First the basics: 109 posts in the span of a year. That averages to 9 posts per month, one post every 3rd or 4th day or so. However, if you look at my track record lately, it's been just a couple per month and definitely more than 3 days between posts!
When this began: it was a way to chronicle my frustrations of having a really expensive master's degree in a profession where I was unable to find a paying job. It was meant to communicate my innermost thoughts having to do with what I was doing with my time while I was unemployed for five months after completing my degree. My goal was to write about all of the wonderful books that I was reading, comment on all of the interviews that I was sure I would be going on and journal about all of my emotional struggles.
What it turned out to be: a chronicle of our day to day (or week to week) lives including becoming a great platform to remember birthdays, anniversaries and to post pictures of friends and family. It has been a way to share the comings and goings of our life and to hopefully show how we were taking advantage of NYC. It has been a way to communicate with friends and family without calling and e-mailing (which falls by the wayside so often).
Important changes in the past year (In no particular order):
1) I did get a job about a month into blogging. In the span of a year, I have gone from plain ol' social worker to project director. I sat for my licensing exam and passed. I have learned so much about the social work profession, about hospice and palliative care and gained confidence in the job that I do.
2) We've hosted many friends and family in our tiny Brooklyn apartment and gone on numerous tours of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
3) We've taken advantage of having a car and have traveled to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
4) Sam and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary and our 4th anniversary of being together.
5) I turned 29 and am about to turn 30!!!
6) I've gained so many wonderful friends that I met through my job -- I appreciate them all and am so blessed to have met them.
7) We inherited 2 cats, whom we have grown to love.
8) We have taken advantage of living in NYC and have allowed ourselves to spend more time enjoying life.
9) My mother-in-law completed chemo and radiation and now lives a cancer-free life!
10) Our nephew has endured a couple of hospitalizations for pneumonia, including a surgery to remove part of his lung and he continues to run around like a normal 2 year old.
11) My sister-in-law is about to bring a new baby into this world.
12) My best friend brought a beautiful baby girl into this world and I finally get to meet her in a couple of weeks.
13) We've overcome losing Sam's grandma, and are saddened by the recent loss of Barclay.
14) We watched Shelly and Joe finally get married!
15) I've watched Sam blossom in his job and get many much-needed kudos from his management team.
16) I have learned not to take myself too seriously and to take better care of myself.
17) I have learned to be a better wife and to cherish all of the time that I get to spend with my husband.
18) I have learned to be a friend -- how to make friends and most importantly, how to keep friends.
19) I have adopted a healthier lifestyle, including becoming a vegetarian, which has resulted in a 40-pound weight loss.
20) I have come to the realization that we may not be leaving Brooklyn any time soon, and I've made peace with it.
And most importantly,
I have learned so much about my self and I am loving myself more and more each day. I know that I still have so much more to work on, but I feel like I have made some major gains this year.
Plans for the next year:
More posting, more self-care, continuing to kick ass at my job, loving my husband more and more, spending more time with friends and family and getting the rest of this weight off!
Thanks to each of you that read this blog and continue to support me and shower me with uplifting and calming words. Thanks for enduring all of my bullshit and complaining and for being a sounding board for all of life's dilemmas...
Me on the beach at Coney Island last year...
5 comments:
my wife is a freaking rockstar and kicks ass.
just wanted to share that with all of you out there on the interweb.
O! I didn't know you went vegetarian! I've totally been thinking of doing that! Is it hard? Any tips? How long have you been doing it? That's really awesome- I'm sure that it's really good for you too!
To many more years of Gracefully Social posts! Hurrah!
The vegetarian thing started the day after Labor Day. It really hasn't been hard and it's been interesting finding new things to eat. We've definitely gotten in to Indian and Thai food and have been cooking a ton of portobello mushrooms. Maybe I'll post some of our favorite recipes.
Basically, you make anything taste good without meat. We eat a lot of soups, chili's and stews.
I second Sam's comments. As I've told you many times I think you are absolutely awesome. And I AM being objective on this. I know all you have done to get where you are today and I have so much respect and admiration for you that I can't really put it into words. I love all that you have gained in the past year. And I have to tell you something that sort of hit me yesterday. I may be wrong (I hope I am) but I wouldn't be surprised to see you guys become permanent New Yorkers. I think there is something about living there that kind of gets in your blood. It will be hard to come back to Texas and not have all the stuff you have there. Maybe by expressing this on paper it won't seem as scary.
Love you.
Mom
Coincindentally, Yoni went back in the hospital the day y'all started being vegetarians. Was that a conscious choice or something that just sorta grew out of heathly eating?
Anyways - you certainly have come a long way baby - and we don't get a chance to tell you enough (phone conversations are limited on this end - my bad!) how great it is that you guys are coping with New York City compared to laid-back Austin, Texas.
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