As much as I'd love to ramble on about how awesome and amazing my mom is, I thought it would be more fun for you and myself to think on some mommy influenced habits, preferences, and lessons learned. Here are some of my favorites:
- Reading about psychology and self-help
- Lingering at coffee shops
- Loving Europe, especially coffee shops in Europe ;)
- Getting lost faster than your average directionally impaired person
- Maintaining logic and a fair amount of objectivity in emotional circumstances, usually
- Labneh and honey
- Listening to arabs talk
- Sharing clothes with my mom
- Never leaving the house in sweatpants, except in college a couple times....
- Staying active. I credit my mom with the less rugged activity I enjoy and my dad with the more rugged
- That compliments are just as meaningful as insults, not meaningful at all. The intentions, though, those are meaningful. They don't reflect you, but the other person
- Day spas are good for the soul
- Money comes and goes and we'll be okay no matter
- There's a lot you can do with lentils
- The kitchen is a magical place
- Fresh bread is a miracle drug, or just a drug
- Observation first, calculated decisions second, action third
- The scientific method is just as applicable to relationships as it is to anything else
- You actually CAN choose how you react to something
- You can actually choose most things about yourself
- Making mistakes is a necessary part of life and nothing to be ashamed of. If you don't learn, then be ashamed but also patient with yourself
- Take a joke
- Eat veggies! And cake occasionally
- I love my mommy
What a whirlwind it has been. Looking back, these last 5 months have been nothing but change with a heavy sprinkling of chaos. I'm glad May has arrived and my life seems to be settling down again. Let's take a look back on this past winter, do some spring cleaning.
December
- I found out my sister has been really really REALLY sick and took an awesome road trip with her from Chicago to Phoenix.
- I decided I needed to change everything in my life and travel for at least a year to live life properly (aka freaked out)
- I quit all my responsibilities and obligations as a result (continuation 1/4 life crisis)
- Had my first Christmas away from my mom and dad
- Lived with my dad's first wife and my sister for a month in beautiful Phoenix
- Finally bonded and connected with my sister, taught cooking and food lessons, and fed them yummy food
January
- Returned to Chicago for a month
- Did not work, felt great
- Tried to repair some of the damage done by my rash decisions, did not feel great
- Got my first tattoo
- Held my first weekly food workshop series
February
- Went to Kenya
- Saw amazing animals and visited "real Africa"
- Reconnected with an old friend
- Got slapped in the face with a different perspective
- Realized I had been ungrateful and scared
- Ate amazing food
- Discovered some of my new favorite places (Lamu!)
- Returned to Chicago
March
- Reunited with the love of my life and Chicago my home
- Decided to stay and work on myself instead of running away from my bad habits, which is itself a bad habit
- Decided to be patient with growth and change instead of expect it to happen immediately
- Decided to recommit to everything I loved about my life here
- Roommate discovers and is bitten by bed bug
- Return to my sister for divorce education in Wisconsin
- Sister trip to warmer more relaxed climates, ending in Phoenix again
- Harry gets on a plane and travels to see me (milestone)
- Visit Antelope Canyon, Sedona, Grand Canyon, and ride a hot air balloon
- Fell in love all over again
- Returned to work at brunch restaurant
April
- Temporarily moved in with Harry while bed bug situation is not smoothly dealt with
- Unfortunate roommate tension flares
- Lease terminated early
- Harry and I find and move into a beautiful apartment together
- Realized my stuff is bed bug free (relief)
May
- Hired as a personal chef
- Finally did a pull up
- Moderately broke but exceptionally satisfied!
