mytwentyfifthyear-blog

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When you have a real obsession with Outlander. This is the second tattoo that I have gotten that is related to literature. The first “The Fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves” is a Shakespeare quote from Cesar, but is also a quote used in The Fault In Our Stars. TFIOS touched my life in a way I can’t truly explain when I was in college and John Green’s writing is so important. Outlander hasn’t changed my life in the same way, except for ruining men for me cause lets be honest no one is Jamie Fraser and thats devastating.

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Th1rteen R3asons Why

*Spoiler Alert*

Like most of America I binged watched 13 reasons why on my day off. I read the book when it came out my freshman year of high school and loved it. It meant a lot to me and in many ways helped me through high school. I was new to school the year prior and knew how it felt to start over and have it not go as planned. Having loved the book so much I was apprehensive to watch the show. I am happy to report that Netflix did an amazing job with the adaptation and improved it. I felt deeper than I did in the book and the acting was so real it has stayed with me for 3 days now. 

I watched the first 12 episodes one right after another, not sleeping to watch. I saved episode 13 for the next day because I had already cried so much and knew that watching her commit suicide ( a friend told me they show it) was going to be rough. Clays episode, episode 11 had already almost broken me, and I needed a break. I think that this is a story about the effects of rumors, bullying, and being a women in high school that everyone needed to see. It showed an accurate portrayal of the real issues that women face in high school and how they are treated in regards to their bodies. It shows how men who don’t think the small lie they are telling can effect someones life so fully. I have had rumors spread about me in high school, the boy it was about said nothing to deny the rumors and despite my very vocal denial and ultimate verbal fight with the one spreading the rumors it didn’t seem to matter, no one really believed me when I said it hadn’t happened. Had I not had friends to talk about this with, who trusted me, and had my back, I’m not sure how I would have dealt with it. 

I still can’t shake the emotions or the images of the show. The whole time you want desperately for their to be a happy ending, knowing at the same time that the story has already ended and it isn’t a happy one. Despite the hard content, you will watch two women get raped and deal with that rape in different ways and you will watch Hannah slit her wrists in a bath tub, I think every high school aged kid should watch the show and realize that what you say and how you say it and what you do effects people, in ways you will never truly know. The old line that high school is just four years of your life and then you move on doesn’t hold true, it never did. High school will determine for many women and men, how they conduct themselves for the rest of their lives. Like Hannah says we are caged for 12 years and then are thrust into the world at 18 and expected to be adults, after having no autonomy before that time. Drinking, drugs, sexual assault, all only get worse in college and high school shapes kids as the humans they are going to be when they are pushed out into the world. 

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I have been applying for jobs again, and after sending a few applications I came across this article. It was really inspiring. Cover letters are the bane of my existence. I don’t like writing them and I am 100% guilty of having a cookie cutter cover letter that I plug in the job title and send off. After reading this article I was inspired to write a better cover letter. I am not great at selling myself, but I think I’d be able to sell myself by telling a story. Hopefully it will help me stand out and get me a job! Cause I really need a full time job in my field, restaurant life is killing me.  

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Its the little details that make a home. In  love with my popchartlab coffee print. Even if I am trying to drink less coffee. I would say that I have maybe cut back on one cup of coffee, which is progress! Substituting coffee for tea atleast once a day. 

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Running into people in NYC

Twice this month I have run into people I know out on the streets of NYC. It’s hard to explain to people who don’t live in NYC or in big cities, but seeing people you know out on the street is so disconcerting. In a city of almost 9 million humans there is an implied anonymity when you walk around the streets of New York. You put your head phones in, turn on your favorite music, ( I like to listen to the Hamilton cast recording and mixtape currently), walk out the door, and despite being surrounded by thousands of people at all times, you enter your own little world. The people around you simply become obstacles, placed in your path to make your commute more challenging. 

That is the mentality I leave the house with, so yesterday when I exited my favorite juice shop in SoHo and mad my way to the bank on the corner, imagine my surprise when I heard someone call my name. It was someone I work with, and neither of us quite knew how to act. It is almost invasive to see someone you know out and about in a neighborhood neither of you live or work in and be forced to make conversation. Needless to say we had a 3 minute awkward conversation and then I went into the bank and he and his friend went off to do what ever they were doing. Now I am left with this lingering feeling of not being quite anonymous out on the streets of New York. I hope the feeling passes soon. 

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Living a sustainable life.

One of my New Years Resolutions was to use less plastic. When we elected a man that didn’t believe in climate change, I felt that as a human being living on a planet that we are killing being more environmentally conscious was no longer a life style choice, but a responsibility. 

I didn’t do anything drastic, such as donate all of my worldly possessions, convert a van into a house, move out to the Pacific Northwest, grow my own food, and use nothing that can’t be repurposed. Maybe I just watched Captain Fantastic and thought about it though. 

I simply decided that I was going to cut plastic out of my life. I have stopped buying drinks in plastic bottles and bring my own shopping bags with me to the store, or always as for paper. Until I consciously tried to stop using plastic I hadn’t realized just how much plastic was in my life. There are almost no drinks that are sold in glass bottles, I forgot my water bottle one day and went to buy one, had to buy coconut water because they come in cardboard bottles instead of plastic. Most snack foods are sold in plastic bags and in normal grocery stores everything is wrapped in plastic. 

So far in 2017 I have used 8 plastic bottles, all of which I recycled, and 6 plastic bags. Unfortunately my favorite juicery in the city uses plastic bottles. 

Here’s a great link to how to use less plastic, because we only have one planet and we should all be trying to save it. 

http://www.sarahwilson.com/2016/09/8-bits-of-plastic-you-can-quit-right-now/

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Perks of being a Nanny in TriBeCa; when the family is on vacation I get to house/dog sit and pretend that I live in TriBeCa. In a beautiful apartment, a 7 minute walk from my restaurant job, with unlimited puppy snuggles. 

Me and Koko went to the dog park today after I got off work and instead of running around she curled up on the bench next to me on the bench in the dog park. Tomorrows my day off and we’re both very excited to go to the dog park and maybe actually play with the other dogs. 

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Discovered Activated Charcoal recently. Turns out charcoal is not just meant to be put on your face, WHO KNEW.

 I can honestly say that I am in love, I don’t fully understand why charcoal is good for you. I know it’s meant to rid toxins, and I feel better after drinking it so I highly recommend. Pressed Juicerys’ one tastes like lemonade. 

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My Twenty-Fifth Year

Today, I believe around 11 o’clock officially, I turn 25. I was woken up with an out poring of love via Happy Birthday text messages and one bold friend who sang me happy birthday despite having lost her voice. I am sitting in my kitchen waiting for the coffee to steep in the French Press eating my left over breakfast pizza from brunch yesterday and the fruit from the edible arrangement my parents sent me. Pretty much living the dream! 

Like many people 2016 was a bad year for me. I would go as far as saying it was the worst year of my life. Thats not to say some pretty amazing things happened in 2016; I started off the year in Africa traveling to Rwanda and then Uganda where I bungee jumped over the River Nile, I graduated with my Masters from NYU, for the first time I made friends in New York who I felt I genuinely connected to, I got to watch one of my best friends get married in Florence,Italy and then travel with her and her husband to Scotland and live out our Outlander obsession together. Those were the good things and I’m not going to dwell on the bad, because 25 is going to be about growth and positivity for me. 

So, Why a Blog? you may be asking. Well, in New York City you are surrounded by people pursuing their passions. Whether thats art, or music, or writing, or fashion, it seems that almost everyone in New York is doing something they feel grand canyon deep passion for. It’s my third year in the big apple and I still feel as if that passion is missing. Writing used to hold that passion for me, so I am stretching my writing fingers again and seeing what comes of it. It was also hold me accountable for my self-improvements. 

To Begin a list (get used to lists I LOVE LISTS), 

25 Things to Improve my life

1. Drink more water

2. Drink less coffee, replace with tea

3. Eat less packaged foods 

4.  Do more Yoga

5. Read more books, watch less tv 

6. Save 100 dollars from every paycheck 

7. Apply to jobs in my field 

8. Get 7 hours of sleep at night 

9. Declutter life 

10. Call family more 

11. A month without drinking 

12. A month without sugar and bread 

13. Meditate 

14. Complain less and talk less shit 

15. Write more letters 

16. Cook more meals 

17. Don’t keep people in my life that are toxic 

18. Garden 

19. Make more time to see friends

20. Try some place new once a month 

21. Go for walks 

22. Get more sun 

23. Travel 

24. Try new things 

25. Appreciate Life