2014

I've thought a lot about how to wrap this year up on the old blog.

It's been an interesting one. Not quite what I expected, and filled with many great and not-so-great surprises.

I've spent the last few years of this blog highlighting my favorite moments and reflecting on the goals I set for myself. I'm not going to do that this year. Instead, I want to finish this up swiftly, and start 2015 off with a fresh heart, mind, and spirit. So here we go.

14 Lessons From 2014:

1. The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.

2. People will sometimes let you down, but more often than not, people will exceed your expectations.

3. Even though I'm a planner at heart, I can be spontaneous and actually enjoy it!

4. Treat yourself, often and without guilt.

5. It is silly to attach so much meaning to an arbitrary place or moment in time.

6. Quick solutions to most problems include: friends, sun, nature, puppies (preferably all at once).

7. You never know who you've had an impact on; don't be reckless with other people's hearts just because you don't take them seriously.

8. I can and do enjoy baking as long as the recipe allows for a little wiggle room!

9. If you don't show up and ask for what you want in your relationships, you give up the right to expect having it.

10. The shit I see on social media will perpetually annoy me. There's nothing wrong with taking a break from it all.

11. Anyone who assesses you or your relationship as disposable is not worthy of your time or tears.

12. My life doesn't have to (and shouldn't) revolve around my weight. I am more active than most, I eat healthier than most. There's always room for improvement, but sometimes I need to just love myself wherever I am.

13. I am nice, fun, young, and people really like to be around me!! <-- my last narcissistic pat on the back for the year.

14. Don't get famous and take naked pictures of yourself...unless you're getting paid and photoshopped!

And with a quick surface scan of the blog, here are some of my favorite photos from each month:

January: Winning 500 bones on a scratch ticket! Feels like this was years ago...

February: Saying goodbye to one of my favorite people in the whole world.

March: Celebrating my first good friend's bridal shower!

April: Celebrating my sister's engagement (and birthday)!

May: Run to Remember, even if it didn't turn out exactly as planned.

June: In NY with some of my oldest friends.

July: And in Boston with my newest, oldest friends.

August: There were a lot to choose from, so I picked 3! First, hiking in the Shenandoah Valley, second, sunrise in Acadia, and third, hanging in sunny Dartmouth with a pup.

September: White water rafting in the Berkshires!

October: Piano Man at Madison Square Garden.

November: Genuine happiness in beautiful Napa

December: Finishing up an exhausting few months with a bang and great friends.

See ya in the new year!

Being Single Doesn't Have to Suck

Hello from Philadelphia! Seems like I was just here...

Thought I'd break my little blog hiatus with a fun post. Here are 10 reasons why being single can be kind of nice:

1. SLEEPING! I am generally a bad sleeper, so sleeping alone all the time is pretty fantastic. I get to keep the temperature in my room just how I like it, put my fan on the loudest and highest speed, and spread out across the whole bed.

2. Endless amounts of time to spend with friends = no more FOMO. I can't believe how many fun things I do with friends lately, in and out of Boston. It's amazing!

3. Related to #2, I have the ability to be 100% spontaneous and free with my time. Now THAT is pretty freakin' awesome.

4. New friends! I've been wanting to make new friends for years but I was very comfortable/happy in my situation. Being single has pushed me to try to make new friends and get out of my comfort zone (it's still a work in progress, but at least I'm making an effort now).

5. Flirting. I might not be up for dating too seriously, but I forgot how fun some harmless flirting could be.

6. No immediate rush to shave my legs, wash my hair, or other necessary evils of being a woman. Ha!

Hairy leggings -- apparently women wear these to keep men away.

7. Spending all of my money on myself. I have to say, I actually really enjoy putting together thoughtful gifts for my significant other, but it's pretty nice to spend that money on myself over the course of the year. Hellooo, new pretty things.

8. The only person I ever have to feel embarrassed/responsible for is myself.

9. My "problems" are FAR less serious these days:

SERIOUS PROBLEMS

People in relationships:

Me:

10. And the best thing? Thinking about the future and knowing I can do exactly what I want. I may not have a guy to come home to every night, but my life is literally teeming with possibilities (romantic and otherwise). The world is my oyster!

An Interesting Turn of Events

Sometimes I can't quite believe where I am in my life. This isn't the outcome I chose, so I constantly find myself wondering things like..."why am I at this bar in Allston drinking Miller Lite on a Saturday afternoon with a bunch of strangers?" When I think back on my life just 6 measly months ago, I would have never thought I'd be where I am right now. But alas, I am, so I'm trying to make the best of it and open my eyes to new opportunities (hence, spending my Saturdays with strangers). Going home to New York is a nice excuse to just be around the things and people so familiar to me. I had written off all of the guys I grew up with as romantic possibilities years ago, so it feels good to just go out at home with no pressure.

And cue, an interesting turn of events...

But let's start from the beginning. A few years ago I went out on Thanksgiving Eve and ran into a bunch of guys from high school. They were the friends of my first real boyfriend and I really, really liked them all. Still do! But they all live in New York so I've lost touch with them for the most part. Anyway, I ended up catching up for a while with one guy in particular. He told me that he had never been to Boston and would love to visit. In my drunken state I gave an enthusiastic "sure!" but once the hangover wore off I felt a little weird about it. I really hadn't talked to this guy since high school and I just didn't want to spend a whole weekend entertaining him. He texted me about visiting a few times, but I kept giving excuses and eventually he quit asking. I hadn't seen him since, but we stayed connected via social media and a random "how are you?" every so often.

About a month ago he added me on Snapchat. I found this peculiar but didn't think too much of it. The day before Thanksgiving I had a picture from him implying that he was back on Long Island for the holiday (he lives in Brooklyn these days -- so from here on I'm referring to him as BK). A few hours later he texted me and asked if I wanted to get together while we were both at home. I said sure and let him know where I was heading with my friends that night. He had plans already so he suggested we either "meet up late night" or meet for coffee on Friday. Meet up late night?? What does that mean?

I told him I'd prefer meeting on Friday (I didn't mention my hatred for coffee) and went about my night -- I had an awesome time catching up with my high school friends and had way too many drinks.

We don't care bout no antifreeze.

Around 12:30 BK texted me and asked if I was still out. I figured what the hell! and told him where we were. He responded with a quick "on my way".

BK showed up looking way finer than I remember from high school. He's a big Brooklyn hipster now but keeps it pretty clean because he works in corporate accounting. We ended up spending the next 3 hours catching up. My friends slowly trickled out of the bar and we stayed, chatting and laughing through last call -- and remember, we're in NY so last call is 3:30 am! We talked about what we'd been up to over the past few years, bonded over our recent failed relationships, and exchanged funny online dating messages (which sparked the idea for this post). I didn't want to leave, but I was really drunk and probably looking half asleep at that point. That's when I noticed he had only had one drink. Apparently he hadn't been drinking earlier and had driven to the bar. What the hell? Oh jeez, I must have been looking/sounding really crazy to a sober person.

In any case, he drove me home and we chatted in my driveway for a while. I wondered if he was going to kiss me in the car. The questions raced through my head: Is there a spark or are we just old friends catching up? Do I even WANT him to kiss me? Are we both on the rebound and attracted to anyone normal after encounters with the internet trolls? Does he still think I'm off limits since his best friend was my "first love" in 10th grade (LOL, I hope not)? Am I just drunk and totally misreading this? BK didn't kiss me, but I got a pretty decent double hug from him. Before I left, we discussed the fact that I ignored his request to come to Boston a few years ago and apparently I now owe him a weekend. We'll see if this happens.

The point of writing this down is to remind myself that as long as I keep my eyes open, unexpected things/people might walk right into my life. I don't actually see anything happening with BK, but it was fun to feel...dare I say it...a little giddy about a guy, even for just one night.