Adult Life

I started my full-time job seven months ago... where has the time? I feel like I'm getting complete settled in, but some days/weeks are still overwhelming. Thank goodness for 3-day weekends. With today's holiday, I feel like I have some time to catch up. I got up early (it helps me wake up earlier on days when I DO have to wake up for work) and got down to business... laundry, ironing, dish-washing. I also took time to do things I wanted... painting my nails and reading my Bible. I did all of this in my pjs while drinking coffee.

Some things I've noticed that I make me feel like a real adult:
-I take out my recyclables frequently. I did NOT do this in college... I'd let them pile up until I couldn't handle it anymore. I feel way more in control when I recycle them before they get overwhelming.
-I wash my towels and sheets frequently. At least every other week. It helps that I have a washer and dryer all to myself (as opposed to sharing with my three roommates last year).
-I don't wear my clothes more than once. Of course, there are exceptions: jeans, khakis, jeggings, some dresses. But I wear a shirt to work, and then I wash it. Again, I think this is a result of having my own washer and dryer. I used to feel like I had to save clothes. Now I HAVE to have clean clothes.
-I actually use my iron and ironing board... those slacks don't press themselves.
-I make decisions without my parents' input (sometimes). I still value their opinions and frequently ask for advice, but the other day I bought a ticket to St. Louis for my friends' wedding. Without consulting my mom first.
-I like to be in bed early and read. I never made time for reading in college. Now I can't get enough... space books, classics, cheesy teen novels. My friends are trying to convince me to read Game of Thrones... so that is now on my list.
-I use Facebook and Twitter less. Still obsessed with Tumblr and Instagram, but I spend less time in general on social media. Which means I spend more time on work, being with friends, exercising, reading. All good things :)

Anyways, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my day off with a trip to the mall and a coffee shop downtown before meeting up with Amanda for dinner. Happy Monday, y'all!

2015 Resolutions

I have some very concrete goals for 2015, and I have so very vague goals for 2015. While concrete goals are so much easier to quantify, I like the idea of vague goals that are broader and allow for personal development.

My quantifiable goals:

1. Run 300+ miles over the course of the year.
2. Read 5+ books over the course of the year.
3. Use my crock pot at least 5 times this year.
4. Take the GRE (and use my prep book beforehand!)

My less quantifiable goals:
1. Clean my apartment more. Vacuum, sweep, dust, wash my towels and sheets.
2. Take more time for me. Read more, journal more, spend less time on Netflix, Facebook, and Tumblr.
3. Confront scary things right away.

Number 3 is probably the biggest thing I want to accomplish in 2015. I tend to put off doing things I dread, which really just prolongs the anxiety. I think I'll be happier if I deal with things immediately. That phone call I dread making? If I make it right away, I don't have to worry about it the next day. The errand I have to run? If I can squeeze it in today, I won't have to do it on my weekend. I think that I'll save myself lots of stress (though I really don't stress much anymore thanks to school being behind me).

I didn't make goals related to work, but if I had one, it would be to leave work AT work.  I already give up 40 hours of my week to my job. That. Is. Plenty. I don't need to study at night... I could be reading, journalling, writing to friends, cooking dinner, or watching a movie. Making time for me.

2014 was a GREAT year! I'm so looking forward to seeing what 2015 will bring for my friends, my family, and me! Happy New Year, y'all :)

Goals for the future...

I am a pro at to-do lists. Writing this blog was on my to-do list for the afternoon (my post-work-to-do list, not to be confused with my work-to-do list). What I'm not so good at is long-term goals. I realized that right now I'm kind of just living day-to-day. Which is okay! I think it was necessary in school... I had to manage what little time I had and take care of the things that needed to get done the soonest.

I still make to-do lists each morning. But what I don't do is make a to-do list for the week, the month, the year. And this morning it hit me: I don't know what long-term goals I have for myself at work or in my personal life. Throughout college, my long-term goals were constant: graduate and get a full-time job. I've achieved both of those goals... now what?  Obviously I have to get certified to be a flight controller. That goal is laid out for me by the performance plan at work... but that is the minimum I need to do. I haven't really thought about how I'll get to the point where I'm prepared for minisims in February or our biggest test sometime next year.

So today I started thinking about the things I want to do in addition to the minimum (and interim steps to get where I want to be). I haven't gotten too far in my planning, which is okay. These things take time. But I came up with some things I want to do before Christmas (both at work and at home).

By Christmas:
-Have started paying off my student loans
-Pass my Console, Tools, and Displays checkout
-OJT or sim follow at least twice
-Finish my GPS workbook
-Pass my GPS checkout
-Start working on the RGA workbook
-Make my bed every day between now and then (slipping once a week is okay... no one is perfect)
-Cook a meal that I haven't cooked before
-Journal at least twice a week (this is more to keep me honest about my progress and give me a place to write down my feelings)
-Talk to our co-op about what she would do differently if she could start her tour over again
-Finish 4 scrapbook pages for Kirstyn

I'll come up with more things for what I want to do by the end of January, February... like take the GRE and start researching grad schools, but that's all for now!  Going to try out a community band tonight... can't wait to play!

Sleep shifting... kind of...

I'm writing this post at 5:07 a.m. Why?!?! Because I'm pseudo sleep shifting for a night. On console, we call the 11 p.m. til 7 a.m. shift Orbit 1, and it's a quiet shift on console. Which is why I want to OJT (on-the-job train) on an O1... lots of time to ask questions and talk to the ADCO without getting in the way.

In order to pseudo sleep shift, I went to bed at 8 p.m. yesterday. Weird. And then I forced myself to get up at 4:15 a.m. today. My hope is that I'll be able to sleep from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m. and then get up, shower, and go to work. 6 hours doesn't sound too bad, right? The cool thing (and the hard thing) is that you try to stay up all day on Thursday. So I'll get off work around 8 a.m., and then I have to stay awake the rest of the day. Which means I can do a lot of errands and stuff during the day. It's so great. I'm making a list of everything I want to get done... buy stamps and a can opener, take all my recyclables to Ellington Field, put together my desk chair (still in its box), do laundry, vacuum, and Dance Jam!

It's a little rough (like I am so tired right now), but it will work. And then Training Academy starts next week and the ball gets rolling. Looking forward to work picking up and moving towards my cert.

Have a great rest of the week!

Full-Time Goals

Yesterday I started my full-time job, which seems crazy. Really. It was the first day in a long career. It was ridiculous to think about how many days of work I have left.

That being said, there are a lot of things I want to do now that I'm a 'grown up'. I felt that if I posted them here, I might be held accountable. So here it goes:

1. I want to make my bed every single day. Thanks to lofts in college, I got out of the habit. Now that I have my own bed, I'm going to do it every day. I started on July 2nd, and I've made it every morning since. Progress!

2. Wash my sheets and towels frequently. Again, something I didn't do in college that I need to do now.

3. Cook more often. Scrapbook more often. Spend time by myself more often. Doing things independently and taking care of myself by doing things I enjoy but tend to put off when social commitments arise.

4. Call Mom and Dad more frequently. Invite them to come visit me. Make trips home just because.

5. Say no to more things. I'm so bad at over-committing. I want to take a few months to figure out how I want to allocate my time. I've skipped Bible study, avoided fitness class (with the exception of Dance Jam), etc. I don't want to get stuck in a rut.

6. Use my sun shield and reusable bags more.

Gonna try to rock being an adult (while still having tons of fun!)

So many "BIG GIRL" moments!

As the move to Texas draws near (I leave in 4 days, y'all), I keep finding myself doing more and more grown-up things. Of course, I'm living with my 'rents right now, but on July 1st my first ever solo lease begins. I've set up electricity, been researching renter's insurance, and just yesterday I opened a bank account. ALL BY MYSELF. It's actually been overwhelming. I get stressed and start sweating (for real), and I have to ask a ton of questions so that I know what is going on. I HATE not knowing what I'm doing, but I think it's been a good learning process for me. 

Oh, I also bought a bed! And a whole bathroom set-up (towels, rug, shower curtain, etc.) that matches. It feels so 'big girl'. I'm excited to be able to move in (and then I'll post pictures).

After the move, I should be a lot less stressed. I don't start working til a few weeks later, so I will have time to blog, scrapbook, read, lay out by my pool... all the fun summery stuff that I really haven't crammed into my summer yet. 

But USA plays today, so I need to take care of some stuff before the game! #IBELIEVE 

To my future backpacker self...

I was blessed to be able to spend 3 weeks post-graduation backpacking through Europe with my twin sister and a college friend of hers. Nothing I have experienced has been as surreal as receiving my diploma on Sunday and flying to Munich on Wednesday.

We had a really successful trip: minimum drama, minimum confusion, and maximum adventures. So many great stories to tell and pictures to cherish. 

What up, Cinque Terra?!?!

Pardon the selfie: inside the Leaning Tower of Pisa

My lovely travel companions wine-tasting in the Chianti region of Italy.

Sisters by the Trevi Fountain

Of course, there are always a few things that you realize you could have done better, prepared more for, or packed. So here is my advice for the next time you don your backpack.

1. Pack a roll of toilet paper.
You never know when your hostel will run out (happened multiple times to us) or when the train won't have any to begin with. Also, the toilet paper can double as napkins or tissue paper. Handy!

2. Pack your clothes in gallon bags.
Jennifer did that on our trip, and it made organizing her large backpack way easier. My clothes were a jumbled mess!

3. Pack hand sanitizer or soap.
Some hostels didn't have any soap. Gross. We were happy we had hand sanitizer (good thing my twin is a germaphobe!)

4. Look up your hostel beforehand, and print directions on how to get there. 
The struggle with trying to find our way (before we picked up a map of the city) was real. It would have been easier to have that information from the get-go.

5. Research the places and learn the language. 
This is my one regret: I didn't have time to mentally prepare for the trip. No time to read up on the history, sites, or cultures of the places we visited. I didn't know how to say "Hi!" in Greek. Don't get me wrong: I LOVED MY TRIP. It just would have been awesome to get more out of it.

6. Buy Eurail passes.
We did this. Best. Decision. Ever.

7. Take your student ID.
Discounts for days.

8. Buy the Roma Passes in Rome; reserve your trip to the Vatican Museum; get in line early to see the statue of David. 
Essentially, be prepared. Look online to see if you need to reserve a time to go (and it usually allows you to skip the line!). We got around Rome like pros because we prepped for the upcoming day the night before. It allowed us to make the most of our time.

That's all I can think of for now (and my mom would be upset if she knew I was blogging instead of cleaning my room/packing for Texas).

Ciao!