Tonight I am going to Kalamazoo to see my good friend Noah and I'm psyched! My mapquest directions are printed, my bag is packed, there is an extra heaping bowl of cat food and instructions for the cats not to scarf it all down today (yeah, right), and I'm ready to hit the road!
I was reflecting this morning how adult I feel lately. The other day I looked around the kitchen and thought, "Sweet holy moses (this is an edited version of what I thought), I bought all of this food. I did. Me. I make my own meals and buy the food and...oh my golly (so edited) I'm responsible for myself!" It was this overwhelming awareness of everything I do by myself without (usually) thinking too terribly much about it. Today when I was getting ready for work I realized that even the toiletries I use are adult. I'm not terribly brand loyal, but I've figured out what I like, what I don't like, what I'm willing to spend more money on (foundation, moisturizer) and what I'm not willing to buy cheap (eyeshadow, mascara). It gives me this odd sense of security.
Security might not be the best word...it's just that in the last year and a half or so I feel more stable than I ever have in my life. It's as if I've checked some small things off the "grown up life things to figure out" list without even being aware of it. Last night I checked another one off, but this one I was keenly aware of: packing.
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| Pack...my suitcase?! |
I totally suck at packing. I go kind of crazy wondering what the weather's going to be like and what I'm going to be doing and just start hurling things at my suitcase. I pack 10 books for a week's vacation because WHAT IF I FINISH THE FIRST 9 I BROUGHT AND THEY DON'T SELL BOOKS WHERE I'M GOING, SURELY I WILL DIE! I pack at list 2 knitting projects for similar reasons. And then, even though I've packed waaaaaaaay too many items, I end up with one t-shirt and 5 pairs of jeans, or 3 sweatshirts, 2 tank tops, a pair of jeans and no socks or underwear. No outfits to speak of. Or, if I'm lucky, one outfit and a bunch of extra stuff. I stink at packing.
But this time around, I packed outfits. You guys, I have a shirt, a pair of jeans, a sweater, underwear, a bra, the right shoes, and even jewelry for one outfit; a dress, a belt, leggings, underwear, a sweater, a bra, the right shoes, and more jewelry packed for a second outfit PLUS pajamas, a sweatshirt, one book, one knitting project and my toiletries. BAM! I packed! My phone charger is also in there! 9 extra books, an extra knitting project, a back up pair of jeans, extra tank tops, extra sweaters, an inexplicabley fancy outfit: these things are not in there! I'm so proud of myself.
Now, enough about my mini-victories! Here are two things that have made me ridiculously happy this week:
Brendan Coyle on a British cooking show, what's not to love?
This link: http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses to 450 free online courses. I listened to an Oxford Philosophy class yesterday while I worked. How cool is that?!
Have a good weekend!
PS. Because I already brought Home Alone into this post, I have to add this, mainly for Liz:
Haha! Just so ya know, I use "woof" and "yuck" regularly in daily life. Don't get too adult that you stop appreciating that about me. :-)
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's not really a risk. It's not going to happen. :)
Delete^^^^ i use woof on a regular basis too. so liz is not alone. but i think realizing that you're doing things for yourself and being responsible is a great feeling! i however, always wait til the last minute to pack, and i still pack too much. but i wore most of it on my last trip. a helpful hint? pack things of similar colors so you can mix/match if you need to! like, either pick blue or black but not both? that's all i got.
ReplyDeleteWoof!
DeleteThat is a great tip, thank you!