Holy crap. Where did the last six months of my life go? It all seems like a blur. But it’s been a beautiful blur. And after the year that I had last year, I’m feeling like this is the best year ever. Let me fill you in.
Earth Day Birthday
When my sister told me she was pregnant last year, it wasn’t long before I was trying to calculate if my nephew would show up in the middle of spring semester final exams. What can I say? I’m a planner. However, because my nephew is undoubtedly a true gentlemen, he waited to make his grand entrance into this world until Earth Day, exactly two days after my last final exam of the spring semester.
It’s been incredible watching my little sister and my brother-in-law blossom as parents to this little guy that has captured all of our hearts:
Those cheeks!
My gorgeous sister and my adorable nephew on his first Trader Joe’s trip
I’m now one of those proud aunts that shows photos of her nephew to anyone that will look. I can’t tell you how much I love having him in our world. And, he hasn’t peed on me yet so that wins him bonus points.
HeMBArie
Sometimes I still wake up in a panic, thinking that I have an assignment due or I forgot to study for an exam. But then I remember: I’m done! I survived the past two years of juggling a full-time job, my MBA program, and somehow squeezing in time for the people I love. Since my program only has one commencement a year, my class walked in May, and then, as part of a cruel joke, we returned to class days later to complete our summer semester. Alas, at the end of July I successfully completed my MBA program and reclaimed my life (especially those weekends). Feel free to call me “HeMBArie” from now on. Ha!
Me and my biggest cheerleader, my husband
Words cannot express how grateful I am to my friends and family for accepting my absences over the last two years. And I undoubtedly could not have done this without my husband. He cleaned up the messes he dubbed “Hurricane Hey” in every room of our house, made sure I ate, and encouraged me to take it one day at a time. I tried to gift him my MBA diploma, but he already has his own.
I managed to keep running (I even ran a marathon) until the last two semesters where I finally accepted that sleep had become more valuable to me than exercise. I quietly hung up my running shoes and replaced hitting the pavement with time spent in my bed. However, as that second to last semester came to a close and the hardest parts of my final semester were behind me, I slowly dusted off my running shoes and started meeting my friends for early morning runs and coffee. I even signed up for the Cocoa Beach Half Marathon to motivate me to get back in shape. The race is in two days, so keep an eye out for my race recap next week.
2 x 4
This is the nickname my MBA classmates gave me when they found out that I accepted a position with my dream company. That’s right… In just two years, I somehow managed to work for four different companies. In my defense, I don’t usually move around so much. But a couple of years ago I decided that life was too short to not love what I did every day and made some changes. With every move, I wondered if I was doing the right thing. Was it really realistic to want to find a job that I wanted to go to every day? Did a place where I was inspired, motivated, and encouraged by all of the people I work with actually exist??
It turns out, the answer is yes. I’m four months into my new position and I still can’t believe how incredibly lucky I feel. Fun fact: this was actually the very first job I interviewed with a couple of years ago on my newfound pursuit of happiness and I wasn’t offered a position. Sometimes it just takes a little patience and a lot of perseverance.
But that’s not all that’s happened lately.
To be continued…
I Sweat Pretty 