Like I Said…

It’s been a while. I actually started a new blogging adventure with a friend who moved to Nashville. You can check it out at emilyjordanblog.tumblr.com. That is where I will be for now!

Ooops

last i left it was april, now it’s september. i’ll be back to fill in the gap! 

 

a thank you to everyone who has been apart of my first 25 years! (and look at that nice mani! thanks mom)

i can not believe that in 1 week and 1 day not only will i be celebrating my twenty fifth birthday, but i will be doing so in iceland. i am looking forward to disconnecting for a week, sleeping at night (i work m-f, third shift), spending quality time with chris, making memories with good friends, and celebrating our friends wedding.

but boy time flies.

it feels like yesterday i was turning twenty one and (sorta) dating a man who, though he would be turning twenty six soon, was twenty five. i thought holy shit, i’m going to feel so old when i finally get there. twenty five crept up on me fast and to my surprise i’m feeling good, yes a little old, but relatively happy about my quarter century birthday around the corner. i’ve come so far and learned so much in the last 4 years.

i’ve become a better me.

i graduated from temple and quit the bartending game for a career at a fortune 100 pharmaceutical company where i make vaccines. my relationship with chris has grown, through good times and bad, to something unbreakable. (p.s. happy 3 years of living together may 1st. still can’t believe it’s been 3 years). i became a mom, well not literally, but a dog mom to chunk counts just the same. i’ve ran longer distances than i ever imagined possible. i’ve met new lifelong friends, and gained cherished memories. yoga has become a valued part of my life, along with embracing pescatarian-ism, to keep my mind and body in better form than where i was at 21. i’ve seen new parts of the world, and had many adventures filled with new experiences.

it hasn’t always been an easy one, and i’ve faced trials and tribulations along the way, but the ride to 25 has been one filled mostly with lots of love, happiness, and achievements. i am lucky to be surrounded by such awesome people and thank you all for the love, support, and friendships.  i hear time just gets faster from here, so i will continue to embrace every moment i am given and look forward to continued prosperity. here’s to the next twenty five years!

 

p.s.

i wanted to thank everyone so far who has been making my birthday special already. my friend cathy, the creative thinking person she is, got me an gift card to the blue lagoon, which i will have no problem spending while in iceland! my mom took me out for a mani and pedi, it has been a while since i’ve felt girly and pampered, and anytime i get to do something like that with my mom is special. also, my coworkers rock! they threw me an awesome birthday celebration yesterday since i’ll be out all week. it was filled with all my favorite weird foods: kale chips, vegan meatballs, spaghetti pie, guacamole salad, shrimp on a sugar cane stick, baba ganoush, bruschcetta, idli and more. also, the pinata was an added bonus! you guys make working third shift not so bad and i couldn’t ask for better coworkers!  i’m looking forward to spending the day sunday with my friend jordan as we together run a 5 miler race at heritage vineyard in new jersey and celebrate my 25 birthday and her 25.5 birthday with lots of wine drinking after! and to chris, who yet again pulled the down on one knee game, at least this time it was an early present and an actual, nonedible, ring from etsy i’m loving!

 

blurry, but look at that smorgasbord

blue lagoon!

infinite love

i wanted to take the time to post this before we leave monday because once we are back it will be iceland, iceland, iceland posting!

 

Boston.

as someone who is training to run the philadelphia marathon this coming november, someone who looked up qualifying times for the 2014 Boston marathon, and someone who utterly respects anyone with enough heart, dedication, and perseverance to finish a marathon, i am deeply saddened. not only for the runners, families, spectators, injured, deceased and the city of Boston, but for the world we live in.

my heavy heart can only hope for justice.

a sport, that strengthens the body and mind, is now tarnished by cowardly acts of destruction.

however, i will still run because i can. i will remember those who can’t when i am tired. i will remember what they would give to do what i sometimes take for granted. i will run harder. i will run for them.

what these cowards who commit these tragic acts don’t realize is that they will never win. for every act of inhumanity, there are thousands more dedicated to love and kindness. when you see these disturbing images, focus on the helpers. the ones who run towards the chaos and brutality and selflessly give all they can to help save and protect.

 

we will keep running for you, Boston.

Now Here.

now here or no where.

this is something that stuck in my head from yoga this weekend. i had the opportunity to introduce my good friend sarah to hot yoga on saturday, and like i told her would happen… she fell in love. before practicing the teacher was talking about how “now here or no where” related to meditation and our ego (the annoying voice in our head bashing ourselves and others) and if we are really present our ego is quieted and we are in the now. the ego is either drawing on past experiences or living in the future taking us away from our current state. so the past is no where and the future is no where because they aren’t real things. our memories of the past are snip-its of what we remember happening, sometimes made up renditions of what is really true. and our future has yet to happen so worrying or yearning for it is only taking away from where we currently our in life.

real joy only comes from that euphoric state where you are present, here and now. where you can’t relate past or future experiences and you have no expectations. joy comes over you and it almost feels out of body. joy is not of this world because it has no opposite. everything of this world has an equal opposite, happy:sad, hot:cold, black:white, but joy is different.

remembering this can be hard, especially when you’re a planner or a worrier. i’m not much of the latter but planning for the future is something i like to do in my head. i’m not saying totally forget responsibility and don’t plan for a good future but drowning in it is something not healthy for a person. i like to think i don’t concern myself to much with the future, besides thinking of saving and when is the right time for babies, but even that can be too much. i believe things always happen for a reason and everything works out like it is supposed to so staying now here is where i would like to be.

i see people who worry to much or expect to much and they don’t feel real joy as often as they should because of it. once expectations are gone, great things happen. don’t take for granted how wonderful it is to be alive and to have whatever you do, no matter how little. life is so short and too sweet to waste it on expectations, worries, and drama.

favors.

drinking appropriate wine for my jersey friend while crafting

spent some time with a good friend from college, laura, over the weekend. she is recently engaged to her longtime beau. they will be celebrating their engagement at a winery at the end of this month so she has been busy dipping wine glass bases in chalkboard paint for a practical favor. we added vinyl decals to to finish them off.

guess who had to use the backdoor?

dip chalkboard paint from any craft or home improvement store and let cure

personalized vinyl decals ordered from etsy than with the use of contact paper transferred to the glasses

Laura ordered her personalized decals from this etsy shop.

 

This was such an easy and personal favor to DIY. With a little patience and a good friend you can create something similar. What are you creating these days?

 

one.

i’ve been friends with meg since we were tots tumbling at the local ymca. now, meg has a beautiful daughter, adriana, who recently turned one. we celebrated adriana’s first birthday and baptism recently and here are a few of my pictures from her special day.

Adriana!

friends! (alex missed the memo)

nerds

great grandparents proudly looking on

dad, mom, and godparents kelsey and dan

first cake!

isn’t she adorable! i’ve been lucky enough to spend time with meg and adriana in the last year as she was back on the east coast, from seattle, while her husband eric was deployed. now eric is home and they are making a move south to north carolina, where visiting should be a little easier! visit meg’s blog here and learn about her family journey!

comic.

this little diddy cracked me up. this is chunk every day/night. he loves to separate chris and i when we sit on the couch or lay in bed. he is one of us and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

all credit to “off the leash daily dog cartoons” and rupert fawcett

twentyfour.

reminiscing, as my twenty-fourth year comes to an end, on all things that made me proud, happy and fulfilled …

1. ran the oDDyssey and philadelphia half marathon, broad street run, 10k wissahickon classic trail run, and even had chris run color me rad 5k.
2. went to canada, montreal specifically, for the first time
3. removed chemical filled deodorant/antiperspirant from daily use. don’t worry! i make/use natural. also, started using natural and organic oils in my beauty routine to eliminate face wash and body wash. Way greener and way cleaner! (i don’t stink i promise)
4. successfully home brewed beer multiple times 
5. got down and dirty in atlanta for chris’ 29th birthday
6. randomly baked cupcakes and delivered them to local fireman 
7. after years of chris boasting about the food in rochester, finally made the trip and filled our guts
8. managed to be in three major cities in two days phl>>nyc>>baltimore
9. got my second, if you count the white ink on my wrist, tattoo (cbm original)
10. supported chris at gallery shows and saw his art honored at society of the illustrators. he makes me proud.     
11. saw the biggest waterfall of my life at letchworth state park in ny
12. bought a new car and downsized to only having one
13. took chunk down the shore for the first time and he completely loved it 
14. worked a lot of overtime, made a lot of money, and got a lot of recognition for projects at work
15. reduced my debt by 1/3rd by paying off credit cards and a student loan (hoping by 26 i’ll be completely student loan debt free)
16. bought a nikon, started the blog and photography hobbies
17. spent time with old friends, and made new friends, celebrated their new babies and weddings
    

    my friend michelle and i and our friend megan’s baby adriana

18. started making moves to buy a house
19. voted for the first time (i know terrible me but at least i did it this time)
20. saw my first show on broadway, jersey boys, with jordan (front and center compliments of her work) it was amazing
21. signed up for the 20th anniversary of the philadelphia marathon, i can’t believe i will be doing the full 26.2 miles, will be my first, hopefully not my last ha 😉
22. chris and i took my mom and stepdad matt out to eat at han dynasty and see marc maron at helium, it was fun to actually take them out since normally it is the reverse
    

    mom and marc maron

23. started really crafting things, diy pillows, bath melts, braclets, hair pieces ect… with hopes of expanding
24. last but not least booked a trip to iceland, for our friends wedding (and also a nice vacation), i will turn 25 while we are there but traveling to i’ll still be 24!

i still have a whole month until the big two five but twenty four has proved to be an eventful one and i hope twenty five lives up and exceeds it! i have no doubt it will =)

wissahickon.

so late in posting this but finally getting around to sharing a couple (more like a bunch) of my favorite photos from a hike in wissahickon park, back in mid march, with my good friend jordan and her cute (but semi pain in the butt) dog jake. the weather was so perfect and it happened to fall on a sunday where we could both get out and fight the winter blues. we took the dogs out for the first time together not fully expecting jake to like chunk because he isn’t a fan of any dog and chunk can be a handful with his need to nonstop play. to our surprise, jake does turn out to be more bark than bite and was more than happy to ignore chunk and enjoy the hike. 

also trying out bloglovin new to it not sure what it does yet but lets try it! <a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/6718137/?claim=fz3x8dnud9x”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>