LDFs

Hey Everyone,

Long time no see!  But I'm BAAAAACK!  I took a little break because life got crazy!  I will recap later, but today I want to talk about LDFs or Long Distance Friendships.  Everyone knows that Long Distance Relationships are difficult, but rarely do we talk about the difficulties of having a Long Distance Friendship.  I've been very fortunate to have really amazing friendships; but, 4 of my extremely close friends live states away.  Today we're going to chat about how to keep those friendships strong even when you are states away.  It's my feeling that it's easier to maintain longterm LDFs, but mostly because my lasting LDFs have been longterm friendships at the time my friend moved away.  Caitlyn and I had been friends since 5th grade and she moved away when we were 20.  Amanda and I were friends since 3rd grade and we were 23 when she moved away for her boyfriend's job.  Zach and I were high schoolers when we met and he moved away when he was 18 for college.  Amy and I were 2 when we met and were 18 when she moved away for college.

Top Tips:

1.)  Realize that your relationship is going to change.

I've been really lucky to have had a close group of friends that did everything together.  There would be a rare occasion when we'd go to Target alone so I got quite the jolt when my friends moved away for various reasons.  Realize that you're not going to be the Target Bestie.  AND THAT IS OK!  It would make me sad when my friends told me they were running to Target with someone else, but then I realized that I was actually sad for me but happy for them.  They're in a new place and need a friend to help them live life.  This doesn't discredit your friendship or devalue your friendship in the least.

Amy and I at prom (10 years ago)

2.)  Make time for each other.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder, but damn is it hard.  Caitlyn and I have been friends since 5th grade and when she moved to UNC we actually got a lot closer.  Ironically the distance strengthened our friendship.  Whenever Cait is in NJ or PA we make sure that we see each other.  We've met for 10 minutes in our cars just to chat and give each other hugs.  Cait and I also watch Bachelor on FaceTime weekly.  Are we perfect?  No, there are times when we miss a Monday but we recap and reschedule.  Our friendship is vital to us and we make sure that we put in actual face time even though we're hours apart.

3.)  Keep traditions.

Amanda is another one of my besties who lives 3 hours away.  Amanda and I met in third grade after begrudgingly accepting a parent orchestrated playdate between our brothers.  Yup, we were the tag alongs.  We instantly bonded because she had the Ricky Martin CD and the Barbie Shopping toys.  To this day (almost 20 years later!) we chat daily.  We're constantly texting each other, tagging each other on things on various social media outlets, and keeping traditions.  Amanda and I are HUGE CHRISTMAS FREAKS!  When we were younger, we used to go see Philly's Christmas decorations and then go grab dinner.  We would eat cookies and drive around looking at lights while listening to Christmas music.  GOOD TIMES!  Now we still do that.  I drive down to visit her at Christmas time and we go visit Christmas villages and shops near her.  We still drive around and eat cookies while looking at lights.  Amanda and I love sweets and new restaurants.  Whenever we get together we try to show each other the newest and best dessert places or foodie spots.  Amanda and I also love wine and we visit wineries when we're together.  Shout out to Amanda for always greeting me at the door with a glass of wine!  (Even if we meet up at 11 am.  Mimosas are a real thing for a reason) These are our traditions and we like to keep them alive.  We also watch DCC Making The Team and Real Housewives together and then chat about these women's lives like their our besties.  We cozy up with glasses of wine, jammies (most often Christmas ones) and a sweet snack and text through everything.  Amanda and I also love to work out and we're constantly sharing healthy recipes (Hello Fitnessista!) and workout tricks and tips.  We also love a good sale and share the daily deals and steals.

Amanda, me, and our BFF Jessie James Decker in Miami
(jk we ran into her in the Atlanta airport)

4.) Little Things are the Big Things

Did you see a funny quote at Target?  Did you see two besties eating face sized ice creams together?  Tell your friend anytime that something reminds you of them.  The little things like that really carry your friendship.  One of my oldest friends, Amy, lives in New Mexico and we've been friends since age 2.  She had cool Polly Pocket sneakers and I thought she was the most awesome person ever.  So flash forward to age 20.  Amy was in for winter break and we were supposed to go to a movie.  A blizzard decided to come while we were at the theater (our parents told us not to go...but we were 20 and knew better) and it took us 20 minutes to clear the 6 inches of snow off my car.  Then, it took us 90 minutes to drive 10 miles home from the theater.  Anytime we see cars stuck in the snow, we send each other pictures and go...who would do that?  Little tongue and cheek jokes carry your friendship.

Amanda and I visiting a local MD winery

5.) VISIT!

You are not a tree, if you're not happy...MOVE!  If you miss your friend, go see them.  I'm lucky that, as a teacher, I have a more free summer schedule plus major holidays off during the year.  Zach and I visit each other yearly.  I visit NOLA every year and love that he loves his new home.  He shares the culture and lifestyle of the south with me.  He's the most amazing tour guide ever and takes me to see all of these cool new places.  We go to places where the locals go and he makes our trips amazing.  When he and Adam come up to NJ, I always bring them into the city to show them the best Philly has to offer.  We share our cultures and lives through travel.  I love going to visit my friends in their new lives.  Plus, you can meet their new friends and rest assured that they are well taken care of and loved in their new life.

Adam, Zach, and I in Louis Armstrong Park, NOLA

I hope you enjoyed this list and let me know if you have any other suggestions or ideas!  LDFs are tough and they're hard to maintain.  It would be easy to let them slip away, but with work and visits you can retain that bond that you had.  I'm not going to lie, sometimes it stings that you can't just call your BFF to go to the movies/dinner/ice cream/movie, but it makes the time you spend together so much better.  We have an unwritten rule that when we're together we don't look at our phones (unless we're taking a million pictures) and really just connect.  Remember, friendships, like any relationships ebb and flow.  Life isn't going to exactly as planned or smoothly and that's ok.  I've gotten to visit really cool places and done some really cool stuff because my friends moved.  I've gotten to see the Dean Dome where Michael Jordan got his start because Cait went to UNC.  I've gotten to go to Miami and party in DC with Amanda because she followed her heart to Maryland.  I've gotten to eat my face off in New Orleans (and visit some ghosts) because Zach moved to NOLA. I've gotten to watch some amazing chick flicks with Amy because she moved and told me about them.  Hang in there!

xoxo,

E

Day In The Life

Happy Tuesday!

How is everyone doing? I'm doing pretty fab right now. Today is a nice quiet day so I figured I'd write out a quick Day In The Life post for you all. I read this on Jen's blog and loved the idea. 

I'm a nosy person and I love to know what everyone does all day? Anyone else like that or am I the only weirdo?

Here goes!

5:30 am wake up, brush teefers, wash face, make tight pony tail for my morning run. 

5:50 am eat breakfast cookie for some pre-run fuel 

6 am- 5 mile run

6:45-7- shower my sweaty face (also time for shower concert!)

7-8:30-oatmeal breakfast and catch up on RHOC from last night. Is anyone else loving Meghan this season?  I'm a HUGE fan!  I think she's refreshing and just what the doctor (Andy Cohen) ordered. Before her I didn't really have a favorite. 

8:35-go to hot yoga. I'm almost done my 5 session groupon and idk if I'm going to continue. I might try out some new yoga styles before I commit. 

9-10:30-sweat my asana off

10:30-11:30-return home for shower #2

11:30-12-eat lunch, check email, check social media, and blog. Lunch today is Wegman's organic vegetable and barley soup. 

12-4pool lounging and catching up on some glamour magazines

4-4:30-pm snackage of baby carrots, gahhhhhhlick hummus, and a green juice. 

4:45- leave for Pilates and barre. 

5:30-6:30-Pilates 

6:30-7-barre

7-dinner of grilled chicken with mango salsa and veggies

8-get ready for bed

9-RHONY. IM ECSTATIC BETHENNY IS BACK!

10-go to bedddddddd

I hope you enjoyed reading this day in the life blog. I swear j actually do work in the summer but today was a much needed (and rare) day off. 

What does a day in your life look like?

-xo

E

Serindipity of Mean

How YOU doin'?

Ok, this one is going to be a weird post.  Lotsa land o' rando stuff in here.

Have you ever experienced a mean person?  Of course you have!  Like I'm talking a really mean person?  Someone who has hurt you and knew what they were doing?  Like someone who hurt you on purpose?  They could have prevented it, but they knowingly chose not to?  THAT my friends is what today's post is about.

I try (operative word being try) to find the serindipity in most situations.  That little serindipitous silver lining of sorts, and I think I found it in meanness.  The hard part about serindipity is that we often don't find it until much time has lapsed.  Oh Joy, right?!  I've had mean people in my life and I've always cut them out of my life and learned that my life is so much better without them.  I've had friends that turned on me, boys that cheated on me, boys that told me I wasn't a priority to them, teachers who said I just didn't get it and refused to help me get it, and jeans that ripped in inconvenient places.  These are all intentional acts of meanness.  Especially the freaking jeans!  I counted on you to be with me forever!  You made my booty look so good, you fit me on skinny days and days when I ate too much candy.  You ripped at the most inconvenient place and then Express stopped making you and my heart was forever broken, shattered really, into a bajillion unsalvageable pieces.

The serindipity of meanness is that you are able to fixate on their meanness and find it's core.  You can then evaluate what about their actions or words--or lack there of--most hurt you and use it to your advantage!  You can use it to learn what never to do.  I know that I will be using this Meanness Learning Theory in my life to better myself.  And that's really all you can do.  You can't make people be unmean.  You can't erase what they said or did.  That's impossible.  However, every experience is an experience to learn.  And learn from them I shall.


Have you ever heard For Good from Wicked?  Well, below are some of my favorite lyrics from that song.

I think this statement is 100% true.  I know that I've learned most of the things, habits, traits (both good and bad) from what I have observed and experienced from relationships both good and bad.  I obviously believe in Serindipity and I think I'm the person I am now because of the things I have seen modeled.  I've heard that everyone is either a lesson or a blessin'.  Use the good and the bad.  Some of the best lessons I've learned have come from sucky people.  I dated someone for a while who just strung me along.  I didn't put a stop to it sooner because I was afraid and had him so high up on a pedestal that I thought this was perfectly acceptable behavior.  It wasn't and I learned that instead of stringing someone along, you should cut them loose.  (I also learned to never let myself be that girl ever again.  Only strong warrior Erins are allowed)  I took this lesson and executed it.  I went on a date with a guy and just wasn't feeling it.  I told him I didn't want to see him anymore.  Did it hurt?  Not really--that's how I knew it wasn't for me.  Was it awkward and did I feel bad?  Absolutely!   But guess what?  As someone who has been strung along for a while, I knew I did the right thing.  He liked me and I didn't like him.  I knew it was less painful to execute it this way rather than develop a faux-lationship that would end up hurting him in the long run.  

This quote I know is true!  Did you ever realize, months or even years later, that a certain person (either good or bad) was meant to help you become a better person?  I have.  One of my biggest life lessons (thus far...) was that I could survive a break up and move on and be even better than before!  I also learned, from horrible girls in my high school, that I could eat lunch alone and have everyone talk about you (trust me when you live in a town that is as small as mine this is catastrophic to an 18 year old) that you will survive and move on and become greater than they will ever be.  That sounds stuck up and snobby, but guess what?  I don't care.  I am successful and unapologetic for my success.  Everyone should be this way.  Not rude about it though, but unapologetic about their successes.  I learned what constitutes a good friendship:  honesty, laughter, randomness, TMI's, and being happy for one another.  

I think people come into your life and teach you lessons that you need to learn at the exact time in which you need to learn them.  I know that the lessons that I have learned will make me a better person.    Sometimes I actually hear myself say,  OOOO, Erin, someone did the exact thing you are about to do to you and you didn't like it.  This kind of self-correct is imperative to my development as a human.  Coincidentally, know that this is a two way street.  Know that your actions are a lesson to someone else.  Always be kind.  Above all things, think of how your action or your words will affect someone else.  I know I've hurt people and I regret doing that.  However, I also know that I have learned from it and will apply that serindipitous learning experience to my future.  

In life you get what you give and if you give off mean you will get mean.  Karma is funny like that.  As my good friends on The Big Bang Theory proclaim, "Karma is practically Newtonian--for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."  

xoxo and don't be mean!  And as Ellen always says:

-E

Photo Sources:

http://simply--quotes.tumblr.com/post/31215175184/for-good-wicked-1

http://show-lyrics.tumblr.com/tagged/wicked

http://www.ellentv.com/2013/02/11/quote-of-the-day-its-kindness-week/

My Take On The 23 Things To Do Instead of Getting Engaged at 23 and Backlash Nonsense

Hello Friends!

Ok, have you all read that article 23 Things To Do Instead of Getting Engaged at 23?

If you haven't, here's the link:

http://wanderonwards.com/2013/12/30/23-things-to-do-instead-of-getting-engaged-before-youre-23/

I read it, I chuckled, got offended, reevaluated my life, assessed my life is pretty damn great, and moved on.  Then, I started seeing all of this backlash about the article and people fervently defending young marriage.  It basically boiled down to two camps:  Those who are engaged at 23 and those who are not.  Well, let me be the Bering Strait, of sorts, in regards to this discussion.  I think we all need to take a chill, take a big drink of grateful, and realize there are bigger fish to fry.  Honestly, my true feelings about marriage are this:  The only marriage I care about is my own.  What other people do or don't do in their marriage/their opinions about marriage are none of my business.  If your marriage doesn't affect my life or my future marriage, I really don't care.  Also, if those 23 year old marriages fail, it's not your problem/doesn't affect you/doesn't matter to you.  I think you should be happy about other people's life accomplishments.  I love seeing people get engaged (except exes--I am by no means saying you have to be happy for mean exes.  You don't.  I'm not.  I don't feel bad about it either.), married, or have babies.  I also am happy when people get to go on great vacations, graduate, get jobs, etc.  I just like when everyone's happy!  In the words of Barbra Streisand--don't ran on their parade!

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and feelings about marriage.  That is the beauty of marriage:  It is yours and your loves.  If you want a husband, wife, open, closed, with children, without children--that is yours and only your decision and right.

I personally do have friends that are 23 and engaged.  They are deliriously happy and I admire their relationship very much.  I look to their relationship as a beacon of what love actually means and I am so excited for their future.  I can't wait for them to get married and I am excited for their bright future!  Also, weddings are a blast!  Some sage Erin advice here folks--don't trust anyone who hates weddings. They are probably bitter and have unresolved issues.  Also, weddings have free food, free cake, free alcohol, and a free dj or band.  Why wouldn't you love them?  The more friends that get married, the more of all this I get to partake in.  I'm so on board!

Yes there are plenty of statistics about young marriages ending in painful divorces and there are a million reasons why marriages, with people of any age in them, fail.  These are statistics.  It's just math. It's just numbers.  Also, statistics are based on things that have happened in the past.  American marriages have a 50% success rate (optimism right there) and in this life full of uncertainties, I'll take 50% chances.  That number is high enough for me to make that proverbial leap one day.

Now that I have defended 23 year olds getting married, let me return to the article.  As a 23 year old non-engagee I feel that I have a firm enough grasp to debate the author's issues and point.  First of all, I'm putting my lucrative history degree to good use and assessing the tone of the article.  The tone is bitter my friends.  Bitter like an olive my friends.  The author needs to calm herself because no one likes a Bitter Betty.  However, she is allowed to her own opinions and I'd be a hypocrite if I pretended I haven't rolled my eyes at a lovey dovey couple or thought, oh yea that will last when I saw an engaged couple squabbling over a china pattern at Bloomingdale's.  But this was a different kind of bitter.  A bitter that comes from one too many broken hearts, one too many unreturned phone calls, one too many exes moving on way too quickly while you are left still nursing a broken heart.  It was bitter with a jealous undertone.  The worst kind of bitter there is my loves.  Anyway, here are my feelings about this:

1. Get a passport--Yes!  I condone travel!  Do it!  
2. Find your "thing"--ehh, I found my thing at age 5--I'm going to be a teacher/principal/superintendent/Secretary of Education.  Some people don't have their thing at 23 and that's ok.  You probably should look for it.  Ok, I'll condone this one.
3. Make Out With a Stranger--NO!  Absolutely not!  I know this is a point of contention in the Feminist world, but I just don't agree.  I'm not advocating this at all.  1) It's not hygienic.  People are disgusting!  Mouths are gross.  You can get diseases.  2) It's not romantic.  Call me old fashioned but I just think kisses are more important than that.  All the good kisses come from people you like or people you love.  Remember in Pretty Woman, when Viv tells Edward that she'll do anything but kiss on the mouth because it's too intimate?  It's true.  I believe in the fairy tale.
4. Adopt a Pet--only if you can afford it.
5. Start a Band--only if you're talented.
6. Bake a Cake--I'm pretty sure weddings have cake.  This really is something you could do with someone or alone. 
7. Get a Tattoo...because they're more permanent than marriage??--Cynical much?  Only get one if you are sure.  I bet there are a lotta people regretting their I heart Ginger Spice tramp stamps right about now.
8. Explore a New Religion--Whatever bakes your cake, honey.
9. Start a Small Business--In this economy?  Are  you serious?  
10. Cut Your Hair--NOOOOOO!  Never cut your hair when you are sad!  Life Rule #1!  Cutting your hair when you are sad is the primary reason I had bangs at 16.  No bueno mi amigos!  Step away from the scissors.  Back away.  Run away!  Not with the scissors, though, that's muy dangerous!
11. Date Two People at Once and See How Long It Takes To Blow Up in Your Face--UMMMM, YEAH! No.  Don't do that.  Think about how bad those other people will feel when they find out.  Their feelings will be hurt and you will get all kindsa bad karma.  Just because you are hurt is no excuse to hurt someone else.  We've all been there, it's not pretty.
12. Build Something With Your Hands--Sure!  Why not, right?  I'm building a pile of books to read!
13. Accomplish a Pinterest Project--Done!  I combined #12 & #13--I built Sangria with my hands!  Overachiever over here!
14. Join The Peace Corps--If that is what you are into, go.  
15. Disappoint Your Parents--As a perennial Good Girl, I hate disappointing my parents and actually can't remember when I last did this.  I spent the better part of my life avoiding this scenario.  My parents have given me so much that it would be a huge slap in the face to disappoint them on purpose.  Also, this has bad decisions and things I'd file under the headings of bad idea, NO, ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW ERIN, YOU'RE GOING TO DIE OR WORSE GET EXPELLED!  Any decision that will not benefit you in the long run is probably one you should stay far far away from.
16. Watch Girls Over and Over--ehh, am I the only one who thinks this show is the Emperor's New Clothes of television?  It's not funny and if that is how I'm supposed to live out my 20s, I'll pass.  I don't want to be any of those girls.  
17. Eat a Jar of Nutella In One Sitting--Done!  You got it girl!  I'm with you 100%
18. Make Strangers Feel Uncomfortable in Public Places--Why hurt people you don't know?  Unless it is form karaoke--then go forth and prosper!
19. Sign Up for Cross-Fit--Sure!  If you like it that's great!  I'm a huge believer in exercise and endorphins.  I just prefer Zumba and Pilates!
20. Hangout Naked In Front of A Window--In the age of the internet?  Are you even thinking?  
21. Write Your Feelings Down in a Blog--Duh!  I love this idea best!
22. Be Selfish--When you can be, go for it!  However, think of others and if what you are doing will hurt someone else then don't do it.
23. Go to the Philippines for Chinese New Year--If you want to.  

Do you see what I mean?  The tone was snarky and rude and actually condescending towards single people.  I like to think that my life is full.  It's full of friends, family, God, grad school, Netflix binges, vacations, travels, books, ideas, conversations, love, happiness, and of course some sadness.  I like to think I have better things to do as a single woman than eat Nutella all day.  I also think that yes, sometimes life would be easier with someone holding your hand through it all.  Somebody who is there when you come home from the end of a hard day to greet you with a hug and a kiss and tell you that it's all going to be okay.  But, I don't have that and I'm not going to trivialize my friends' life choices because they have that.  I'm a tough girl and there is a sort of satisfaction in knowing that I accomplished all that I have without holding (except for a very brief time lolz) anyone's hand.  I did it myself and alone and that makes me know that I can do most things alone--and that's OK!  

But as my blog's namesake clearly states, Serindipity is a fortunate accident and therefore I believe that I am exactly where I should be.  God doesn't think I'm ready for a diamond and husband and mortgage payments, and babies, and joint tax returns, and nerf gun fights in my living room (believe me, my husband and my nerf gun fights will be...wait for it...legendary!) yet and who am I to disagree with Him?  One of my favorite quotes is Just because you aren't there yet doesn't mean that you won't get there.  I'm just meant to travel a different path right now.  That doesn't mean that I'm not happy for my friends that are getting married and that doesn't mean that they are happy for me when I accomplish a life goal.  

Life's too short to be anything but happy!  I'm just enjoying my life right now and I'm enjoying (even more) going to my friends' weddings and celebrating their lives!  

So don't be bitter and in my girl Ellen's words:  Be kind to one another!

xoxo,

Erin

2014 Plans/Goals/Dreams/Fears

Happy New Year Blogfriends!

Are you as happy as I am that 2013 has come to an end?

This is me jumping with joy at the end of 2013! (I'm Ron Burgundy if you were wondering)

Ok, 2013 wasn't all bad.  It was reminiscent of 2011 though.  2011 was a shadowy, wallowy chapter in the book of Erin.  I got my heart really broken for the first time.  EVER.  Sure I had had little crushes that didn't work out, but 2011 was THE YEAR of heart break.  Well, anyway I cried, got over it, and moved on.  In 2011, after I got my heart broken, I got a promotion at work, a raise, (does that happen to anyone else?  When your personal life tanks your professional life flourishes?) made new friends, and set a new standard for my self:  Don't be that girl again!  Proudly I can say that I lived by my (and Professor Stromwell's) life motto:  If you're going to let one stupid jerk (edited) ruin your life than you're not the girl I thought you were.  However, I didn't live by this motto and I let that heart break creep into 2012.  No bueno, Erin.  

Flash to 2013, got my little heart broken again.  This time I'm keeping that heart break in 2013.  I'm not letting it worm it's little way into 2014.

Thank you Sex and The City for always voicing what a girl needs to hear.  I'm anchoring that realtionSHIP (get it, ship?  Anchors?  I love puns?  I'm a dork?  Yes?  Absolutely!) firmly in 2013.  I've actually asked that meanie to never contact me again.  Look at me being a big girl.  That brings me to resolutions.  

I usually make New Year's Resolutions.  I have a strong disdain for people who say "I have no resolutions and don't make them because you never keep them."  Welp, thanks Debbie Downers!  I actually do keep my resolutions.  And I think that if you don't set them you are showing the world you are not goal oriented.  

 

You don't know my life!  Does anyone else love that sentence as much as me?  Probably not.  I actually do keep my NYR's!  This year I'm going to make one big one and lots of little ones.  My big NYR is going to be to rid my life of people that don't make me happy.  This is going to be an easy peasy one to keep.  Only one person in my life is making me angry.  And he's been asked to vacate the premises...

My little NYR's

Health & Fitness:

• Run a 5k (doing this in September with my biffster so that's a check).
• Register for the Disney Princess Half Marathon!  I'm beyond pumped for this bad boy!
• Drink only 1 soda per week
• Drink homemade juice every day! (for lunch/snack)
• Learn new juice recipes   
• Keep my usual gym routine/class schedule in place
• Drink more Ovaltine (Just kidding!  I miss that movie...)  WATER!

Travel:

• Go back to my favorite city-NOLA!  (Hello Creative Writing Family Vacation!)
• Go on a New England Vacay!
• Go to Disney for NY 2014-2015

Work/Professional Life:

• Get a full time teaching job!
• Graduate with honors from GRAD SCHOOL!
• Start paying off my student loans!
• Work my butt off and see my hard work pay off!
• Write a proposal for a class on Jackie Kennedy for TCNJ

Personal Life:

• Rid self of anyone who makes you unhappy
• Keep looking for the one and let my guard down (Isn't that the best part of a permanent ending?  Realizing that you're one frog closer to Prince Charming!)
• Don't trust anyone with bad eye brows
• Don't make excuses for jerk behavior

Personal Improvement:

• Read 1 book a month (maybe I'll vary it up and not exclusively read Kennedy things?  Haha even I laughed when I wrote that)
• Save money
• Blog a little more (3x's a week)

Shopping:  (come on, you knew it had to be here)

• Buy Tory Burch brown leather boots I have been lusting over for 252643623 years

Hello, Lover!

• A new wallet.  I'm not sure which one I want but my faux coach one is looking a little crusty.  It will probably be pink and girlie like yours truly.  Most likely purchased at a Kate Spade Secret Sale!
• MORE LILLY!!  God, I can't stress this enough!  Lilly Warehouse Sale 2014 I'm looking at you and salivating!  Plus, I need to be in true New England style for vacation, right?  I'm really looked for printed shorts and obvi more shifts!
• Jack Rogers (for said trip...a necessity!)  I'm not really sure which color yet but I'm thinking a gold neutral would be pretty.

So these are my New Year's Resolutions 2014!  I'm liking them and thinking that I'll definitely stick to them! 

Here's What 2013 has taught me:

• I graduated TCNJ (a smart people school) with honors in both majors
• I can let my guard down and let people in
• I can pick up the pieces of my broken heart and move on with my fab self
• I have the world's best/sweetest/prettiest friends in the world
• Travel cures all
• Reading before bed is perfect
• Running solves whatever travel can't (it's cheaper, too)
• I can reach personal goals:  whether they are to save money, risk being totally awful, try new things
• Not having a happily ever after at 22 is totally fine
• I have a fantastic family
• My relationship with God keeps me thinking that there is a silver lining to everything
• My life's serindipitous events never cease to amaze me
• Taylor Swift concerts = Amazeballs!
• Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers
• Feminists and advanced degrees scare most boys (Note I said boys, not men.  REAL men aren't afraid of a strong woman)
• Sometimes tough love from a friend (We let this happen to us-JB) is the impetus for greatness and an even better happiness than you could ever dream up
• St. Louis' Cathedral in NOLA is not actually Princess Tiana's castle (Mind. Blown.  I'm not really an idiot--this is an inside joke <3) 
• I'm a hard worker
• Between a rock and a hard place you find diamonds
• "Everything may not be conscious, but everything is intentional"Dr. H
• Phillies are the best team in the MLB

So my loves, shine on and don't let 2013 drag you down.  My one friend said it was especially bad because it has a 13 in it.  I agree!  (13 has actually never done anything to me personally, but I'll roll with it!)

Below is a link to a great list of rules for being a human being in 2014.  Tell me what you think!

http://thoughtcatalog.com/brianna-wiest/2013/12/24-rules-for-being-a-human-being-in-2014/


Happy 2014!  I'm going to celebrate with the famiglia and relax!

Love Always,

Erin



photo source:
Picutre 1:
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS8x94h0A2DMIlYtJXmbQI-D6n3GuYeZnLWIPYgH50ST3VTILU7hQ

Picture 2:
https://31.media.tumblr.com/de6c2ae078cc3939da95f4e381f0d361/tumblr_inline_my5z06NDlr1rw4dyd.gif
Tory Boots;
http://skirtpr.com/blog/fashion/lindsays-fall-must-haves/