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Well, it’s another birthday! In case you haven’t heard, Lucie (my poodle) and I have the same birthday. Of course, I thought she was adorable first, then saw her birthday and knew it was meant to be! I think she’s a big part of why I had a better year this year 🙂 This may ramble, but I’ll try to break up the thoughts with photos 🙂
I don’t know about you, but birthdays can be hard. Cake and flowers are always fun, but there’s inevitably at least one person in your instagram feed who has achieved all your life goals 5 years earlier than you.
In Girl, Wash Your Face Rachel Hollis talk about exactly this issue:
The Lie: I should be further along by now…
God has perfect timing… You look at your life and the eight things you though you’d have accomplished by thirty-five and feel depressed. But maybe it’s just that you don’t have enough life experience yet… Or maybe that goal wasn’t ever meant to be yours. Maybe you are destined for something so much cooler, which won’t come until five years down the road. Maybe you have to walk through this space you’re in to be ready for that. Nothing is wasted.
But whether or not you choose to see this time as something wonderful — the time when God is stretching you and growing you or maybe forging you in fires hotter than you think you can withstand–all of it is growing you for the person you’re becoming.
Set goals, not time limits: I love goals. They can help you become your best self… but big dreams shouldn’t have expiration dates. As long as you’re working toward the things you hope to accomplish it shouldn’t matter if it takes you a month or a decade.
This year was different for me. I started taking my business seriously by finding a space and routine that works for me. Slowly, but surely, I’m getting more clients and growing in the process. I really enjoy copywriting (although waiting to hear back from clients can make me crazy anxious), and love learning more about my craft!
Lucie definitely makes the work-from-home situation better. I have an excuse to take long walks, and the house doesn’t feel empty. Some people think her barking is annoying, but I like having a guard dog haha (she doesn’t bark if she’s in her crate, only if she’s sleeping in the middle of the floor and gets startled. or she hears another dog bark. or if she wants to go outside. or if you ignore her. ok, I promise she’s not that bad ?)
Although… I’m not sure I’ll get a puppy again, no matter how cute they are. Lucie was extra feisty, but between that and the razor sharp puppy teeth, it was a lot. Potty training was extremely frustrating, because everyone told me poodles learn really fast, but it took her forever.
She’s SO MUCH BETTER now, but if we get another dog we’ll be adopting maybe a 4yo poodle.
Now that we figured out her energy cycle and a system to tire her out, she’s great and really fun. Lucie has a ton of personality and love. She’s my best buddy, and I take her everywhere.
And I really love that she doesn’t shed. I’m allergic to other dogs, but we would have a poodle anyway. Vacuuming dog hair everywhere every day would make me cry.
One thing I said over and over this year was “Everyone’s different.” Not that I was pushing my agenda on other people and learned this, but I tell people this a lot when they’re criticizing me. Like, “why don’t you have a baby??” me: because everyone’s different! I’m so happy for you and your baby! “Why do you travel so much??” me: because everyone’s different. I really don’t travel a lot, you should get out more. “Why do you read so much and sew, but you can’t cook??” me: because everyone’s different, and those are the hobbies I enjoy. “Why do you wear leggings all the time??” that’s a stupid question, leave me alone.
I’m pretty happy with this response. My younger sister gets similar (or worse/ more personal) questions regularly and says basically the same thing. I just wish people would realize our lives don’t need to look the same to be happy and godly. Guess people grow up at different rates ??
You do you. Just love Jesus, love others, and stay healthy (physically and mentally). That should be my other life saying ?
Speaking of healthy, this past year I tried to get better about what I eat and how much I exercise. I noticed my depression gets pretty serious if I’ve only eaten junk food for a few days and haven’t gone running (I know, this is a problem on multiple levels! ha). Anyway, with all the Lucie walks, and choosing even Subway over Wendy’s (this paragraph keeps getting worse!), I feel so much better. I eat significantly less pizza than in other years. So. That’s good (I set exceptionally low bars for myself).
One day I’ll cook more. Or I won’t. It seriously stresses me out, so I avoid it. Learning to avoid things that make you feel really miserable is part of growing up. Life is hard enough!
Obviously, I do a lot of other grownup, responsible, hard things. But cooking is just not going to be one of them.
Another highlight from my year includes getting better at taking care of houseplants. I only lost 1 this year! I had to learn the hard way that plants really just need to be near a window. They can’t be for decoration if you want them to live.
But during the summer they’re scattered through the house, and I’ll forget to water one….
I managed to save one plant though! It was starting to shrivel up at the base, so I cut off the still-green growth, stuck them in water until the roots grew, re-potted it, and it’s thriving now!
Unfortunately, in Lucie’s excitement to see someone at the door, she knocked a little plant behind this console thing. I didn’t realize it was missing for like 3 weeks…. so you win some you lose some.
?I really do love this rainforest situation in my living room though ?
The past few birthdays have been challenging, but I feel like I learned a lot about myself while I was 27. I can’t wait to see what 28 holds!
To be honest, the number still scares me a little (you know how you still feel 17 in your brain, and then you realize, ugh I’m the adult here). We have so much planned for this upcoming year already, and I’m really looking forward to it.
Thanks for reading this far! I promise I’ve been sewing lately, so I do have a few posts I need to put on here! This blog is really how I keep track of anything I’ve done in my life/ home, so that’s why it’s only *mostly* sewing. Sometimes people will ask, have you been here or done something… and I literally tell them “I don’t remember, I’ll have to check my blog.” Not sure what people do without a blog….
Hope you’re having a great year and summer, as well! And that you enjoyed the puppy photos 🙂
