blog – ThirtySomething Shenanigans

October 24, 2017October 24, 2017

Enjoy the little things…

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This weather today and yesterday, yuck.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s better than snow in my opinion any day, but still, it just makes it a drag to get out of bed for work? Am I right?

So, I’ve decided to compile a list of things you can do after the work day while it’s still drizzly and gloomy outside…

Light a candle, plop on the couch or a comfy chair and read a book. Maybe it’s a book that’s been collecting dust on your shelf (er, maybe that’s just me) or one you just bought but you’ve been so bogged down with work you haven’t had time to crack it open yet.
Journal/blog. Nothing releases pent up emotions or just random thoughts in your head like letting it all out on paper. Grab a pen or pencil and get to writing (or typing if you’re blogging.) I did this last night on my phone instead of texting people and let me tell you, I felt much better about it this morning.
Create a dream board. Or in my case, a dream journal. It’s been a little bit since I’ve worked on it but when I started it I had a lot of fun. I have a bunch of old magazines that I just cut words and pictures from and pasted them in my journal. They serve as a reminder to not dwell on the little things and always keep reaching for your dreams, no matter how big or small.
Watch a TV series or movie. Same as reading s book, maybe it’s one you haven’t watched or ever seen.
Sit with a cup of coffee or tea and just listen to the rain. Open the windows and just listen. And/or think. Just let whatever comes to come mind come, and then let it go, especially if it’s a negative thought.
Call a friend. Think of how often you only text with a friend. Or, write a letter. Who wouldn’t love getting an old-fashioned snail mail letter? Dial that number or grab that pen and write a “just because” letter to your friend. Or perhaps even to your future self about goals you hope you accomplish.
Draw, color, paint. Nothing gets the juices flowing quite like that.
Do some season cleaning. It’s the fall now, so perhaps you still have a plethora of spring and summer clothes lingering in your closet or dresser and you don’t wear much of now or probably won’t ever again, so clean them out and donate them.
Listen to music. Simple as that. A day without music is a day wasted, in my opinion.
Take a nap. This is always number one for me on days like today but, I thought I would have a greater chance of people not reading this list until the end if I put napping as No. 1. 😉

Whatever you chose to do, make sure it’s a fun activity.

Until next time…

XO,

Anamaria

March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

Invest in people who invest in you…

investment

Walking into my house with the smell of Kipper lingering in the air isn’t exactly the welcome home I envisioned upon returning from being gone all day.

Thankfully I work at Bath and Body Works and am obsessed with our candles and have countless of them that I lit one right away in hopes of the smell fading. So far, the Kipper is still winning. -_-

And I’m thinking about how I need to allow 12 hours to fast before tomorrow morning since I have to get blood work, etc. done. Because you know, nothing says “Happy Friday” more than that. Ah… Good times. Thankfully I’m heading to visit my best friend after that for the night. Haven’t seen her new place since she’s moved.

Speaking of friends… I got to thinking today how friendship should always be a two-way street. If it’s not then is it really a friendship to begin with?

I tell ya, friendship is something I hold dear to my heart. I consider myself an extremely blessed person for having the friends I do in my life. My closest friendships, especially, have endured some tough times. Sure, we’ve had countless fun times with endless laughter, but, the true test of friendship comes, in my opinion, when you can endure hardships together.

And, I have more than one best friend.

Now, if you ask my brother Tom, he’ll say you can have only one best friend but, I disagree. I consider my group of “best” friends the best for a reason. Some I’ve known since kindergarten, others middle school, junior high, college. While I’ve known some longer than others, to me it isn’t about who I’ve known the longest but, who’s been by my side from the beginning and never left–even when times got tough.

Now I know that’s a cliche, but, it’s a cliche I find to be very applicable to my life. And in recent years, months, I’ve come to realize that while I consider myself to have a decent amount of friends in general, not everyone may consider me one back.

I’ll be the first to admit I am not the perfect friend. I’m human, and I make mistakes and say stupid things. But, I make up for it by being what a friend should be to begin with. Loyal, honest, trustworthy, apologize when necessary, and overall just be a listening ear when there are no words.

But, in general, like I mentioned above, friendship should always be a two-way street. I think when you’re the only one putting time and effort into it, or the other person offers effort when it’s only convenient for him or her, then perhaps it’s time to cut your losses. After all, life’s much too short to spend it on people who only want to be in your life part-time.

parttimefriends

It’s funny how friendships work out though. Or don’t. For example, a prime one… Today, I spent the day “working” with my friend, Melinda, who I just met in January through our internship. We had so much fun together that it honestly didn’t feel like work. And those are the type of friendships and people I value and appreciate having in my life.

We’ve only known each other for just two months now but, after today, I feel like I’ve known her much longer. She is genuinely one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and, I realized in some ways, we are exactly alike. (Which, to others, I am not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing, LOL!) But, like I mentioned above, friendship isn’t always about who we’ve known the longest. Sure, I’ve only known her for two months but, she’s someone I’ve come to know as kind, loyal and trustworthy. And also, freaking hilarious! I seriously laughed so hard with her today that I snorted, and I’m sure some people thought I was totally nuts. (Side note: I was getting a little slap happy and acting a little loopy since I am so exhausted and don’t even know how I am still up, writing a blog right now. Oh wait, yes… COFFEE! Coffee for the win!)

Anyway… Some friendships in my life I feel as though I should ween myself off of simply for the fact because I feel they don’t serve me much purpose. Like, I wonder what I am gaining from these individuals? Especially, when they’re the ones who are only in it partially.

I get it, people are busy with their own lives–myself included, but, if someone really wants a friendship to work out, he or she will make the effort to make it work. Now, for some friendships, in my life for example, I don’t need to talk to my friends everyday to know we’re still friends. And I’m sure other people are like that too. To me there’s nothing wrong with that–it just reaffirms my friendship with that person and shows how truly strong our bond is.

But, for other friendships, I feel as though more semi-frequent communication/contact with each other is essential. Or, just, nice. But at an appropriate time. Like I also mentioned above earlier, I am not the most perfect friend and I don’t always make the time to touch base with my friends when I should but, thankfully I have wonderful friends and they realize we’re all busy with our own lives sometimes. Other people though, I feel as though they treat a friendship with me, in this case, or in general, a person, and only contact them when it’s convenient for him or her, or, otherwise, when he or she is simply lonely? Bored? Not sure what the right word is but, the bottom line is, it’s not a full investment in the friendship. And that’s just something I can’t get on board with.

Sure, it’s something I myself need to work on because I’m sure I come across this way to some of my friends, and after feeling as though I’ve been treated like this myself, I definitely wouldn’t want others to feel the same way. It’s not a great feeling. So, in honor of it still being considered a “new” year (in my mind anyway–who cares if it’s March, lol) my goal is to better myself as a friend (touch base with my friends more often, listen more carefully) and personally weed out the friendships in my life that I consider dying/don’t really serve me a purpose and say “bye” to them as needed. It’ll suck, but, it’s not the end of the world, and who knows, it may not actually be forever. After all, just like other types of relationships, sometimes friendships just need a break.

partingways

And, also remember, some friendships just aren’t meant to last forever. Same goes for romantic relationships, jobs, etc. I don’t say that to be harsh or a Debby Downer, but, to speak of reality. But, if you do want to make it last forever, or you know, for a long time, then you need to be willing to INVEST in it. It cannot be a one-way street or it will just never work out.

“You get out of it what you put in.”

That above applies to many things in life so, keep it in mind.

Until next time…

XO,

Ana

March 1, 2016March 1, 2016

Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself…

I was in fifth grade when I officially declared I wanted to be a fashion designer.

fashionsketch

For our yearbook that year we had our own mini “bios” if you will, about what we wanted to be when we grew up, along with what our favorite activity, color was–or something along those lines. But, for what I wanted to be when I grew up–I had no hesitation of what to list.

I can’t recall the exact time that aspiration faded but, looking back now, I am happy I didn’t pursue that dream. Nothing against fashion designers–hell, I love fashion and give designers MAAAAAAJOR credit for all the hard work and effort they put in to making fabulous clothes, shoes and handbags. No, nothing against them at all. I just eventually realized I didn’t have the creativity, passion or even patience, to continue pursuing it.

After that dream fizzled out, my next and current dream was to write for a magazine. What magazine you may be wondering. Why, Cosmopolitan of course. I have loved that magazine for as long as I can remember. And again, I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I knew I wanted to be a writer/reporter/journalist in general, but, I would say it was definitely solidified in high school.

LUCY HALE in Cosmopolitan Magazine, September 2012 Issue

I wrote for the school newspaper, Ramparts, and at one point served as the Opinion Editor. It was a blast. I loved writing for the newspaper then and continued that line of work in college, where I wrote for Central Michigan Life as well as Grand Central Magazine.

However, now that I’m graduated from college, going on almost two years, I can’t help but sometimes wonder when my dream of being a full-time writer/reporter/journalist will come true. I know I shouldn’t but, I find myself constantly comparing myself to others– especially those in the same field, and wonder, why isn’t that me yet?

It’s a struggle from time to time, more often than not, but, thankfully through this blog and my work at HOMTV, I know that when the timing is right (hopefully by this summer), I’ll have landed a full-time job in my field. It’s tough though–I’ll talk to people outside of the news industry and when I tell them my ultimate career goals, they give me this look–probably not meaning to make it look so obvious, but nonetheless it’s still there–like why on Earth would you want to be a journalist? The news industry (specifically print, which is my main and ultimate career goal) is dying, they say. As if I haven’t heard that before… Right?

Anyway… I wanted to be a fashion designer when I was younger and I don’t recall anyone trying to talk me out of that dream (now granted it was only fifth grade but still–if I said that now I would actually hope for someone to talk me out of that one, ha!) and so why now that I am an adult, and spent five years in college studying journalism, do people want to essentially tell me “good luck getting a job” with that degree? It’s not that person’s dream so why do he or she feel entitled to tell me my dream/degree sucks? I think some other people’s dreams suck/are stupid but, I don’t go around telling them that to their face. It’s none of my business, and if it makes them happy, then great!

My point is, my dreams I had for myself when I was younger are different than what they are today.

In fact, while at this very point in time I think I have my hopes, dreams and goals all figured out, the truth is, I really don’t. I think I do, but, only God knows what the future holds for me. What I want and what I actually end up doing could be totally different. Although, obviously, I hope my dreams come true. Not just for my professional career but in the personal aspects of my life as well.

For example, my dream is to be a reporter for a print publication. But, my internship position right now is a TV reporter. That doesn’t go to say I’ll only apply for print jobs when I’m finished with my internship–I’ll of course apply for all and any kind of journalism/news job–but, what’s most important to me is that I am happy with what I am doing. And yes, this internship is an awesome experience. I’m so thankful I was given the opportunity to do it. I have great bosses, co-workers; they want us interns to be successful and will answer any and all questions we have. And trust me, I have a lot of questions. LOL. I am learning so much that I can’t wait to apply to future jobs and show potential future employers my demo reel I’ll have made at the end of this semester.

But, if I’ll actually end up at a TV station once my internship is complete, I’m not sure. I tend to stress and worry too much about the future when I can’t control it–only the present–and it’s something I need to work on more. I would love to actually know and be people to share with the world that yes, this is what I will being doing come May, but, the truth is, I don’t know. I would love to say yes, I will be a reporter at X location, living in Y location, but, the future is unknown. And that’s both exciting and scary. More often scary than exciting but, still.

Right now I can only focus on continuing to better myself as a reporter and become more confident in my on-air ability and interviewing skills. After all, those are pretty darn important as a reporter.

So, instead of focusing so much on the future, I’m going to try my best to focus my mind on the present. And if anyone has any tips or advice on how to stay focused on the present and/ or improving my skills and abilities as a reporter, I would love to hear them. I am all ears.

Or, perhaps a suggestion for a hobby–other than blogging (*although, I really do want my blog to take off and be substantial enough to where people who follow and read it, are genuinely interested in what I have to say. So, please, bloggers/writers/etc., send me some topics to blog about; I would GREATLY appreciate it) and shopping (ha!), let me know.

Until next time…

XO,

Ana