Ramblings of a Thirty-Something

I've been noticeably absent lately. Both in my blog and in myself, I suppose you could say. I haven't felt settled for the past couple of weeks. Part of that, I'm sure, comes from the merriment and general hoopla surrounding the wedding of my beautiful sister and wonderful brother-in-law. There had been so much to do before the wedding--daily, I found myself doing something that related back to their coming nuptials. And then, when it was said and done, my calendar became very empty. At first, I reveled in that! I'm an introvert who loves creating things, and it's easiest to write, craft, read, etc., by oneself.  But the problem with my being alone for too long is that my thoughts start to wander and build up. And 99% of them are worries. What if...I can't juggle grad school and teaching? What if...all this writing I do is for naught? What if...my wedding never comes? What if...I never get to visit New Zealand? What if...I'm not

Today, on the first Fabulously Fun Friday of the summer, my sister and I went to Red Robin. We both tend to talk a lot when we eat, and for some reason today, we kept talking about what  we were eating, too. I am sure it was very entertaining for anyone dining near us. Here are the thoughts we had {that we said out loud } while eating at Red Robin. #1:  Why didn't I cut this burger in half? #2:  Why did I take out the little stick thing? #3:  Can we have some more napkins? #4:  Oooo, seasoned salt! #5:  I don't think I got any burger in that bite. #6:  Are my hands really this small? #7:  I'm scared to put this burger down. #8:  Can we have more napkins? #9:  I think there's more of the top bun left than the bottom. #10:  Oh, so the whole strip of bacon is coming out. Okay, that's cool. #11:  I didn't mentally prepare myself for this. #12:  Can we have more napkins? #13:  Wait--you really want to give me more fries? #14:  This doesn't even l

Okay, so some exciting things so far. #1:  I have made it to Wednesday without falling off my plan so far. I know, amazing, right? Soooo much better than that silly idea I had back on Valentine's Day! #2:  I now have an official-ish hashtag to go with everything, thanks to my totally awesome cousin, Lisa! In case you have no idea where this inane rambling is coming from, I posted on Monday that I'm trying to keep to a "summer schedule" {i.e., keeping my productivity going through the summer}. If you missed it, here is the schedule I am using; I had mentioned in my previous post that a hashtag would be kind of cool to have to track my progress. And my very creative cousin, Lisa Fink, came up with one: How cool is that???? She's an awesome teacher-person, too, so you can see where she is coming from:  it's like my summer homework for myself. But the even cooler part!!!! Now you, dear reader, can do this with me! If you want to tag along on my s

So you know how in the summer, you get on Facebook and Pinterest and people are posting pictures of all the amazingly fun things they have done? And you're like, "Gee, I wish I had the follow-through to start and finish one of those awesome summer bucket lists with my friends/significant other/children." And then you realize that whenever you do that it ultimately explodes in your face/slowly implodes over the course of the summer? Wait, that's just me? Well, aren't you all just amazing people. Seriously, I'm glad to know you. Maybe you could help me! Or at least check in with me over the summer to see how my attempt is going. I've decided to try an easy one I saw on Pinterest. I had actually pinned it awhile ago, and rather than it being an actual "bucket list," it's more of a daily breakdown for the summer. I'm actually pretty excited because I can feel productive {I know, I'm that crazy person who needs to feel productive

Okay, guys, I’m back. With a brilliant idea. Yeah, that’s right. Get excited. Now I know what you’re all thinking:  Kaitlin, we know this is your blog and you can do what you want, but you’ve had some “brilliant ideas” before. Remember the whole Valentine’s Day thing where you totally didn’t come through and we were all just sitting here, waiting, and you never posted again after day 1? Me:  Nope. Don’t remember that. My readership:  Okay, but what about the time when you said you were going to drink wine and write ranty blog posts? We’re still waiting for another one of those. Me:  Doesn’t ring a bell… My readership:  Okay, what about the time you promised to post something non-Jane Austeny/Hobbit-related? Me:  Now I know you’re just making things up. Oh, my readership, we’ve had some good times. But I really do have a brilliant idea, and it’s more brilliant than all the others put together. Now, if we see each other in person on a fairly regular basis,

Here we go, time for some more WISE WORDS!  Or, as I call it in my head "Vital Information for your Everyday Life!" {Anybody else remember that All That! sketch? Classic Nickelodeon, where did you go?} Anywho, my Wise Words today come from one of my all-time favorite ladies. You know her, you love her {at least I'm assuming you do}, and here she is today...Miss Jane Austen! {And the crowd goes wild...wait, that's only in my head? Moving on...}  Now Jane comes to use today through the words of one of her most famous characters, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice , and the Austen lady we'd all like to be best friends with. {At this point, you can just insert "I" for "we"...I just want you all to feel included}. These wise words come from near the end of Pride and Prejudice.  Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, aka Sexy McSexerton, have just professed that they now both love each other. Previously, Mr. D loved Lizzie, but L

This is not that drinking game you played in college. Just to clear up any confusion... Okay, I have a confession to make before an actual confession. I have noticed that my blog posts in which I reveal the most personal information about myself get the highest number of readers. My confession is that I can't decide if I am flattered by that or disturbed by that. Either way, that isn't going to stop me from posting about myself {all well within Victorian standards of behavior, I assure you}. I have written before about my dating life {or lack thereof}. I have written before about {well, to} my Dear Future Husband . I have written before about about my hopes and dreams for the future, and I think a few things are {or should be} clear about me. I am a straight, fairly-normalish, twenty-something person who would someday like to be someone's wife. But damn it, dating is hard! I have been told before that I am picky, and while that is probably true, it is much deeper th

I haven’t listened to the radio in months. Like literally, it’s been Christmastime at least since my car radio was tuned to a radio station and played music. I need to call Sirius and try to cancel again, just to see what kind of deal they’ll give me. But I do have a reason for not listening to the radio. I’ve been “reading” while driving. The safe way, via audio books, obviously. I only physically read when I’m the passenger, I promise. I have blogged about this before , but I just finished a book a little over a week ago that I had been listening to for a very long time. Whether you are an audiobook listener, Kindle reader, or prefer to take your literature in its purest form, I thought I would pass along a recommendation. If you like historical fiction, romance, or biographies, then I really think you might enjoy America’s First Daughter by Laura Kamoie and Stephanie Dray. image via amazon.com This novel features the main character of Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Rando

We're going to start out this LOVE FEST  with a person. Already breaking the rules? Not exactly, because this person and I have never met. I've always been a jazz/swing music kind of girl, having been raised listening to Frank, Dean, and Sammy. There just feels so classy, listening to that lounge music from the '30s, '40s, and '50s. Bobby Darin's Under the Sea  just makes me want to put on a pretty dress and dance. Therefore, I have decided to dedicate my first post about things I love to the modern day master of pop standards and jazz: Mr. Michael Buble Oh, that voice! I don't even know how to describe just how much I love  that voice. What a crooner, am I right? And not bad on the eyes, either. Plus, he's such a devoted family man. I've never had the privilege of seeing him live on stage {someday!}, but I have seen his Christmas specials, his televised concerts, and the concert movie he put out last fall. He really is a class act entert

February is upon us, Valentine's Day is on its way. I can't believe it! Time really has been flying--it's been a month since I last posted. As I have said before, I am a terrible excuse for a blogger. But somehow my inane rambling keeps getting posted on the internet...it's weird, right? I had a thought today, since I have resolved to write more this year. I have already written more this year than last year--I wrote for almost two hours yesterday {I still can't believe it}. Unfortunately, none of that writing was on this blog. So, to remedy that, I am going to do something similar to my December posting. I am going to post every day until Valentine's Day about something I love. Probably mostly things, because no blog post is quite long enough for me to wax poetic enough about all of the lovely people in my life, and I would be too afraid I was leaving someone out. So it's going to be about non-people, unless I decide to change the rules, which I ju

Can I be honest about something? I really don't like New Year's Eve. Not the actual date itself, I mean. Just really the expectations of New Year's Eve. Maybe one day I will feel differently, but for now, I'm not very fond of the holiday. Perhaps it has something to do with the idea that you're supposed to spend the last day of the year partying and then turn around and start working out/waking up earlier/eating healthier/whatever resolution you've made for yourself. Starting off the new year with a hangover also doesn't seem like the greatest idea, either. Again, maybe I'm just doing it wrong, and maybe one of you dear readers will be able to convince me otherwise someday. I much prefer to spend the day at home, with family or friends--more of the way I have spent my whole year, and the way I hope to continue the coming year. And maybe that is another part of it. To me, NYE should be spent reflecting on the past year, not just going out to party becau