15 Years Ago…

In September 2001, my friend Sarah and I took a trip to Oregon to visit her family, who had just relocated there. It was my first time traveling to the West Coast and my first time on a plane since I was 16. What could possibly go wrong?

The F Word

I’m talking about fear, of course. In going through a stack of paper shoved on a shelf, I found what’s written below. I wrote it a little over 4 years ago, when I was underemployed, drowning in student loans and generally feeling like a loser. You don’t always realize how far you’ve come until you […]

What’s going on?

I’m making some changes to the blog! Please bear with me as I go through some growing pains. I’m playing around with some different themes and settings. Things might look funky around here for a little while. I am planning to get rid of my EEC Chick FB page. I don’t have the time (or desire) […]

Writing off the Past

Lately I have been working on getting rid of stuff that I no longer love, use, or need. Sometimes, the process is exciting and fun. I love getting rid of clothes. I find it easy to pull uncomfortable or ill-fitting clothes off hangers and toss them in a pile for donation. I take pleasure in pushing old […]

A Whirlwind Tour of MA, NH & ME

Last Sunday, I woke up with the sun. Dave helped me load up the little Mazda and I zoom-zoomed off to Nick’s house. After some strategic rearranging of my car so we could fit all his stuff in it, we were off again. An hour later we were at the Claire Family’s house in New […]

Summertime and the Livin’s Easy

When I was a kid, I had a hard time understanding why I got to have summers off from school but my dad had to keep on going to work every day. I couldn’t get it in my head that grown-ups didn’t get the summer off. It didn’t seem fair. To this day, it upsets […]

Whale, Whale, Whale…

Dave wanted to do something special for my birthday and he gave me the choice of going up to Boston for the day and doing a whale watch or going down to NYC and spending the day at the Met. I admit I was tempted to do the day at the Met, but it would have been […]

Pre-Birthday Thoughts

Tomorrow is my 36th birthday. Thirty-six. Damn. I don’t feel 36, although is it an age anyone really feels? What does any age feel like? The other day a younger co-worker asked me how old I was going to be on my birthday. When I said 36, her face grew somber. “Wow, that is so old!” […]

Toastmaster Speech #10 – Go Play Outside

Last night I gave my 10th and final speech in the Toastmaster Competent Communicator book. It was an inspirational speech and had to be between 8-10 minutes long. I really struggled with this one. I think I felt intimidated by the idea of speaking for 8 minutes straight without notes. The previous speeches were all […]

Late Night Hotel Room Thoughts

Hi from Racine! Today it hit me. I may actually be afraid of being hungry. It’s long been a joke with people who know me that I always need to have a stash of food somewhere. At work, I have an entire drawer dedicated to snacks. If I am going anywhere, I pack snacks or […]