Lookin’ Up

Well my day got a whole lot better yesterday. After work Charlie and I visited Nana, Mom, Julie and Kara (and her evil puppy), and then I met Mandi at Red Lobster for dinner. I love love LOVE Red Lobster. It was so dang good. While there, I also ran into my friend Ashley, who I’m always saying “we need to hang out!!” After dinner we headed to Krazy Street for a few drinks and some loud music. And some pictures.

Kristin & Mandi at Krazy St.

Jason stayed over last night… until Charlie frustrated him @ 6am and he decided to go home to sleep. As soon as Jason left, Charlie passed out and didn’t wake up until I took him outside at 11am. He did some business in the grass right away, and I was so proud of him.  For a hot minute. Once we came back inside and had breakfast, he promptly laid a deuce on my carpet. WTF?! I don’t think he had even finished chewing his last bite yet.

Well today is Valentine’s Day! YAY!! I don’t know where Jason is taking me to dinner, but I’m super excited!!! I can’t wait to start getting ready!!!

Black Friday

Dad came home from the hospital on Wednesday, and we had a nice Thanksgiving lunch with all us kids on Thursday. I went over to Jason’s family’s Thanksgiving dinner, too. I’m still stuffed. Way too much food.

Today I’m staying as far from Black Friday madness as I can, so I’m packing and trying to make sure I have all the loose ends tied up before I disappear for a while. CAN’T WAIT to just get away from all the stress and craziness that has become my daily life. I used to think my family was pretty boring and low-key… but ’tis not the case.

I’m going to read Twilight while on my trip, and maybe even study for finals. May or may not blog while I’m gone, so don’t get in a panic if you don’t hear from me for a few days.

I can’t wait!

I’M SO EXCITED FOR THANKSGIVING AND BELIZE!!!!

My two favorite things, falling at the same time, and with my FAVORITE PERSON!

YAY!!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

I turned the BIG 2-5 today! It was the first time I’ve ever woken up on my birthday and truly felt older. I feel like I’m “finally” a grown-up. That’s not to say that I’m going to start acting like one — we’re not looking for miracles here!

Thank you to everyone who has given me a birthday wish! It’s been a great day so far! My coworkers took me to Famous Jack’s (Cheeseburgers), and it was DELICIOUS! Look out Steak n Shake! You’ve been beat!! I also have a Surprise Birthday Dinner tonight with Captain Awesome, which I’m SUPER excited about. After that, drinks with the whole fam-damily and awesome friends at BW3′s.

So celebrating my birthday means that Fall is right around the corner.  Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, clear azure skies and crispness of fall mornings.  Back to school time has always been a favorite of mine.  I’m a big dork when it come to freshly sharpened pencils and new backpacks.  I’m not looking forward to the inevitable cold winter, but I start looking forward to NEXT Thanksgiving within hours of finishing this year’s Thanksgiving meal.  It’s my favorite holiday and favorite time of year.  Nothing beats good food, quality family time, and home videos of the G8 playing pranks on the 4K.  (It’s a family thing… G8 = the 8 grandbabies and 4 = Nana’s 4 kids).  This Thanksgiving will be especially special, since I’ll probably be spending some of it with Jason, and then we leave for vacation that weekend.  It’ll be such a nice get-a-way!

Well, I better start getting ready for my birthday dinner.  What to wear?!?

A Random One for You

Today is another one of those days where I have hundreds of thoughts racing through my mind, and not nearly enough time or energy to get them all straight.  Some of it’s due in part to drama with the X, some of it is excitement for the opportunities to come, much of it is because life right now is just so dang awesome.  So if this post doesn’t exactly make sense or flow together… well, I’m not sorry, but hope you get it.

It really amazes me that at this current junction in life, the best word to describe how I feel is “happy”.  This is probably one of the most difficult times I’ve ever had to get thru, yet deep down I’m calmed by an underlying feeling of happiness and peace with who I am and where I’m going.  I haven’t fully defined either one of those, but it’s really cool to know that I’m proud of what I’ve defined so far.  I’m happy with what I’ve found out about myself.  And I’m excited about all the paths I have to choose from moving forward.

I like how life is playing out.  I love waking up each morning wondering what this day is going to bring.  Even if I get a bad feeling that something is about to go down, I’m still eager to find out what that is and figure out how to overcome it.  It’s exciting to know that I can deal with issues on my own, and fix them on my own, too.  And yeah, maybe I’m still finding my strength and independence, but it’s awesome to know it’s there and I will only get stronger.

I LOVE just going with my feelings.  Laying it out there how I feel, what I think, and how I’m going to approach life.  I’m not going to regret or apologize for the way I think/feel/act, because I’m looking at life as a journey to embrace… no regrets, just lessons learned.  I like telling people how I feel about them.  I like finally having an open, honest relationship with no stress, no pressure, no strings attached.  I like that it’s undefined.  I like that I can enjoy it hour-by-hour, day-by-day.  It feels more real than any exclusive, defined relationship I’ve ever been in.  I like that it makes me happy, and that if it ever stops making me happy… well, I can move on because the purpose is to enjoy it as long as it feels good.

I like life.  I’m happy.  I love my friends and family, and love the friends that have become family.  It may be be an awkward situation, but I’m excited for Kara & Josh.  I’m looking forward to the addition that Kelli’s cooking up, too!  I’m excited for the new friends I’ve made, and the awesome relationships that I’m sure will grow over time.  I can’t wait to see what my next career move will be.  I can’t wait to live abroad and expand my horizons.  I love the sun.  I love the month of May in Indianapolis.  There are so many great things to be thankful for and happy about.  

So I guess to finish this one off for today… enjoy the moment, love life’s challenges, there are no regrets just lessons learned… and HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!