So…this is being “in my 30s”

May 5, 2011 14 Comments

I’m still adjusting to this new jacket I’ve shrugged on. It’s the official being-in-my-30s starter jacket. Something that only three years ago felt far, far away.

Being 30 was new and interesting but since it came right after 29, it was like, okay I could just be 29 another year. 29 part deux. But 31 is a whole different ballgame. We’re not effing around now.

I am positive I will do this same adjustment when I have a 4 in front of my age but right now, that is too scary to comprehend. So many of my friends will enjoy at least three more years of having a 2 in front of their age. And even being 30 was okay, so add another year of enjoyment. Lucky bastards. By which time, I will be full on approaching my mid-thirties, which is almost as scary as the 4 word. I literally have heartburn as I write this. Another adjustment of getting older. Things that occurred fairly infrequently you just get used to and you say to yourself, “Yep, that just happens now.” I guess I just get to enjoy heartburn from time to time. Win.

I have a distinct memory of looking in the mirror when I was young (somewhere between 8 and 13, let’s say) and wondering what I was going to look like when I was grown up. I don’t know if it’s exactly what I look like now, because really, it’s more of the same but maybe with less eyebrow. Also I don’t think I could have predicted how much I would love coffee. Serious, deep abiding affection for that stuff.

I’ve heard from several friends that one’s 30s is “the best time of your life,” although isn’t that what they said about one’s 20s?

But like, I don’t have a house, I don’t have a husband (just a legal issue really….and a matter of a great wedding), I don’t have children, I don’t have a Master’s degree, I don’t drive my dream car (but I will, someday).

What I do have is a kickass new coffee maker – I am talking badass – a sweet dog, a Twitter account, this blog, and creativity coming out of my (large) pores. Oh, and a rather self-depricating sense of humor.

I only have nine more years to enjoy the hell out of this decade so…in the words of Andy Dufresne, I guess I better get on it. Well, what he actually said was get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’. He was trying to escape from a really corrupt prison, which in no way resembles my life at all.

Birthdays never used to do this to me.

Over and out.

Filed Under: Deeper, Occurrences Tagged With: ,

Mixing It Up With Friends…Giveaway | She’s Becoming DoughMessTic

March 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

Mixing It Up With Friends…Giveaway | She’s Becoming DoughMessTic.

This is for a good cause. I have been trying to win a KitchenAid mixer for my BFF Helen for quite some time. She won’t easily find out about this because she doesn’t have Internet (she’s old-fashioned like that). So if any of you decide to enter because you see this post, just say “Zoe Says sent me!” And you can also enter for yourself, as well. Although the contest ends in about 45 minutes so the likelihood is slim but hey, a girl can dream.

Hells needs a mixer so I’m doing what I can to win one for her.

Drumming up new mixer karma!

 

 

Filed Under: Deeper, Foodstuff

Looking Back

December 30, 2010 3 Comments

2010 has been a hell of a year. One year ago from now, I was living in an apartment that I hated in New York City. I had a good job and people I loved working for and with but I knew it was never going to be the job from which I retired.

I didn’t blog regularly. I took photos here and there and posted on Facebook like many people do but I didn’t pursue passions and/or blog about them.

I was living with my wonderful, supportive boyfriend who was applying for law schools and we were doing our best to make ends meet. Then he got into several schools, weighed out his options, made a decision, and we whisked ourselves out of the city and that apartment and back to our Midwestern roots (more specifically, his). We now reside in Illinois, Land of Lincoln and very, very flat land. It’s been an incredible journey and every year that I see to an end, I am reminded of how much can change and how much one can accomplish in 365 days’ time. Just one person’s life can be altered so dramatically. Sometimes it’s hard to turn around and look back because we have come so far.

I took up blogging more regularly the latter half of the year. And then suddenly, as if by magic, I made it onto Freshly Pressed with this post. I had been pondering how I could get more readers and suddenly I was bestowed with the gift of being featured. Ever since, I have felt a complete passion for blogging overtake me and I have been regularly posting ever since. I’ve also been blog-networking more and discovering this whole universe of fellow bloggers who make it look easy and so darn pretty. I can state with confidence that my blog roll will increase exponentially in size.

I received a fabulous present that will aid me in moving forward with authoring my blog with my own photos:

 

Canon EOS Rebel XS

I am so grateful to everyone who reads my wee blog faithfully and those who pass it on to others. Someone at Christmastime even asked me, “Hey what’s the name of your blog? I wanted to check it out.” I was so pleased to hear about one word-of-mouth referral that you’d have thought I had a New York Times bestseller or something. I have been doing my blog since August of 2008 but it is at the end of 2010 that I see it blooming into….well, something. It feels more tangible today than it did two years ago.

And so, as I bask in that warm glow of gratification and appreciation, I now make my list.

Things I’m looking forward to in 2011:

  • Overhauling Zoe Says to a new look and format. (Gulp.)
  • Taking tons more photos; learning how to edit them; sharing those photos.
  • Learning more about logo and button design.
  • Networking with more fellow bloggers and readers.
  • Doing more crafts.
  • Actually meditating, and regularly.
  • Keeping up a nightly facial routine.
  • Not obsessing about my physical appearance (read: weight) but focusing on my health and how I feel in my body.
  • Making new friends in my still new community.
  • Reading more books. I love love love to read but my attentions have been focused elsewhere this year and I haven’t read nearly as much as I’d like.
  • Being more patient.
  • Waking up earlier.
  • Not forgetting for too long how blessed I really am, every day.

Good tidings to you, wherever you are. For family, for friends, for peace among men…we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Filed Under: Deeper Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Revisiting Midwestern Thunderstorms

August 21, 2010 2 Comments

As it always happens, I want to post a topic when I haven’t given the proper update that should precede it.

I updated my A Little Extra On the Author page, but I did not write a full story describing how I have moved back to the Midwest (Illinois, incidentally) just recently. It’s been almost a decade (a decade!) since I’ve lived in this vast region of our country, comprised of what most people call the “flyover states.” Knowing myself very well, I will probably take one or two aspects and feature them in a future post, much like I did my grocery post when I lived in New York. But since I want to write about thunderstorms, I must keep this brief and say that I am now living in Illinois and we are currently experiencing a full-on thunderstorm, something that was not nearly as frequent in New York, sadly.

I don’t know if it was the city’s tall buildings or the area but thunderstorms are in a class of their own in the Midwest. Granted, they can be more dangerous here because they can also lead to or derive from tornadoes but when it’s just the thunder, lightning and rain, they can be one of the most soothing events to listen to and witness from a warm, dry spot. (Or cool, if it’s humid up to your eyeballs, which is also frequent here.)

Tonight as we were relaxing, the lightning started up and sure enough, seconds later, the thunder started rolling over our house. The weather report says we can expect these to occur all night. I don’t know why it’s not remotely frightening or concerning; after all, I have personally had a few electronics die at lightning’s hand. But the sound of the thunder and the rain hitting the window panes just makes me feel cozy inside.

I know I’m not the only one – I’m not an anomaly here – or there wouldn’t be endless thunderstorm sounds to purchase.

Truly, one can experience a thunderstorm in the Midwest greater than in dense populations because you can see it and feel it in a way that you cannot when you are surrounded by incredible, statuesque buildings that block the skyline.  Not having lived in these middle states for almost a third of my life now (wow…), I’m rediscovering them and my delight at their presence.

While I can admit this isn’t the most exciting post one will ever read or write, I hope that a handful of readers can relate. Knowing that it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow (with possible thunder and lightning!) makes me feel toasty inside as I think about putzing around the house and doing all sorts of cozy indoor projects. Thunderstorms also induce one hell of a great nap, if you didn’t know.

If you’re fortunate enough to experience these wonders of nature and have some time on your hands, just listen and/or watch the next time one happens. They make me pensive, they soothe with their cacophonic sounds (although really they’re more symphonic), and as I have stated, they are soporific.

I think I will sleep well tonight.

(As I finished this post, a huge clap of thunder rocked our house and I felt it under my seat. Someone’s car alarm is going off! Bliss….)

Filed Under: Deeper, Occurrences Tagged With: , , , , , ,

For the Chewster

March 19, 2009 1 Comment

chewie-2

Talk about a hiatus. In the time off that I haven’t written, President Obama was sworn in as our 44th President, American Idol started back up again, my love for CBS’ The Big Bang Theory has grown to epic proportions and I’ve even managed to acquire and build two very important pieces of furniture for my apartment (a bed frame and a bathroom shelf, respectively). Lots of progress!

But on a more somber note, I received a phone call a couple of weeks ago from a former boyfriend. We were together for a long time and in the last year of our relationship, he got a dog named Chewie.  A mix of Yorkshire Terrier and Miniature Pinscher, he was the sweetest little thing, with an endless playful and affectionate energy. When I got back from studying in Paris in June of 2004, we house-trained this little guy and he took over our hearts.

Is he photogenic or what?

Is he photogenic or what?

I was shocked and saddened to get the news that Chewie  suddenly passed away on Saturday, March 7th. Dave was driving down the highway with Chewie in the back seat when he suddenly let out a loud yelp and then…silence. By the time Dave could get the car pulled over so he could get back there to check on Chewie, he had died. He was turning 5.

We don’t know what happened, be it a stroke or some kind of heart condition (I thought maybe he was stung or bitten by something – brown recluse?), but he was gone in an instant.

It’s incredibly weird to me that he isn’t running around and being his wonderful, loving self. I easily thought he would live to be 15. Dave buried him at his parents’ farm, where Chewie loved to scamper and play. I was blue and teary all that weekend; I can’t imagine how the first couple of days without him went back at Dave’s place.

Chewie passed out

Chewie passed out

I haven’t seen Chewie since 2005 but I never forgot about him, and it was always a source of comfort to me that Dave had him and took such good care of him (and vice versa). To have him suddenly yanked away was such a shock, even from my distance.

Favorite things about Chewie: he only barked when the doorbell rang, even if it was the Domino’s Pizza doorbell on TV; he loved hopping on his hind legs to show you how excited he was to see you; he was always happy to curl up next to you while you slept; he loved Tug of War; nothing was funnier than watching him sprint.

Chewie was the first dog I ever loved – the dog that made me fall in love with dogs. (At least little ones.) He will always be a part of me. I could think of nothing more fitting than to dedicate a post to his memory.

To Chewie. You are missed. You are loved.

Chewie: March 2004 – March 2009

chewie-4

Filed Under: Deeper, Occurrences
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »

These folks embody awesomeness.

featured at critters and crayons

Copyright Notice

Creative Commons License
Zoe Says by Zoe Valentine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

© Zoe Says, 2008-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of written material and photographs without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Zoe Says with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Rock the Shot Photog Forum

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 226 other followers