'23 before 24' in Review

Its been almost three months since I've turned 24 and I have yet to review my '23 before 24' list.  I also made my '24 before 25' list which I will also post. But first lets go over the things I was able to complete this past year. I definitely feel like 23 was a great year in terms of accomplishing goals.

1. Secure a full-time position

In January 2013, I secured my first full-time position. Its the position I had been working very hard to get, and I feel so grateful to have it. Now, I have been working for almost 1 year now, and am a few months away from sitting for my board exam.

2. Run a 10k race 

I didn't run a 10k, but a half-marathon! I can't believe I surpassed my goal. It took a lot of training and hard work, but it felt so good to say I've ran a half-marathon. I am looking forward to run many more races, including half-marathons, in the future.

3. Actually put money into my savings account

I've had trouble saving money in the past due to the fact that I was a broke college student barely scraping by. But since I got a full-time job, I made an effort to save as much as possible. I am happy to say that my savings account is bigger than its ever been. I have learned some good saving habits, and am looking forward to saving even more this year.

4. Expect less and give more

I think I may have done this. But its hard to measure this. I definitely have been trying to expect less, but I know I still expect a lot from people. But I know I have been giving more, and want to continue to give more. For 24, I want to focus more on giving my time and talents instead of money.

5. Learn to cook new dishes

Unfortunately cooking got put on the back burner with the start of my new life. I've been busy and since I can't really take food to work, leftover aren't an option. Cooking as much just doesn't plausible at this time of my life. Maybe, I will pick up more this year.

6. Volunteer

I started 23 by volunteering for a local non-profit, which in turn helped me get my job. Since moving I have tried to volunteer with hospitals, but have not heard back. I don't have the time to volunteer at this very moment. But I want to find more volunteer opportunities after my boards since I will have a lot of free time.

7. Try a new cuisine

This year I tried Tapas, which I am not sure is a cuisine, but its definitely a new type of food. I'm all about trying new foods and new cuisines. I want to find more cuisines to try, maybe Ethiopian or something.

8. Travel to a new place

Even though I didn't travel how I wanted to, I still got to visit some new places. In January I went Big Bear Lake for my job, which was so much fun. Even though I was working, it felt like a little get away. I got to visit Santa Barbara for a day and walk down state street. I also visited some beach cities that I've never been too, like Manhattan Beach, Long Beach, and Huntington Beach. 

9. Be less lazy and do things right away

I'm still absolutely horrible with this. One day I will have more energy!

10. Be less secure & know that I am enough

This year I felt so absolutely amazing about myself and my confidence was at an all-time high! Getting my dream job, living on my on, and feeling independent, made me feel so good about myself. Unfortunately, my break-up earlier this year has caused my self-confidence to fall again. My insecurities have come back to the fore front.  I know, we all feel insecure at times. I am hoping to get back to where I was earlier this year, and not let my insecurities break me.

11. See/keep in touch with family and friends

Living in a new city and not knowing or making any new friends was actually a benefit this year. I got to visit and see friends and family on the weekends. When I was in college I would only see my family maybe 3x a year. This past year I have seen my parents more than ever and I absolutely love it. And for the friends I can't see very often, I still keep in touch over texts and e-mails. I've done a really good job at keeping in touch with everyone.

12. Read the entire bible

I still have not accomplished this, but I did get through the entire new testament. I am currently working my way through the new testament, and hope to be done before age 25.

13. Start eating more fruits & veggies

Nope, I still do not eat as much as I should. But I have been taking daily vitamins 

14. Purchase a new car

This was a huge goal for me! I purchased a brand new 2013 Nissan Sentra. This was the first car on my own and a much needed investment since my old car was giving me so many issues.

15. Work hard to maintain my relationship despite the distance

Of course I worked so hard on this, and I was happy with my relationship despite the distance. But it takes two people to have a relationship, and if someone isn't happy, then it has to end.

16. Start paying off my student loans

YES!  I am so proud of myself for doing this. I know most post-grads my age are having trouble paying back their loans. I am blessed to be able to pay mine back without a problem, on top of paying for all the expenses of living on my own. When I turn 25 I want to make a plan for paying everything off.

17. Explore my new city of residence

I explored and there just isn't much to do here. There are some things I like such as; hiking trails, downtown, salted pig, casey's cupcakes, and the swap meet. Other than that, I wish there was more to do.
18. Cash in my jug full of change

I did this and was able to cash in almost $100! I couldn't believe all my change added up.
19. Revamp my blog 

I did this, but its time to revamp again!

 20. Re-invent my style

With a larger income I was able to do a little more shopping. I definitely have been adding more pieces to my closet. I use to dress so ragged, and I feel so much better with an upgraded wardrobe.
21. Take a vacation with J

Never happened.
22. Start putting my blender to use to make smoothies

I did it a few times so I guess it counts.
23. Get into photography

J bought me a camera for our anniversary, and I have shot some film and have developed it. I'm looking forward to getting better and more experienced. 

Overall I have accomplished 16/23 goals, which isn't too bad. I'm just so proud of accomplishing so many large goals this year. Of course there is more work to be done, and I constantly want to work to be a better person and make my life more enriched. I have already started making progress on my '24 before 25' list. I will be revamping the page and adding my updated list soon.
 

HAPPY DECEMBER

Happy December! Who doesn't love this month? The holidays just completely put me in a cheerful and celebratory mood. I've already been seeing lights and decorations springing up all over the place. I absolutely love it! I'm looking forward to seeing Christmas lights, Christmas specials on TV, the chill in the air, sending off cards to friends and family, finding creative ways to give back, eating warm foods, and just being as cheerful as possible.

As the year winds down I cannot help but think two things-- How has time flown by so fast? and What is in store for me next? I love reflecting back on the past year, and recognizing both my triumphs and struggles. I've been feeling oh so inspired lately, and I don't know if that's because 2014 is fast approaching or because I have some recent opportunities arise. I'm sure its a mixture of both, and I am loving this passion that is brewing inside of me. It makes me feel happy, free, and hopeful. I definitely have learned that if I am not happy with my current situation, then its up to me to change it.  And thats exactly what I am in the process of doing. I feel so much happier! Again, I'm sorry I cannot share at this exact moment. But when the time is right, I will.

Looking forward to spending the month of December both reflecting and looking forward!

THANKFULNESS

First off, let me start off by saying how much better I feel after a quick organizing and de-cluttering session. Nothing frees my mind and gets me more motivated, than a nice organized spaced. I'm sad to say that my desk has fallen victim to my laziness lately. What was once my spot of work and creativity, turned into a space of junk mail and a second closet with sweaters thrown about. No bueno whatsoever. But now my desk feels so much more free, and I feel ready to tackle a few things tonight.

So here I am on the Eve of Thanksgiving, sitting at home and enjoying the very little things in life. Tomorrow morning I am flying home to the Bay Area, and I have yet to pack. But not to worry! I have a fresh load of laundry almost done and ready to be packed for my trip. I'm always a last minute type of packer, which is good and bad. I try to pack light (which is always a fail) and without forgetting anything (which is a double fail). Hopefully, this time I will get it just right. On my trip down to San Diego last weekend, I left my contact lens, extensions, hair straightener, make-up, and jewelery. I felt so lost! To think this time last year, those items did not matter to me. And now I feel almost naked if I don't have those things within reach. Not that they are super important or anything, now I just tend to use them more often than not. 

As we wrap up 2013 and are just a few hours away from Thanksgiving I can't help and think of my many blessings this year. My biggest blessings are my friends and family and my health. Those things nobody should ever take for granted. But I seriously think I've hit the jackpot of life, by having the best of family and friends. No drama or bullshit (or any other crap that can come in the way of relationships), just complete love and support all around. Of course so many other things come to mind, from large and small and everything in between. I know for a fact I forget to take a step back and look at how amazing life is and all the beautiful things inside of it. 

I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving and meditates on all the blessings on in their life!

HAPPINESS

Lately the things that make me happy include:

 Creating pretty things, glasses of wine, getting lots of sleep, dreaming of far away travels for 2014, giving money to those who need it more than me, making yummy mexican foods, learning new things at work, watching awesome choreography on youtube, searching through endless books at barnes and noble, Christmas decorations, cute new undies.

NOVEMBER

Happy November! I am so excited and happy over the fact that its the end of the year. Yes,  2013 is slowly but surely winding down. And I'm still in astonishment over how fast it has been going by. Its been a big year of learning, growth, and also some really hard times. I've been wanting nothing more than time to just pass on by so I can live the life I truly want. I don't want to go into too much details about that, but the time will come to talk about that. And now I can't believe 2014 is almost here, I feel like I can see the finish line. Thanks to so many holidays and days off I know November, December, and January are going to fly by.

I have a few plans for the next two months. I plan on heading down to San Diego a few times because I desperately miss the city and my friends. I'm kicking off next weekend by celebrating a little SD Beer week a long with attending a baby shower. I'm heading to the Bay Area for thanksgiving and christmas. And in December I am looking forward to going to December Nights in Balboa Park and ice skating at the Hotel Del. Yes, I miss me some San Diego desperately.

Some good things to note:
+ Passed and received my food manager's certificate
+ Officially passed probation and 9 months at my new job
+ I have been thinking about trips for next year. Hawaii and New York look like real possibilities :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween ghouls and goblins! I really do enjoy halloween and getting a chance to be someone or something else for a day. Unfortunately since I work in the public sector and have to be professional, I couldn't dress up today. I also didn't attend any halloween parties this year. But I did soak up halloween in my own way, and have been pretty crafty lately. What? Me? Yes, I've actually been getting my DIY on lately. I decided to do a sugar skull face tonight while handing out candy to the kids. And last weekend I painted pumpkins (instead of carving them), and I love the way they turned out. I really want to keep them year round because they are so pretty to me. I definitely want to incorporate more projects and DIY into my life. I definitely want to share the end products here.

Of course Disneyland was the icing on the cake for a great halloween. I've never been to disneyland when the park has been decorated for the holidays. The pumpkins and fall colors everywhere truly made the park that much more colorful! Not to mention that the haunted mansion being made into a nightmare before christmas edition was absolutely awesome! I think I need to go back for Christmas too.

ROUGH DAYS

These past two weeks have been rough. Nothing extremely horrible or anything, but just exhausting and draining. Last week, I woke up to a 'pins and needles' feeling in part of my leg. I thought for sure I had slept funny and somehow cut off my circulation. But as the day continued, the pain persisted and even spread. It went from one leg to both legs, from the tips of my toes to my butt. It felt like my whole entire lower body had shut down. This was weird and I knew I had to go to the doctor. Of course as guessed, my doctor didn't find anything after taking blood and running a series of test. So back home I went to rest. The next day I was at a conference and was able to take it easy all day, and half way through I finally took a advil to control the pain. My plan was to make an appointment for the next morning. But by the following morning, the pain had for the most part subsided. The remainder of the weekend I took it easy and it eventually went away. I have no idea what it was or what triggered two days of 'pins and needles' feeling through my lower body, but it was no fun. I will definitely be keeping an eye out if the symptoms start up again.

And this week, work got a little crazy. I worked over-time from Monday-Wednesday. I worked so much overtime that I only worked half a day on Thursday (and I had today off to).  So ready to relax the remainder of this weekend.  I'm leaving behind the past two weeks and am looking forward to organizing, cleaning, crafting, and of course disneyland!