Not Your Average Gal

Copywriter. Content Creator. Constant Sassypants.

Musings

Currently Caroline, July 2016

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Currently I’m:

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Located: In Florida at freakin’ home. That’s a first for one of these! 

Listening to: Game of Thrones. I am finally joining the masses and started watching. I’m at the beginning of Season 3. THESE PEOPLE ARE NUTS.

Thinking about: Setting up a doable blog schedule. Do any other bloggers struggle with this? Any suggestions would be great. I realize my life over the last 2 months has been more than crazy, but I do need to be better about this.

Looking forward to: My sassy and smart girlfriends coming in this week! They’re the same numbnuts (term of endearment) I travel with across the world every so often. We may be discussing our next trip, too. Woot! Depending on prices, we’ll see if I can join. May need to tap out of traveling internationally for the rest of the year since the hubster and I are spending money flying back and forth to see each other. The things I do for that man!

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Drinking: Water. La Croix. DUH.

Thankful for: A beautiful walk this morning on Fort Lauderdale beach. Even after 4 years, I still can’t believe the sunrises here.

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Worried about: The disgusting, often racist and sexist rhetoric Trump bumbles out of his out-of-touch mouth and knowing that people actually agree with it?!

Laughing about: My love for organizing. Last year, I read “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” and it was really life-changing. That sounded dramatic. Okay, it opened my eyes to keeping only the things you love. Anyway, after the hubster moved to Michigan I GET A GIANT WALK-IN CLOSET TO MYSELF NOW. (Read: I miss you honey!) So I rearranged my closet to my hearts content. 

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Mad about: My stupid ankle that I injured. It may or may not have been the first (and last time) playing Pokemon Go. But I seemed to really give it a good sprain. Currently it’s wrapped and iced and propped up like any ER doc’s wife should do. Speaking of, wonder if he can get me some pain meds…


Curious about: All this inbreeding on Game of Thrones…

 

Currently Caroline, June 2016

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Currently I’m:

CurrentlyCarolineJune-2

Located: In the Michigan Mitten to visit the hubster. Taking a break for lunch. The above picture was taken when I arrived to 65 degrees! Sixty. Five. 

Listening to: Spotify, the Deep Focus channel. It helps me work.

Thinking about: How nice Michigan is in the summer, but reminding myself of how awful it is in the winter. Lots of mixed emotions right now.

My view leaving Fort Lauderdale. Can't beat it really.
My view leaving Fort Lauderdale. Can’t beat it really.


Looking forward to: Dinner at Anita’s Kitchen. THE best Middle Eastern food in the US. I haven’t had it in years, but often caught myself dreaming of their garlic dip. Omgklajdsflad;fladl

Drinking: Water. (Don’t be so shocked.)

Thankful for: The ability to work remotely so I can see the hubster. This long distance thing is surely going to get tougher, but I look forward to our meetings at the arrivals area in the airport. <insert awwwwwww here>

Worried about: Not adjusting to this new normal as quickly as I’d like. It’s really only been 2 weeks, so I have to cut myself some slack.

Laughing about: What a 4th-year ER resident said to me last night when I asked for his advice getting through the 1st year of residency, “Don’t have kids. Don’t expect to talk to your husband much.”

Mad about: Another attack in Turkey that isn’t getting as much coverage as I think it should. Mad such extremism and hate is held against an entire religion. (I feel another blog post coming on.)

Curious about: How I already got upgraded for my flight home to Florida. Boo-yah. <humble brag>

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Currently Caroline, April 2016

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Currently I’m:

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Located: On our balcony in the Presidential Suite at the Hyatt Zilara in Cancun. I intended it to sound that snotty. We came here for a last minute vacation because we liked it so much from our first visit.

Listening to: The cheers of a wedding reception below and the thump thump mmmziii mmmmziiii (you know that sound) of the pool bar music.

Thinking about: How the heck we got upgraded to the Presidential Suite for such a deal. May have been the champagne they gave us when we checked in…

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Looking forward to: Dinner at Asiana’s teppanyaki bar. Hopefully the hubster doesn’t throw up from eating too much this time. Nope, not joking. That’s about as ‘Merica as you can get, right?

Drinking: A cucumber mojito.

Thankful for: The kind gesture the Hyatt Zilara left in our room congratulating the hubster for graduating medical school next month.

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Worried about: How quickly this next month will fly by and before I know it, the hubster will be leaving for his residency in Michigan.

Laughing about: The tiny sombrero we bought our cat. Because we’re THOSE people.

Mad about: Nothing, really. Oh, maybe not working out this morning. I know it’s vacation, but they have a beautiful gym. I could do it now, but ummmmm, nope.

Curious about: This Trump fella. I haven’t come across a single Mexican that he spoke about.

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The Art of Balance

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I’ve sucked at it in the last few weeks. Mind you, there have been outlying factors beyond my control that have contributed to not getting my creative writing done. But still, I miss it. I’ve been working extra hours at the office to bang out a very important project that affects millions of customers. Nope, not joking. But it does make me sound super important, right? *adjusts diva halo*

The hubster and I have a few months left together before he heads off to Michigan for his ER residency, so we’ve been making the most of our weekends together. Which means, very often, my creative outlet takes a back seat. I want to produce good content here and I’m realizing it’s so time intensive that I avoid it, instead of just sitting for a bit and updating the site with my goings-ons.

So, we headed to Marco Island this weekend for a little reprieve and so I could focus on just getting shit done. I know, I know. Life is awful and tough and gosh this view blows donkey balls.

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By the way, this my in-laws sick place. I mean, I know you think I’m a superstar writer and I’m doing well, but we have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans coming our way soon once he graduates med school. Ha! Someday we can hope to own a similar view.

Anywho, we tend to come to Marco when we need a break from things. It’s a quiet island on the gulf side of Florida that is known for seashell-filled beaches and dolphin watching. (And by quiet, I mean most bars are closed by 9 or 10.) It’s a Midwestern haven, especially right now during spring break, so it’s not uncommon to see UofM or MSU gear. Which makes my Midwestern heart happy.

MarcoIsland1My roundabout point in all of this is, even if I’ve sucked at balance recently, I often know when to cut that shit out. If that means packing our bags for a change of scenery so I can catch up on blog writing and the hubster can study tying knots on humans (not joking), then so be it.

Booty, booty, booty rockin' everywhere.
Booty, booty, booty rockin’ everywhere.

 

I will be updating you cats on our trip to Cancun at my first all-inclusive. (Psst. It was a blast!) Then I’ll fill you in on our upcoming trip to South Korea and Japan. I have a list of about 30 posts to write because there are so many fun things I want to tell you! There are also minor things like the hubster graduating med school, me losing weight and giving you margarita-filled life anecdotes too.

Now, go enjoy your weekend and find a little balance, alright?

Where is Home?

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“I’m flying back home to Michigan for Thanksgiving.”

I caught myself saying that when others asked about my Thanksgiving plans. It’s not entirely inaccurate.

The truth is, Michigan will always hold a deeply special place in my heart, but it’s not home anymore.

Florida is. It may have taken an entire year of adjusting, but 3.5 years later and everything about it feels like home. I’ve settled in.

While in Michigan this past week, I sat at a table, in the city I used to live in and shared so many fantastic memories. Here I was, surrounded by 4 of my close girlfriends catching up and, most importantly, leaning on them for support during what can only be described as the toughest time I’ve had during the whole of med school for the hubster. This last year of med school has taken a toll on the hubster, myself and without providing nitty, gritty details, has really tested us. It’s been rough. I needed my support system and I had it right in front of me.

And yet, my heart felt tugged between 2 places.

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I loved being able to see my close girlfriends face to face, but I’ve in a way, hit my stride while living in Florida. I’m happier and more confident in my career, my hobbies and resolve to fulfill my dreams. Moving 1500 miles gave me the nudge I needed to find my own path.

Going “back home” reminds me of how much things have stayed the same, but also have tremendously changed in my absence.

I flew back to Florida late last night while the hubster stayed in Michigan to shadow in the ER. As we made our final decent, I watched the dots of streetlights end once they hit the Atlantic Ocean. The humidity slapped me in the face as the automatic doors at the airport opened so I could go pick up my car. I hopped in my car with my preset stations and swore at a couple crazy Florida drivers who insist on driving like aholes.

I was home. For now.

Can home simultaneously be in 2 places?

Fear Disguised as Practicality

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feardisguisedaspracticality

There is a wonderful speech Jim Carrey gave at Maharishi University of Management’s graduation. I encourage you to watch it in full, but this particular portion below is quite inspiring. Take a moment to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajMpfPYlHi4

I’ll wait.

You back?

Good, right?

There are moments in my life where I could have chosen or was well on my way to choosing a more practical path, even if my heart was tugging in a different direction. I vividly remember sitting with my father a couple years after college, going over my finances and budgeting so I could make a down payment on a condo eventually.

“It will be tough. But you’re doing well, kiddo. I’m not worried about you.”

Remember when the economy took a rough tumble? The real estate market crashed. Wall Street threw up over everyone’s stocks. I lost my job. Many people lost their jobs. I could have easily been like so many people, stuck with a mortgage in a shit economy with no hope of selling in the near future.

It was a lucky break. I hadn’t seriously started looking into buying a condo yet when it happened.

Why the heck would I want to do that when I bought my car right after college, instead of leasing, just in case I landed a job abroad and I’d have to break a car lease. Yes, that’s how much I wanted to move back to London after I had my internship there and was forced to come back to the states a broke college grad with an expensive degree to start paying back.

If I couldn’t commit to a 3 year car lease, why the hell would I even look into buying a condo a couple years later then?

Fear.

Fear disguised as practicality.

Real estate was the American Dream. It was what you were supposed to do.

Living abroad again? Where will you settle down if you’re not in the U.S.? What would you do for the holidays? How can you live a fulfilling life without the picket fence and 2.5 kids? Why would you want to do that?

I just knew I did, but the fear of not doing the standard thing tugged at me for a brief moment and I thought I should save for a condo.

Baby Jesus I’m glad it never worked out in hindsight. The universe is such a crazy beast.

My point in all of this is, on many, many different levels society gently whispers and asks you to do the standard thing and if you’re not feeling it, I mean really feeling it…there’s a reason. As Jim Carrey said in that speech, you can still do all the right things, make all the right decisions, provide exactly what is asked of you and you can still get laid off. What a total fucking slap in the face.

You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance at doing what you love.

Do you know how many absurd things I’ve heard in regard to my travels, even this most recent trip coming up?

  • MYANMAR? Why don’t you go somewhere normal?
  • Dogs have rabies there. I hope you don’t come back frothing at the mouth.
  • Southeast Asia again? You guys must really like being weird.
  • You know you could stay home and visit other people instead?
  • You have your whole life to travel. You don’t have to do it now.
  • That seems so extravagant for this point in your life.
  • I wish you wouldn’t go so I don’t have to worry.
  • You must be millionaires. I’d rather spend my money on solid investments.

Thank God we don’t make our travel decisions based on what other people think of us, right?

Hey, buck-o. Same goes for you in any garden-variety decision you may have in your life. There is not one specific path you need to take and settling for the easy way because of money or pressure from the peanut gallery promoting practicality over your own damn way of doing something is just:

fear disguised as practicality.

I’m not saying do anything rash here like jump out of plane without a parachute because that’s a practical thing to wear. That would make you stupid. And dead. I’m saying if people are running their mouths about their own damn fears for you, which are often conveniently disguised as practicality, take it, put it in a little box, wrap a bow on it and toss it under the “Couldn’t Care Less Tree” for someone else to open and carry.

If I listened to every nasty, unsupportive comment said about getting married in England, we wouldn’t have shared a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If I listened to my grandparents tell me to not build too many castles in the sky, I wouldn’t have taken that life changing internship in London.

If I listened to traditionalists who said we should have a normal wedding registry, we’d never have taken our eye-opening honeymoon to Thailand and Cambodia.

If I listened to Jillian Michaels, I’d have better arms.

Wait a second…

Don’t live your life believing something isn’t possible because it isn’t practical. Conservative choices can still disappoint you.

Dare to ask the universe for what you want.Â