bonfires
6. Haunted houses!  Dan and I will be going  to three this year, and I can't wait!
7. Being able to wear boots and scarves!
8. The start of legitimately NEEDING hot coffee in the morning.
9. Fires in the fire place.
10. Decorating for Halloween.
11. Giving out candy!  I really can't wait for this!  I have had work or school the last two Halloweens  so I am so excited to actually hand out candy to the kiddos in our neighborhood.
12. Going to the pumpkin patch!
13. Drinking Eckert's Apple Cider
14. Hay-rack rides
15. Corn mazes

As the month progresses, I am sure I will remember more :)

October just makes me SO happy!  Hopefully it lasts forever b/c November will bring WAY too cold weather!