Turning 26 - Being a Grown-up

Hello Blog, 

So this past Wednesday 10/20/10, I turned 26 years old. Now, normally getting old is such a huge drag, but this year I embraced turning 26 simply because I felt that my year as a 25 year old was a complete bust. Shitty stuff seemed to keep on happening! So I thought - becoming older might not be such a bad thing. Although I did cringe a little when I went to the gym that day and the elliptical forced me to put in my age and for the very first time I had to put 26. At least I can still consider myself in my mid-twenties though... 27 and 28, not so much.

It's funny though. When you envision your life when you are a little kid it is so much different. I feel like when we are kids we truly do dream big or we simply have such a skewed version of what reality is actually like.The likeliness of being a baseball player, an astronaut, or a rocket scientist (is this a real job?) is not very likely at all. But as kids no one tells us these things. Who would've thought that becoming a teacher would at times seem just as unrealistic as becoming a rocket scientist. Hmph. 

Anywho, when I was little I remembering having conversations with my cousin Jeni. I remember we would say things like "I want to have kids when I'm 22 because I don't want to be OLD when they are teenagers." hahaha. This is hysterical simply because at 26 I still think I would cry if I woke up tomorrow and was pregnant.I also always assumed I would have a career and a house at this point in my life - and alas I do not have those things either. Maybe by the time I'm 30?? That seems like a reasonable enough goal - wouldn't you say? 

Part 2 - Being a Grown up. So with turning 26 - for the first time ever(?) I did not take off any time this weekend to celebrate. I did have a wonderful family dinner at my brother and Jen's house on my Birthday, but this weekend I am literally work, work, working.Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday day! No time to party - but lot's of money. Definitely the grown-up decision -"make money, instead of spend money".  I have also been subbing like crazy! The only day I didn't sub was my birthday - but I still went to the gym. Look at me - mature adult, I think so!

That's all for today - I don't want this blog to be enormous. But future topics: 

1. Two minute conversation with my mother for the 1st time in months (still digesting)

2. Subbing as opposed to being a TA in a town too far away. Tough decision.

3. Florida and it's excitement :) 

4. As always - random shit. 

Farewell for now. 

Hodge Podge Entry

I had full intentions of blogging yesterday and then we lost power from about 7pm till midnight. It suuucked. Not having power is the worst, there is literally nothing you can do. Jonathan was a complete basket case with out power. He was supposed to be doing a raid on World of War Craft and of course he could not be part of it since our power was out, but he insisted on listening to the convo's between all of the people that were playing on his phone (and consistently talk about just how awesome his phone is!). After listening to all the people talk about this online game where people have magical powers and fight dragons and whatnot... I realized that it's nice to know that Jonathan should be considered one of the cool kids who plays that game cause let me tell you the rest of them sounded like complete tools. So anyways - he paced around the house for at least the first two hours of having no power and called the electric company twice, even though I insisted that it would make no difference whatsoever. The 2nd time he called National Grid told him the power would be back on by 10... and alas it wasn't turned on till 1230ish. We went to bed around 1015 out of plain old boredom. Prior to sleeping we had many silly conversations - including our top three favorite cereals. I think I landed on Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Frosted Flakes, and Raisin Brain Crunch. 

So in general this week has kind of sucked. I haven't gotten any phone calls to substitute. When I took my hiatus from blogging a big reason is because I had started to work a lot. Subbing has sucked though... a lot of the subbing I have been doing is for para's (one on one aides) so I'm really not teaching... just babysitting kids that make me want to tear my hair out. Okay not all the kids... but one in particular who I have subbed for 3 times now.. He is such a difficult child... on those days I question why again I am in this field and why I don't just give up already. I had a job interview on Tuesday for a teaching assistant position in Sudbury. Not something I really want to do... and I know the interview sucked cause I was all flustered cause I got lost on my way there... and I got frustrated cause the drive was annoying. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't get the job because I don't really want it anyways... but then at the same time... it's like... I can't even get hired for a TA position. Ugh... sucks. After my vacation at the end of the month I am going to re-evaluate my current job situation and finally make the big decision as to "what's next....".
 

My weekend up north with Jonathan, Jeni and Mark was a blast. We had a lot of fun and overall had a chance to just all hang out together which in my opinion we don't get to do nearly enough. We got there late Friday night and just hung in. The boys had a few beers (and played with their phones... of course). Me and Jeni shared a bottle of wine and had some girl talk. Then on Saturday we woke up early and went to Peg's for breakfast (mmmmm)... then we went back to the condo and all got ready to head to Oktoberfest on Loon. We rode the Gondala to the top of the mountain and took a little nature walk through the "bear caves". We had some hot chocolate and took a bunch of pictures. It was gorgeous... I started to understand why people who don't experience the changing of the seasons drive up this way. If you have never seen the foliage I bet it is even more beautiful then we think it is :) Then we came back down the mountain and had some beer. Mmmm... Jeni even had some. There was this Harpoon Hard Cider, that was delicious! That night we went to Woodstock Station for dinner. The wait was forever! But worth it.. the food is sooo good there. The next day we went and had bagels and coffee in the morning, then we walked around the craft fair that they had in town. Then we walked around the little shops in North Woodstock. We bought candy at the Candy ShoppE! And Jonathan bought me a candle and a pretty necklace at the Sunburst store :) Then we had a late lunch at Truants and a few hours later we all came home. Overall it was a blast! I love my family <3 

 Here are a few of the many pictures taken over the weekend:

Fall Foliage

The mountain and lake from the top of Loon

Riding on the Gondola

Jeni and I on the top of the tower

Jonathan and I on the top of the Mountain

On our nature walk

Boys enjoying their brews at Oktoberfest

The four of us out to dinner at the Station

Yoga

I'm back! Tomorrow I will write a longer post dedicated to where I have been these past three weeks. I promise you it is not all that exciting. I took a hiatus from blogging and a sojourn this weekend (if you do not understand the meaning of  these words please refer to - amyanncall.blogspot.com) ;)

For today I would like to blog about Yoga and exercising.  A few weeks ago I wrote a blog focusing on me getting healthy and working out the proper way. I did not include in that blog the fact that I have been trying my damnedest to become dedicated to Yoga and my Tuesday/Thursday night Yoga classes. My gym offers Yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I try very hard to go every Tuesday but within the past month and a half, or so it seems, something always comes up that makes it so I can not go. A few times I have been called in to waitress because people need their shifts covered. Then I get extremely pissed that I agreed to cover the shift because I only end up making 30$ and I would much rather be at Yoga. Thursday nights it is near impossible to go to Yoga... mainly because I work every other Thursday... and the Thursdays that I don't work I am typically drinking wine and eating dinner with my cousin (I assure you - giving that up would be a lot more detrimental to my health and stress than skipping out on Yoga). 

Wow! It seems when I don't blog for a while I become very rambley (I invented this word just now).

Anywhoooo.... Today was an exciting day for Yoga because as an early birthday present I got brand new Yoga pants from Jonathan! Since I had Yoga tonight he let me open them, so I could wear them... and let me tell you... I think I would live in yoga pants if I could... SOOO comfy! 

My boyfriend is one of the best gift givers in the world. He ALWAYS knows which purse, pants, necklace, you name it - he know what I will like best... Check out the print on these pants: 

Anyone who knows me... knows I love purple and I looove stars. He is the best. <3 He also took these pics just so I could blog about my awesome new yoga pants!! haha

So aside from the excitement of the new pants.. Yoga was very nice and relaxing tonight. It was a fairly small class tonight... only six of us. I love the way my body feels completely stretched and relaxed after I leave yoga. It is a wonderful feeling. But here is a few things I have learned about myself since I started yoga: 

1. How is it that women that are at least 2x my age have WAY more flexibility than I do?? I mean I can HARDLY touch the ground when stretching my hands to the floor. And my "downward facing dog" - I can not get my feet to stay flat on the floor for the life of me. Yet these other woman are completely stretched out and for the most part have better balance than me too!!! I think I am getting better though... I definitely felt a little more stretchy tonight. And my tree pose was hardly wobbly at all!
2. I have ZERO ability to concentrate. During the namaste (???) (those of you who don't do yoga - this is like the meditation piece) I can not focus on my breathing or keep my mind clear. Tonight we were supposed to be listening to this gong thing ring and only be focusing on that sound, which was extremely difficult (especially when it became so faint you could barely hear it!). During the time that I was supposed to be listening this is what I was doing - thinking about wanting pasta for dinner when I went home, listening to the noise of the fan, listening to the sounds of the gym outside of the yoga room, I then thought about how I had to do my laundry and how I don't really want to sub tomorrow, but I should if they call me... I also thought about how cold my feet were and how cold your whole body becomes when you are just lying still on the floor. I also thought at one point that I felt like I was at the dentist because my mouth was open partially (because it felt relaxed- she told us not to clench our teeth), but then it got dry like it does at the dentist.... and then I even thought about how I couldn't stop thinking about things and just focus. Just for some perspective - namaste only lasts about 5 (at most 10) minutes. My mind really can't shut the hell up for 5 freakin minutes???
3. The meditation piece is not called namaste - that is just the prayer greeting at the end. I can not find the actual word... hahaha. I think it starts with an S though. I am clearly a yoga novice.

Moral of the story - I love my yoga pants, but I think I suck at Yoga. I will persist though :)

Be an optimus prime!

I am sorry I have been gone for so long. I feel like I haven't had anything all that interesting to blog about. However I found this picture today and had the need to add it to my positivity blog :)

I'm going up to the mountains this weekend. When I come home I will be much better with my blogging! Happy Columbus Day! :)