I thought we’d take a trip down memory lane. It was so fun to look through all my old photos. I’m so glad I took so many pictures. Of course when looking through all my backup drives I somehow can not find half of the year 2011 and then all of 2012 and most of 2013. Thankfully I have Facebook to dig up some photos but now I am really curious as to where all those photos went and I’d be really sad if they were lost. I’m sure I backed them up before switching computers, but I don’t know where at the moment. 

 

2009: Met Brian, was in my second year of college and got my first car

2010: First long long distance with Brian as I traveled to Costa Rica with International Student Volunteers for 5 weeks in the summer and volunteered with sea turtles

Brian visited Chicago in August 2010 after our time apart

 

2011: Went to Australia for the first time, studying abroad from Feb – June 2011. Australia is where my start for Bridges everywhere I go began. Got a blog on blogspot to follow my Australia adventures.

My best friend got married.

2012: Took my first vacation that I paid for myself with Brian to Myrtle Beach over Spring Break. Graduated college, moved back home and got my first job

2013: Went to the Bahamas with Brian – still one of my favorite island trips

2014: laid off from my first job, moved to Philadelphia on my own to be closer to Brian and live on my own for the first time after college. Started yoga training. Started a new job and created Bridges Through Life blog

2015: Graduated from Yoga Teacher Training and traveled to Bermuda with Brian

2016: Started teaching yoga at a local gym in Philadelphia. Brian and I went to Disney in February and then got engaged on leap day!

The biggest thing of 2016 was I quit my job with a one way ticket to Australia with Brian. Celebrated Christmas with my parents and then flew to Australia with Brian and celebrated New Year’s in Sydney, Australia

2017: The beginning of 2017 was a dream with traveling for 3 months through Australia and New Zealand with Brian. We didn’t have an itinerary for where to go when, we just planned as we went. The most time we had ever spent together in our relationship since even in Philadelphia we were long distance with his job travels. It’s hard to pick just a few photos from that time because I took thousands. My blog followed our adventures and you can always check out the travel tab for tips. 

I then traveled to Europe {London, Paris, Southern France, Barcelona and Dublin} in April 2017 on my own, meeting up with some friends along the way.

In May 2017, I moved to Binghamton, NY and in June 2017 I started my job here. The end of 2017 was really rough as Brian’s dad suddenly passed and then his grandma was ill and passed and then my uncle suddenly passed. It was rough for the holidays.

 

2018: I competed in my first powerlifting competition and completed my first mud run with the Warrior Dash. Brian and I purchased our first house together and I got into grad school to start my MBA. I still will say the week at Penn State to kick off my MBA was the best highlight.

2019: The beginning of the year had challenges. I lost my last grandparent right before my wedding. The highlight of the year was Brian and I got married with a destination wedding in Charleston, SC with a small group of people. We followed it up with a quick stop in Atlanta to check out the Aquarium and then Aruba for our honeymoon where I got to see Rachel’s yoga studio and practice yoga there and Brian finished his scuba certification. In the summer we held a wedding celebration at our house for family and friends. Brian and I also celebrated 10 years together. I celebrated 10 years with my first and only car and I ended the year being halfway through my MBA program. Brian and I decided to celebrate New Year’s in Rochester, NY with some friends which was a nice getaway.

And now onto 2020. 2020 is a big year as it starts a new decade for me as well. In April I will turn 30! So 2019 marked the end of my twenties as well. I look back at everything in the last 10 years and it’s amazing how much can happen over that time. I did accomplish so much. They say your twenties are for finding yourself and if there was a turning point that stood out to me, that was my move to Philadelphia in 2014. I changed my life from that point on. I spent more time on me (because I lived alone as Brian was working and I had that time). I learned so much about myself and in 2019, I feel that stress got in the way and I didn’t give myself the time I needed. This year will be a busy year as I continue to work on my MBA program and work full time. I remind myself that this is just a busy season in my life and it will not last forever, but I do need to give myself some grace with it. I need shorter, more effective workouts, spend more time with meditation and journaling to reflect.

 

 

Last year I enjoyed picking a word of the year. I chose growth as I was working on learning and growing in many areas of my life. 2019 brought a lot of changes. Growth definitely happened. You always grow through challenging times and 2019 was definitely a challenging year for me in many ways.

              Looking onto 2020…wow. I just remember being in college and hearing about the school’s 2020 vision all the time. I guess they must be almost on 2030 now huh? There are also many 2025 vision planning going on and honestly I just can’t look that far ahead right now. It’s great to have a 5 year plan, but I’m putting focus in the next 1-2 years right now. This brings me to me word for 2020, which is Present. I want to be more present in life, in my workouts and my school work and work. It’s so hard for me to not think ahead. When I am in school, I constantly plan out what assignment I will be working on a week or two weeks or even further ahead. I mean, some of it is necessary because having classes online and working during the day, there has to be planning. However, I often spend too much time stressing and worrying about the next thing due. I don’t stop until the semester is done and then months go by and I haven’t really enjoyed myself. All the pressure really comes from myself as I am also trying to save money and so I restrict in spending and basically lead to not being allowed to have fun because “fun” requires going out and meeting friends and buying a meal. I think I could do better to have some fun and also save.

              I haven’t felt very present in my workouts at the gym lately. There is just so much on my mind all the time. This time off from school and a few days off for the holidays have helped me. One thing is writing. My blog has obviously taken a backseat and while I don’t need to always write for the blog, I like to write for myself, to remember moments in my life and also to process things happening. Somehow I need to give myself some more time to write again.

              With being present, I think it’s important for me to remember block timing. I wake up early to go to the gym. I set aside that time for a workout and I should be able to set my mind in that time to focus on working out, rather than homework. My thing is I LOVE the mornings and I want to get everything done in the mornings but it just doesn’t happen that way. I usually aim to go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday morning. I used to sleep in a bit on Tuesday and Friday, but now I often get up at 5am anyway to use that time and do some homework or yoga before work. It’s my “me time” that I love and a chance to work on things. Since Brian heads off to work around 5:30am, it’s also quiet time, which I enjoy. So I have to remember, the morning gym session, even if only 45 minutes, is important as my me time and workout time. Then I can do some homework after. I also have been better about coming home from work, having dinner with Brian for 30 minutes or so and then heading to my office to work on things. While I don’t always like doing homework in the evening, it’s also necessary when working full time and going to school. I remind myself that it is only temporary in this phase of my life.

              Days and months can sometimes feel like such a blur, just chugging along to get by, but that’s no way to live. I need more presence overall in my life and focus on the here and now instead of the future or past. So that’s my word for the year. Be present!!

Namaste

 

 

I just looked up the date I wrote my last post and it’s been a month…so where have I been?

Well I was spending a good amount of time studying between Thanksgiving and the first two weeks of December. Just trying to get through my semester. Luckily the studying paid off as I was able to pull up my grade with that Economics final. I was happy to have that done earlier this week, but also just tired. You know when you are running, running, running like on that stress and adrenaline and then you CRASH. The other night I was laying on the couch enjoying a Christmas movie with Brian and I felt like, wow, I can finally relax, but I am also so tired. The summer and fall semesters were definitely stressful and I didn’t get much of a break between them. Actually each semester this year, the “breaks” were filled with wedding things and while those are wonderful, it can also be stressful because you don’t really get a break. I’m happy to finally have about a month break and hoping it will give me time to figure out what I need to change in my own routine to survive the next semesters.

In the meantime, I can soak up the holiday season a little more now. I have definitely enjoyed too many cookies and craving more veggies already. I did enjoy making my annual gingerbread cookies and inviting a new friend over to bake them with me.

Brian cut down a tree and I helped drag it down the hill after Thanksgiving so our tree was up nice and early. I enjoyed putting each of my ornaments on. I only have a small collection for now, but I’m content with that.

 I am still working on decluttering my stuff that has been packed up since moving from my parent’s house 5 years ago. I hope to use this time to sort through some of those items. From October to early December, I was selling some things on ebay and Facebook marketplace which was good for cleaning out and getting a little extra money of course. I have found this Fall that I am really in the decluttering mood. I really do want to clean out the extra bedroom and I have also learned that some things I can no longer hold onto from place to place. They just are not keeping well in storage and honestly if you haven’t opened a box in 5 years, do you need it? Of course I have some things that are great memories. I am thinking of making one box a “memory” box of some of my favorite items from my childhood. I just can’t have 10+ boxes of those things that have no use.

This month I also slowly got back to weightlifting. I started PT at the end of November and it helped get the mobility back in my shoulder. I feel I can do the exercises on my own at this point and usually do them as a “warm up” at the gym now. I’m slowly easing into weights and keeping them light so that I can really be set on my form and feel if anything is off. My shoulder still feels off in some ways, but it mainly aches in the same spot it has for years with the bursitis. I think that more yoga would help as I have not been doing that regularly and maybe more stretching. I think being mindful is key and I know I had a lot of stress from school, work, life that built up so I was not performing my best at the gym. I plan to stick to shorter weight sessions for now. I have been doing one main lift (squat, bench, deadlift) and then a couple accessory exercises and stretching. I find that takes me 45 minutes at the gym and that is a good amount of time so that I can go back home after for breakfast and a bit of homework or relaxing by watching Youtube or something before work.

I’m currently enjoying watching all the Christmas movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Brian and I also watched Home Alone since that is on Disney +. I also bought a Blu-ray player FINALLY and I can play my old Christmas movies I have on DVD. My favorite thing in December is getting cozy on the couch with a blanket and watching Christmas movies and staring at the beautiful Christmas tree.

I plan to do a 2019 reflection post in the next week or so as we gear up for the next year. I can’t believe 2020 is finally coming. I feel like it is such a big year, entering the next decade and the year I will turn 30!!

 

Do you have any favorite Christmas traditions?