Dear 25 year old me

dear 25 year old me, there are just a few things I wanted to tell you before you left me forever. First of all, best year of our life, amiright? I know it was really hard for you to turn the ripe old age of 25, but it wasn't so bad was it? Especially on the eve of your 26th Birthday Eve (like the eve of new years eve? are you tracking with me?). We have made some awesome friends over the last year, and deepened others. It was great to see you step out of your shell and actually make friends. I am proud to say the least. We had our ups and downs, but I think for the most part there were just a lot of ups. I'm proud of you for setting out and accomplishing your goals and dreams. Maybe you started a little later than others, but hey, shiz happens. We get up, get over it, and move on.

dear 26 year old me, just keep up the good work. no point in giving up now! I have high expectations for you! Don't let me down!

dear 30 year old me, I know, "you feel old", blah blah blah. Knock it off. We know a lot of awesome thirty+ year olds that are great people and still know how to have a good time. Those are the people you need to hang out with more often. And way to go for holding out this long to have kids (hopefully). There is nothing wrong with having kids in your thirties, or even not having kids at all, so don't feel pressured.

dear just me, stop acting like getting older is the end of the world. Age is just a number, and remember we can always lie! No one will ever know!

dear mom, this would be a really great time to let me know you accidentally got my birth year wrong and I'm actually 24 going on 25. Happy birthday to me!

aka: almost 26 year old me



PS. I'm offering sponsorships again! Check out the options on my "sponsor" page.

I knew this was going to happen...

I knew it...
As soon as I decide to commit to some kind of weekly posts, I fail.
(ie: the weekly nutrition posts I said I was going to write, and only wrote for one week.)

eek, sorry guys, I failed. But I'll try to do one next week, because this actually is something that gets me excited about blogging again.

Currently, I am stressing a bit. The term just started and I was piled with all these due dates, deadlines, papers, and projects. On top of that, I just decided (this weekend) to double major, and I officially filed for my second major today. Which is totally exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Luckily I basically have a free year to do something with before my Dietetics program starts, so it shouldn't actually be too hard.

In case you are curious (which I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't), my original major was Nutrition/Dietetics and my second major will be Public Health. I suppose this makes me feel a little bit better about taking a bazillion years off of school, and not graduating until I'm 29! At least I will have 2 bachelors degrees to show for it (God willing).

Now I am off to fill in my planner.
You are welcome to call me a nerd.

Oh right, I still have a blog

Not sure if you can tell but things have been a bit hectic this term. But I've been putting my little planner to good use (if you haven't seen the planner I made yet, I have it up on Level & Lace now). Just wanted you guys to know that I am still around. Just trying to go for a more simplified blog life. 

minimal maintenance = minimal stress 

Literally all I am doing these days is homework and studying and going to class. So I have nothing exciting to share (not that life was really all that exciting before).

Maybe I'll throw in a trip to Vegas this summer. ;)

Anyone want to meet us there?

It's your choice

via

At one point in my life or another I have felt stuck. Caught it a rut. Whatever expression you would like to use to say that my life had gotten stagnent in a place I didn't like.

When you are in that spot I think it's easy to be resentful of all of our circumstances.
If only I had finished college I wouldn't be stuck in this crappy job. 
If only I had a different manager. 
If only I hadn't gotten pregnant so young.
If only my parents cared about my education.
If only I had more friends.
If only I made more money.
If only I was skinnier.

This can go on for a long time, meanwhile nothing in life is changing. I know this phase all too well. I've hated my job before. I've lacked money before (who hasn't?). I've not liked what my life looks like sometimes. And the easiest thing to do is blame that on someone or something else. If only that thing would change, then I would be happy.

Well, I'm going to share with you some valuable advice today. Something that I've had to learn on my own over the last year.

If you want something to change, then do something to change it.

I know. There are obstacles. But unless you get off your rump and do something about it things will continue to stand in your way.

If you don't like your job, find a new one.
If you want to lose weight, then make healthy food and exercise choices.
If you don't know how, then get help.
If you are depressed see a counselor.
If your marriage is falling apart, talk to your spouse about it and figure out what you need to do to make it better.

Don't be afraid to get help.

I'm tired tired tired of people telling me all of their issues and then doing nothing about them. I'm tired of classmates complaining that they don't get the material in class and refusing to go to talk to the teacher about it. I'm tired of hearing the complaints coming out of my own mouth. If you (we, I) can't do it alone, then DON'T, get help.

You are always going to encounter some "Negative Nancy's". But sometimes you have to open your eyes and realize that maybe you are one too! So knock it off! You are bringing everyone else down too.

I'm sorry if I am being brutal, but I think sometimes we need to hear the hard things. And honestly I'm coming from a place where I've just had to look really hard at myself and learn all of these things.

A year ago I was in a very different situation. I wasn't happy with the direction my life was headed in. I saw no end in sight. I had no idea how I was going to dig myself out of my own hole. And I finally realized that I just had to do it one step at a time. Regardless of how painful it might be, what I might not like about it.

And now, I'm in a good place, and I constantly have to remind myself that I am in control of my own future. It can really suck or it can be awesome, but it's up to me.

2013 | Just Live

Living. It has sort of been an overarching motto in my life. Not just because of the obvious reason, that I am a living, breathing human being. I've always known that my life was made for more than just existing. For coasting through the day to day life without a purpose. I think everyone has a purpose, whether we accept and accomplish it or not, we have a meaning. We are here for more than just taking up oxygen. Just the fact that you were born has caused a whole chain of other events. Some people might not exist if it weren't for you. Everyone's life would be different if it weren't for you. For me. For us.

I have a tattoo on my back that says ζήοτε, meaning you shall live, or more accurately it means you must live in Greek. (Since I don't personally know greek I did have it translated by two different people who have studied Greek for years. I could also have the exact letters wrong above, that is just what it looks like in my mirror.)

The point is that I have been focusing my whole life on learning what it means to live and I think I'm finally starting to figure it out, at least as best as any twenty-something girl can.

So with that, I am leaving 2012 behind. Probably one of the best years in my life, in so many ways. I started this year a bit broken and confused. I started it mourning the loss of friendships. Drenched in insecurity. I was still unsure of where life was going to take me. But I did start it with hope. I knew things could change, and sure enough they did.

My "New Year's resolution", if you'd like to call it that, is just to further learn to Live Healthy. Which doesn't mean to go on a diet and loose a bunch of weight. To me it means to be conscience of what I put in my body, to be active, and to be at peace with who I am and the friends and family I am surrounded by. To accept and love myself where I am at, and to continually work towards positive change. To not fear the things which I have no control over.

If 2012 was a year of change, then 2013 will be a year of acceptance, love, peace, friendships, family, and accomplishment.

This new year doesn't have to mean "clean slate" "start new" "start fresh" it can mean building upon what has already been accomplished. It can mean another year to accomplish our goals and live our lives to the fullest.

Happy new year everyone!

Be safe!

Goodbye forever, Or just for awhile?

I know it has been a long time since I wrote a post. And even worse, in my last post I stated that I would have a little vlog up for you guys like a week and a half ago. Clearly that hasn't happened. Somehow I always forget my little rule of never making any promises because as soon as I make the promise, I never follow through (at least here in blog land).

Anyways, I'm writing this post to say one thing and one thing only. I've decided to take a break from blogging.

I would like to claim the excuse that my life has just been too busy for me to keep up with this, but that is just not true. To be honest, I just don't feel any motivation right now. Every day that goes by that I don't write a word I feel an unreasonable amount of guilt. And I don't like that. That is why I decided to take a break, because at least if I tell you guys this is happening, I don't have to feel guilty.

I'm not saying I'm going to be gone forever. I'm also not not saying that. (Double negative, figure it out.) As of right now I plan to start back up in December... but I'm not going to give myself a timeline. I just need to take a step back and reevaluate why I am doing this. What do I want this blog to accomplish? Do I just want to gain a bunch of followers so I can feel good about myself? Do I want to try to be inspiring? If so, what does that even look like? Is this really a place where I can accomplish those things?

Everything in my life feels a little bit unorganized right now and I just need to try to figure out a routine. My life has taken a lot of turns over the past few months. Nearly everything is new to me and I just feel like I am sinking in a bottomless pit of chaos. Not because there is too much, but just because I have let everything fall into it's own place.

It's like when my room gets messy and it drives me crazy, but I feel too overwhelmed to clean anything, so I just let it all pile up until it makes my whole life feel like it is going to come crashing down around me and I am helpless to stop it. That sounds rather dramatic, but that is really what happens to me. I need things to be organized and planned out, and when they aren't I feel confused and helpless. Even though in reality I have everything I need to fix the situation.

So that is what I'm doing. I'm taking this time to figure out what I want. To organize my life a bit. To set some goals and put in to place some structure. In all areas of my life, not just this one. And usually cleaning means making a mess bigger before it gets better.

Ok, I've said a lot more than one thing. So with that I am out of here. More likely than not, I'll be back. Because regardless of why I come to this little world, I just haven't figured out how to keep myself away.

My first vlog, and three years of marriage

Hey everyone! Here I am with the first vlog of my life. Not sure how I feel about this, but I'm posting it anyways. I feel like my face is a little weird looking, but whatever. Maybe I will have to start learning how to be more videogenic too? Also, I hate how my voice sounds completely different when I hear it recorded than it does in my head. You guys know what I'm talking about, right?

Anyways, this does not have any answers to questions about marriage. We left our camera and tripod at home on accident, which is what we were going to do the vlog with, so I decided that I will do that vlog later. I will try to post it on monday so you guys can keep sending us questions if you have anything you would like us to answer. I got some good ones already so I'm excited! They don't have to be advice about marriage or dating, you can just ask us stuff about anything you are curious about our relationship or our life in general.


Now you enjoy this video, while I start working on some homework in the most comfortable bed of my life! Then we can start celebrating our three amazing years of marriage!! Yay!

first vlog from Tanya on Vimeo.

Time flies when you're having fun!

Photo's by Zach Grasley

Tomorrow is mine and Alex's 3 year wedding anniversary!

Wow, I can't believe it's been three years!

I feel like after three years you are officially no longer newlyweds.

You've already been through a lot of ups and downs of life.

You've had time to figure each other out and learn a bit about your roles as a husband and wife.

Do we know everything and are perfect because we have been married for three years?

Not a chance.

Do we know a lot more than we did three years ago?

Absolutely!

Do we still need to work on having a healthy relationship?
Every. single. day.

As a little treat for you guys, I've decided to do my first vlog!

And an extra little treat is that Alex will be joining me for this first vlog of mine.

I'm excited!

We will be answering some FAQ's about married life and some things we have focused on to maintain a healthy relationship, as well as some of our life long goals to make sure we can continue to thrive as a couple.

If you have any specific questions you'd like us to answer leave a comment or email me! 

Just remember that we aren't perfect! We do not at all have all the answers, we are just learning as we go, and thought it would be fun to share some of the experiences we have had with other people.

Hopefully we will have this little vlog up for you tomorrow, but forgive me if it doesn't get posted until monday. After all it is our anniversary, and we will be out celebrating! 

Photo's by Zach Grasley

Keep on keepin' on

I'm taking a break from the bottomless pit that is my homework and studying to tell you guys that I'm still alive. There is such a hard balance that I am trying to find between life, rest, school, and blogging right now. Advice is more than welcome. There are so many of you out there that I truly look up to because you are so consistant with your posts, and yet you live full busy and crazy lives of your own, and somehow one doesn't seem to be effected by the other.

Ok, I don't look up to you just because you write posts all the time. I look up to you because somehow you continue to go from one day to the next living such busy lives and it doesn't seem to limit your ability to keep giving more. Maybe you are tired, maybe you have bad days, but that doesn't stop you from giving all you've got.

I have never been that person. If I'm overwhelmed I tend to drop everything that is on my plate. My list of priorities completely falls apart and I become completely focused on holding my head above water. I've always wanted to be the person that goes into a challenging situation with my head held high and unfazed by the chaos going on around me. The reality is that I go in with a determination, of which may not always be healthy. I go in expecting to be ripped to shreds and intent on hanging on for dear life.

I may be making this all sound a little flowery, but what I am trying to say is that prior to heading into a challenge I always assume that at some point things are going to get so hard that I am just going to give in and give up. Give up either on the task at hand or all the other priorities in my life. Including sleep. Then when things do get a little challenging, everything falls by the wayside, until I am forced to choose between succeeding in what I set out to do or having a life and being happy.

But I don't think it has to be this way.

I have to believe that there can be a happy medium. Between putting as much effort as I need to be successful into my work, and not having my life fall apart in the mean time. There must be some way to do this, because I see so many other people doing it. Without being utterly desperate for a break and without thinking that they may fail if they aren't constantly operating at the end of their rope.

I don't say any of this to make you think that my life is falling apart. At least not yet. I'm actually loving every bit of where I am at in my life. Things have gotten a bit hard at times...

( Like staying up until 1:30am studying before my midterm on monday morning, for which I had to get up for at 6am. There are countless times I considered skipping out on the rest of my classes after that early morning midterm, but somehow I stuck it out for the rest of my classes that day.)

but the benefits from my hard work are very much worth the effort. What I am saying is that, although things could be a lot worse, I am already giving up on some of my other commitments in order to keep myself sain. Such as this blog. And for that I hope you guys will forgive me. I'm trying to strike a balance.

The problem isn't necessarily the time it takes me to write a post, it is the guilt I feel for spending any amount of time away from either my homework/studying or quality time with my husband. And that is the part that I need to balance. Learning to be ok with taking a little bit of time to myself, without having this awful nagging in the back of my mind of all the things I should be doing.

How do you guys learn to take "me" time, without feeling guilty about all your other responsibilities?

How to annoy your husband :)

Yay! I'm writing my second post for the week! I'm so proud of myself.

Yep... life is crazy.

And here is what it has looked like recently via my Instagram:

napping

Meeting my friends adorable kitten!!

A girls night! (Sara got cut out!! She is adorable so you really are missing out.)

More girls night.

My niece asked me to be one of her bridesmaids!

Rain.... no surprise there.

Nail date with my sisters and the most adorable niece ever!

Our nails :)

Like I said most adorable niece ever!

And me, annoying the crap out of Alex while I sing along to my music while doing my homework :)

^^This was really happening.

Since the beginning of this term we have discovered that I may be an external processor. Typically while working on my chemistry equations I find myself making up songs about them... it goes something like this,

6.022 x 10^23.... the 23rd.... the 23rrrrrddddd moooolllleeeessss of Siiiillllvvvveeeerrr

times, times, times, times

11 mollleeessss of siiiillllvvvvveeeerrrr

eeeeqqqqquuuuaaallllsss..

Ok, I completely made that one up on the spot, but you catch my drift. 

But this is really helping me study, I decided during my next midterm (just had my first one last night!) I'm going to sing about all the calculations I do, and I will for sure get an A!

And kicked out of my test.

which would lead to an F.... Hmmm

Plan B. Sing in my head, and dance.

Yes!

Alright, I gonna go have some down time, sipping on my nice warm cup of earl grey tea and catch up on the New Girl!

And then back to homework so I can have another girls night!!

Have a great weekend friends!

Linking up with:

Where I've been

This is what I looked like when Alex came home from work yesterday.

It might seem like I am sleeping,

but in reality I am just thinking really hard about my epidemiology paper.

I promise....

It was actually a paper for my public health class about epidemiology, but I just feel like it sounds smarter to say epidemiology paper.

Anyways,

 I know I was MIA all last week, for which I apologize for. School has been kicking my booty. 

Which is great, I wanted a challenge. I just forget that challenges can actually be... challenging.

And since I have nothing good to write about today, I will leave you with these three completely random pictures. The last one is my favorite.

I got that blue dress at a garage sale for a dollar. Yep, $1.

My baby, Bret.

See you later folks! Hopefully I find something good to write about soon.

Which would probably be a little easier if I actually starting thinking of things to write about.

I'm dreaming of chemistry equations...

Yep, dreaming about math and chemistry. It sucks when your homework break/nap consists of dreaming about how to solve the problem you are stuck on.

This is literally my life right now. Buried in chemistry equations. Don't take this as me complaining because this is what I wanted. Not necessarily to be buried in chemistry homework, but to finish my degree and do something that I actually enjoy. To be honest, I actually kind of like chemistry and math and all that other stuff that lots of people hate. I guess this is the perfect path for me because I have lots more science classes to take. Oh goody! (please, that was sarcasm people!)

I know this isn't going to be an easy path. I know that I am going to have to fight my desires to be lazy and sleep in until noon and cuddle with my adorable cats (which is very hard to resist!). But I know that in the end it will all be worth it.

Before I started school I felt like maybe I was too old to pursue a career change. But now that I am there, I know that I still have so much life ahead of me. There are people who wait until they are in their 30's or 40's and suddenly decide they want to be a nurse, and then go to school and their dreams become a reality. I'm not even nearly that age, so what is stopping me? It isn't an unattainable goal. This is something that I can accomplish if I really want to.

Every opportunity has been opened to me, and my job is only to embrace those opportunities and run with them. I'm excited about the challenges ahead of me, because I know that it is going to build character along the way.

I know that I could get discouraged along the way, but I just hope that the people in my life will help me snap out of it. And that does include you guys!

For now I need to sleep, because I have to get up at 5:30 again tomorrow morning. Yikes.

Lately

Life has been crazy lately.

Crazy, but awesome.

As you have probably figured out I started my fall term classes on Monday!

So far I am loving it!

I finished my transfer degree last spring and have moved on to a university that is about 45 minutes away from my house. (An update for those of you that are new around here.)

I was really nervous about commuting to school because for the past 3 years I have had panic attacks while I drive on the freeway.

Not just like I get nervous driving, but I would have a full on panic attack.

Sometimes ending in tears.

There were several times where I tried to drive just from one end of town to another (which isn't very far, maybe 5 miles of actual freeway driving) and I would just freak out and couldn't do it.

I had some unexplainable fear of passing out behind the wheel, or losing control of the car.
If I needed to go somewhere out of town I would have my husband drive.

At the beginning of summer I knew that I couldn't allow this fear to continue.

I knew that it was something that I needed to get control over, because I knew that there was a good possibility that I was going to be commuting to school this year.

All summer I tried.

A few times I drove maybe a good 30 miles, which I could only do while my husband was in the car,  before I started freaking out.

Sometimes I could only drive one exit down before I felt too much anxiety and had to get off.

Two weeks ago I drove down to Corvallis (the city of my school) with my husband in the car, and I freaked out then!

I didn't know what I was going to do when school started.

But I knew I didn't have a choice.

I either get over it and drive on the dang freeway, or I give up on all of my dreams of actually finishing school with a real degree.

I woke up Monday morning.

Got ready.

Ate my breakfast.

And headed out the door.

I was nervous, but oddly confident at the same time.

And miraculously, I drove all the way to school without even a hint of anxiety.

And I've driven every day since, with little to no anxiety.

The weird, and often annoying, thing about anxiety and panic attacks is that it is all in our heads.

All of that "mind over matter" mumbo-jumbo.

Honestly, I don't even know what changed, but somehow it isn't as scary anymore.

I know that I don't want to live my life in fear.

I don't want to give up on something that is important to me, just because some very small detail is standing in my way.

Maybe all I needed was something to force me to get over it.

And realize that I am capable of so much more than I think I am.

Oh, and in other good news,

Friday was supposed to be my last day at my job.

I was looking for something that was going to be a little more flexible with my school schedule, because I didn't want to have to plan my classes around work.

Well, last Monday my work actually offered to keep me on as a 10 hour employee!

So I still have a job!

Yay!

Funny how a few months ago I was completely stressed about how things were going to turn out.

I guess sometimes we just need to let the pieces fall together on their own.

Thanks for reading guys! And for being such a big support system for me! I really don't think my life would be the same without so many of you!

How to be yourself

There is definitely a balance that I have had to figure out ever since starting my blog.
I've always wanted to be real and not pretend to be someone different on here than I am in real life.
But sometimes that is complicated.
Even though I would absolutely love to be an open book with everyone, I've had to learn when to share and when to keep my mouth shut.

On top of this, I've had to figure out how to just let go and be myself.
Without worrying about what everyone is going to think of me.
I'm a little quirky.
A bit weird.
Nerdy for sure.
Very sarcastic.
And sometimes even a bit cynical.
Sometimes people don't find the same things funny that I do.
Sometimes people don't realize when I am actually joking and when I'm being serious.
And you know what?
That's just who I am.
It's the way I am in real life, and it's the way I am in my blog.
When I post something that gets absolutely zero results, I've had to learn not to beat myself up about it.
Because that is honestly who I am.
Maybe not everyone is going to understand it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I need to change.

It took me awhile to get to this place where I can just be myself and not worry what you guys are going to think of me. But, I'm happy that I did. Because I feel a little more free now.

And here is how you can do it too.

1. Remember that it is your blog. Write what you want to write and be who you want to be. If you are feeling funny, be funny. If you are feeling serious, be serious. Maybe it's not the way you usually do things. Maybe not everyone will get your jokes. Maybe not everyone will be moved to tears, but at least you are being true to yourself.

2. Don't check your stats or for comments a bazillion times after you publish a new post. A watch pot doesn't boil, and a watch blog doesn't get comments. Ok, it will probably still get comments, but you will just stress yourself out if it takes a couple hours to get your first comment. I've had to learn to publish my post and then go about my day, pretending that nothing is going on over here in blogland.

3. If you get zero comments, just forget about it. Even if no one liked your post at all, is it really the end of the world? Probably not. You have tomorrow to write something new and inspiring. Trust me, I know we all love comments! It is a good gage of whether you are keeping up with good content, but one "bad" post isn't going to kill you. Plus remember that many people who read, wont comment, even though they like what you had to say!

4. Don't change just because of something someone else is doing. One thing might work for one person, but it doesn't mean it is going to work for everyone. Trust me. I've tried to be more like certain bloggers, and it never goes over well. People can tell that you are being fake. At least I feel like I can tell when people are being fake.

5. Don't be afraid to branch out. I know that most people find their blogging "voice" and try to stick to that. But I say, don't feel confined to one specific "voice". People change and grow. You aren't always going to be the same as you are at this very moment. Not only that, but our moods are constantly changing. Sometimes I am extremely happy. Sometimes I'm hyper. Or sad. Or serious. Or missing someone. Or feeling like sharing something important. Or just down right silly. Why should I feel that just because I usually write serious posts that I can't write a silly one?


Obviously there are a lot of other ways to help you focus on being yourself. It can be incredibly simple and complicated all at the same time. At least that is how I feel sometimes. There is so much pressure we put on ourselves to be a certain way, or be more like a certain type of person. But it really isn't necessary.

The more we act like ourselves, the more others appreciate us for who we are.
Which is all I could ever ask for from life.

If you met me.

If you are a regular reader you should hop on over to Bonnie's blog to see all about why I should be America's next top model.

If you are here from Life of Bon, I just want to say, welcome! 

I'm so honored to have anyone here who reads Bonnie's blog because I think she is probably one of the funniest, most awesome bloggers out there!

Anyways, I thought it appropriate to write about myself today.

First, because I usually do that.

Second, because some of you might be wondering who the heck this Tanya girl is.

I should probably tell you that I am not always the funny blogger.

I wish I could be more like Bonnie or Erin from LIY and just whip up some hilarious post out of my... off the top of my head, but that just doesn't happen to me all that often.

So I usually stick to what is natural, which is just being honest and true to myself.

So here is what I want to write about today... my true self.

The girl that you would meet in person.

Because I might be different than the girl you might be expecting.

The first thing you would notice is that I am extremely monotone. Ok, I don't know how extreme it is because I don't feel like I am, but I get told that I am all the time.

I don't express emotion very well, I'm pretty even keel. People usually make fun of me when I get excited about things because it is more like, "I'm so excited." No capitals, no exclamation marks. I get about as excited as Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. The very depressing donkey. This is not because I'm depressed, it's because I'm just not an expressive person.

Actually, sometimes I do express a lot of emotion, because I just start crying. Happy? Cry. Sad? Cry. Mad? Cry. Angry? Cry. Excited? Cry. Watching a commercial? Bawling my eyes out! This really happens people, my husband just read this and laughed and said, "Yep, sounds about right."

You might perceive me as shy, but really I like to think of it more as awkward. When I don't know what to say, I just don't say anything. And at work, when I am forced to talk to people all day, I end up saying a lot of awkward things. How do you have a good 30 second conversation with a perfect stranger? I haven't figured that out yet.

I wish I could be on Dancing With the Stars... I pretty much talk about it all the time, even on my blog. That requires either being a star or an amazing dancer... I'm working on it.

I might be one of the most fickle people you ever meet. I'm not sure if it is possible for me to change my mind more often than I already do.

I'm really dramatic. I'm sure you are wondering how dramatic a monotone person who expresses no emotions can really be? I don't get it either, but trust me it happens.

Along the lines of being dramatic, I am probably a hypochondriac. I try my best to be rational about things, but once I hear about some crazy disease I swear I have all of the symptoms. Those online symptom checker things are probably the worst invention ever. Oh, you have a headache? You probably have cancer. Runny nose? Definitely cancerous, see your doctor immediately! A normal person would think this is ridiculous and move on with their life, but I think I'm going to die!!! And have about a million panic attacks.

I am extremely impatient. When I get an idea in my head, I want to see it happen immediately! Like yesterday, I decided I want to have a desk in my living room for doing my homework on when school starts... so we went out and made a new desk. I couldn't wait for next weekend when we have a billion more hours to spend on it. Nope, I wanted it now.
(which is something I will be posting about soon!)

I just asked my husband what someone might learn about me if they met me in person, and the first thing he thought of is that I'm short. Thanks babe. But it's true, I am short, if you can't tell from my pictures. I am a whopping 5'1".  I'm telling you this now because if I meet you and you said "Wow, you're really short." I might punch you.

This one is important. I don't often laugh out loud. If I ever say "LOL" it is probably highly inaccurate. Even when I think something is extremely funny. Don't be offended if I just smile. The only way my husband can get me rolling in laughter is if he makes fun of something I do. Which, apparently, I find hilarious.

I guess if you guys stick around you will learn that I am pretty "all over the place", but that's ok with me.
I write about a wide range of things from what I did, to where I went, to what I made for dinner and what furniture I built. And then when I run out of things to talk about there is always my husband and my cats.

Maybe I will get to meet some of you in person some day! 

Hopefully you will be accepting of me staring at you awkwardly and cracking a slight smile at your jokes. 

I promise that in my head I am probably thinking about how awesome you are.

Eventually I'll loosen up.

I hope.

A girl name Peety

Sorry I've been missing this week guys! It's been a crazy busy week for me.

I can't stay long,  but the other day I said I had more news to share and I'm here to share it!

First of all, we traded in our beautiful car! :(

We had a Volvo S40, which was my dream car! I loved it to death, but sadly it wasn't fuel efficient enough to make sense for me to drive it back and forth 45 minutes every day, so we traded her in for a Prius.

If you follow me on instagram (@tanyagrasley) you would have seen these pictures pop up this week.

We named our Prius Peety, but don't be fooled by her name, it is still a girl! 

Are we the only 20-something year olds that still name our cars?

My other news is that I will be quitting my job! I couldn't share until it was official.

I want to be able to focus on school and have that be my first priority, and my company is starting to move away from working around college students schedules, so I decided it wasn't a good fit for me anymore. I am going to look for something that is less demanding and more flexible schedule wise, but I have no job offers yet. 

It's a little scary since I already put my notice in at work, but if I don't find a job I know that we will be able to survive for awhile without my income. 

This is the first time I've ever quit a job without having another job offer, but I feel like God is telling me I need to trust Him on this one, so that's what I'm doing. He always comes through for me!

We've got lots of crazy changing going on over at my house!

Hope everyone else is doing alright out there!

Have a wonderful weekend!