Wedding Planning Insanity

So my "back"ness was short lived, eh? I did finish the invitations, on time! Phew. They were well received. I was actually a little surprised at how nice it felt to get the positive feedback. I mean, I figured people would like them, but, yea. It was just nice to hear it.

I'm under two weeks out and about to have a meltdown. I supposed it does not help that I'm probably a little pms-y and haven't had a good nights sleep the last few nights... Hot Mess, right here! In addition to all the other little details that I am tending to I have my family stressing me out. Good times.

Work hasn't been horrendous, so that's good. I am excited to be taking 16 work days off!! Woohoo!! 3 whole weeks plus 1 day!!! That's almost a month! And most of my time off will be on my honeymoon! With my HUSBAND!! With the wedding and all its craziness behind us. It will be a relief.

Okay, just checking in cuz I have some guilt for not being a better blogger. Most of the time I think blogging may not be for me, but I still refuse to give up trying. I love the idea of it. And I used to journal like a mad woman... I guess I am holding out hope that I will find my stride.

I'm Baaaaaack

Sooo, shortly after my last post I lost my boyfriend and gained a fiance!!!! =D Then shortly after that I lost my car (in that it died *sadface*) and gained a new job!! So, yea. Lots going on this year. Wedding planning, adjusting to a new (very different!) job, and did I mention wedding planning and adjusting to that new job...?

Being a crafty, DIY kinda chica I of course want to hand-make EVERYTHING!! Though not completely realistic, I will be making A LOT of things in regards to my wedding. Starting with really crazy, intricate, handmade wedding invitations. A booklet that needs to be sewn into the pamphlet thingy and all the pages are handwritten. It looks kinda like this:

The first one was wicked easy to make! Times that by about 100... Yea. Thankfully we have a kick ass MOH (that's Maid of Honor for those of you not down with your wedding lingo) and Groomsman who came over and just showed that red cardstock who was boss! Woot! Next up will be centerpieces, then cupcakes, and all sorts of decor and other things inbetween. The next 3 months will be full on crazy pants!

My new jobby is as a group therapist in an inpatient setting. 8 hours a day. When I am done I am done. I don't take work home with me. I have a life outside of my job. I am able to relax and enjoy my nights and weekends. I am also on track to have my LMHC and ATR by Sept/Oct 2012... a few months later than I was hoping, but not that far off track. Phew.

That is more or less what I've been up to for the past 11 months. That and a shit ton of knitting! For now I am off to enjoy my air popped popcorn and Say Yes to the Dress. Here's to getting back on the blogging wagon...

(Also I'm a year and almost a half into my 30s and I'm still loving it.)

Work Woes

I have decided that I want a desk job. This therapy stuff is intense. The fee for service is what makes it the most intense. As if being a therapist isn't crazy enough (no pun intended) add on the stress of the ffs business. I need a vacation. Well, I need a new job, buuuut, it's looking like a vacation would probably be more likely at this point.

As I reflect on my career path I have set upon I wonder how far along I'll go on it. I am one of those Jack of All Trades kinda people. I have had many ideas for career paths. However I do not necessarily feel like I have had "one true calling" or even that I could settle down in one job. Currently I just want to open a yarn shop and do needle work all day while running the store. That and to be a mom. One day maybe I'll get there but for now the debt I have incurred from all my higher education keeps me working at not my own business jobs. ...And honestly who knows what I'll want to do in a year from now. Who am I kidding it'll be something artsy.

One of these days I will fully embrace my artsy desires and run, run, run with them. Maybe during my so-called forties.

MoneyMoneyMoney

Being 7 months out of Grad school means the student loan payments are rolling back in in full effect. The amount makes me believe I may never pay them off in this lifetime and makes me want to cry a little. I mean, I'll be able to pay them off, I'll live in a shack and raise my (future) children to grow their own food and sew their own clothes. Maybe that won't be so bad... Well, the shack, not so much, but the other part... I wouldn't mind raising such resourceful children! I know I will raise them to have some money sense early on, so that they won't have to figure it out in their 20s like I did. I was never as bad as my mother, but I could've been better about some things.

As I look at the things I want to accomplish in my 30s (wedding/honeymoon, house, kids and staying at home w/ said kids 1/2 of the time) sometimes I feel quite overwhelmed. I know I don't want to stay at home full time, but I also would like to not HAVE to work full time either. But there is the matter of those not one, but two, degrees from not public, but private schools to take into consideration as well.

At times I feel like it's never friggin easy! But then I have to check myself and remind myself to take it one day at a time. I'm entry leveling it fresh outta school, which is normal and to be expected. As I put my time in, and, more importantly, get licensed I'll move up on the pay scale. So there is that. But why oh why does it take 2 years to get licensed?! Arg! On the other hand... I'm a quarter of the way there!!!!

The glass is half full. The glass is half full. The glass is half full...

Let's Go Back In Time

Why is it that in the car I always have wonderful ideas on what to blog about but when I get in front of my computer they are nowhere to be found? Happen to anyone else?

If I'm gonna be writing about my so-called 30s I suppose I should start with how I got here...

I was born... no, just kidding! I'm not going thaaat far back. I will start with this: In my teens I thought 30 was pretty old. Old in the sense that you were settled and had yer crap together. Hell, as I teen I thought the same about 24/25! I figured I'd get married at 26 or 27 then start poppin' out some babies a couple years later. No big career plans, that is for sure. I did know I wanted to be a therapist but wasn't sure how that was going to fit in as I was not ready to pursue the field right out of high school.

Anyway, cut to 24/25... Was not settled, did not have it all figured out. Well I was on my way to having it all figured out, but far from settled. Around that time I was ready to pursue my Masters in the therapy field. Art therapy as it turned out. I started my program the summer I turned 28. By that point I was extra excited for my 30s. My plan at 28 was to find the man of my dreams that year so that come 2010 I could graduate and get married.

I am a flexible kinda gal. As it turned out I did not find the man of my dreams until I was 29, so I'm off by a year, but that's okay by me.

I think having a goal is imperative, but being flexible is just as important if not more so. One of the things I want more than anything is to get married and have children (I know! So girly, right?!), however I am not at all willing to settle. Yes, I want a husband, but I would've stayed single my entire life if I did not find someone who fit my standards. I am not the settling type in that department, thank you very much.

It has been fun to reflect upon my journey to 30 along the way and presently. I had a plan as a teen, but what does one really know as a teen? In retrospect it's a bit of a limited scope. I had a plan and I had the ability to roll with life, for which I am thankful.

I'm not gonna lie, I have been excited to turn 30 for a few years now! I'm 5 months in and don't hate it, so that's good. Life has been a big adjustment recently but that has more to do with entering the mental health field than bumping up to the next decade; they just happened to happen at around the same time.

I knew work would be tough, but, wow. It has been an adjustment to say the least. I am still struggling with managing it all. My boyfriend has been wonderful through it all. Poor guy, he met me as a crazed grad student which has morphed to a crazed therapist. I would love to convince him I'll get less crazed, but.... hasn't happened yet, so I don't wanna go making promises I can't keep.

I have gotten away from journaling, which once upon a time I did religiously, and needed to reconnect with writing, so I am giving the blogging thing a go. Once again. Sooo we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck. I really want to make this blogging thing happen, for realsies this time!