im sorry, what month is it?!

We are getting ready to head into the half-way mark of 2013.

Half this year is almost over. I literally had a mini freak out about it today, so in true blogger fashion, I thought I’d share my thoughts with you.

I was driving with my roommate explaining how I’m making myself crazy because the months keep flying by. Weeks.. gone. Days.. a blur. Hours even.. Seconds.. mere memories. I was, and still feel like, life is happening way too fast for me right now. So much so, that I have no clue how to control it. My lovely roommate casually responded with something like, “Well, you can’t control it, life will always go too fast.”

And deep down I know that. I know I can’t control much of anything except myself and my actions. And I think that’s why I was freaking out. I was starting to become those people I blogged about once. Take a read when you get a moment:

..lets not go so fast this time..

I finally have a job I enjoy.. It is M-F, 8:30am – 5pm. Of course, on occasion I’m out a little late or in a little early.. but generally speaking I have a pretty normal schedule. I have weekends off. I have a ‘normal’ work week.

I never thought it would creep up on me and bite me in the ass. As I mentioned, I was, and am, (but trying reaalllyyy hard to stop) becoming one of those people that I blogged about back in 2012. I watch the clock, I work for the weekend.. I can’t wait until Thursday is over. I have openly said “OMG I can’t wait until next Wednesday is over.” Seriously?! I want to push time ahead a week?!

I stopped  s a v o r i n g  every day.

And now, 7 months later, I am just living a cycle of work/weekend/work in the place that I thought would change my life.

Not to say my life hasn’t changed, but something else my roommate mentioned today really made me think. She asked something like, “Well why are you feeling like that?” And continued by adding.. “There’s no need unless you think you are missing out on something, or not doing something you want.”

And honestly I have been thinking about that since I moved here. And if I break it down, the only thing I thought I was missing was money. I have a job I absolutely enjoy, it is exactly what I was looking for to get me into the job market in my field. I love the people I work with.. (although they are not nearly as great of friends as my last job #aeriegirlforlife ..sorry, had to) but the pay isn’t exactly helping me live the life I would like to. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not terrible.. it’s just tough.

And so maybe I just opened up a new door to myself. In writing that last sentence, I realized, maybe there is something missing.

I am recently starting to save for a trip to France. My plan is next year so I have time to save the money and build more vacation time. But in every dollar I save, something comes up. My car registration is in November.. and Christmas, of course, is in December. And never mind life happening.. like getting work done on my car that I need, so I can keep going to work!

So bringing this back a bit, I am missing something. More dreams. I have never traveled and France has been on my to-do list for years. At 32, I don’t feel the clock ticking as far as babies, or marriage, although one day I may still want those things.. But more so, I feel like everyday that passes, is another day gone. One less day I have to live another dream.

And like I wrote back in 2012, I don’t want time to go faster, I just want to enjoy now. I am excited for France, but I want to cherish the struggle it takes for me to get there. I want to appreciate my hard work and appreciate the time I have right now. I want to remember where I came from and be proud of what I have, and hopefully will, become.

Everyday is a blessing. And as much time that I think I may have.. I never really know.

It’s hard, I tell you. But I’m still trying. Because I don’t know what the future has in store. Even scarier, I don’t know when my last days will be. So really, I have nothing more than these moments of now. Nothing more than today.

live your life.. love your job..

This continues my adult-yearbook-will.. and this one is for you girls.

I honestly cannot believe this day is finally here. I never thought I’d see it come. The Aerie chapter of my life is finishing today.

To Natasha, Kristina, Hayley, Shannyn, and Leah.. the originals. To ‘talk with an accent day’. Or was it just talking like pirates? Or leprechauns? The candy drawer, and gossip in the stockroom. To dance parties and tank and undie sets.. and how everything was SUPER CUTE! when it came in. To Leah’s car that couldn’t drive fast because it was new.. what?! And Hayley and Kristina, who kept in touch and celebrated my 30th!! You ladies started the Aerie adventure, and I hope I end mine with swiping the undie table to the floor. ♥

To the ones who came and went, but that made an impact all the same.. Ill always remember how much Mish loved Ksoby and how amazing she was at bras.. And Tawn, Mish’s right-hand-man in the stockroom.. me and your dad were bffls.. we should play volleyball. Ames, I will never forget how great you were at swiffering, and how much you loved it when I told other managers how good you were at finger-spacing too 😉 Your family is my favorite and it makes me so happy that you are doing well. Malisa, you motivated my spiritual side and were always so kind-hearted. You made me want to be a better person. Andie, who said it best during one of the worst working years of my life “I think we all saved eachother a little bit today.” We did save each other.. and through it all we stood by each other. Kimberly, the BEST.MINOR.EVER. Even Nicole.. I told you this was going to be the best month of your life! We enjoyed it together 🙂

To the ones who stayed strong and survived through the best times and the worst, when we were failing, succeeding, or when me and Mish worked 14hr days with no breaks. We did it together, and we sure as hell had a great time.. especially at Chilis.. kind of 😉 We talked about baristas, boyfriends, stalkers, and creeps. We had cookie-cakes. There were life lessons being made. Al.. Ms “Hi, I’m Allie, Ive worked here since we opened..” Who never ceases to amaze me with stories, and gossip.. and whatever it was you did at camp.. thats probably where I get the gossiping from.. To proms, signs, graduations, KEN, Mrs Fields, and relationships.. I hope you learned to speak with your words, and how to become an MTV star. Dani G. you were the best at MAN DOWN!! procedures and there is nothing better than a conversation with you.. what the future holds, and wait, more relationship talk.. Naysh, I pretty much watched you grow up, and like Allie, I was your other mother.. hope Lisa doesn’t find your stash of drews.. Bri, the most fashionable one on staff.. and Moira who makes a blazer look good on anything. Landry, thank goodness for you, or Stef would go crazy.. shes going crazy now.. and thank you for working insane hours.. and asking for it? And duct tape.. we can never forget the duct tape. J’aimie, you’ve been there longer than all of us! Thank you for being my work confidante when things were frustrating or just changing on us.. and helping with all my Apple questions.. obvi. Peterman, I laugh just thinking about working with.you.every.shift especially all the closes and disney singing, and our candle-lit power outage.. and of course, all the relationship conversations.. are we seeing a trend here?! And making sure you didnt become a statistic. Julia.. Smokes. Hahaha best place ever, and I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Thank you for telling me I’ve still got game.. hahaha. Cayt, thank you for loving trees 🙂 The saddest moment of my life will be when I start my new job and realize there is no one I can create a ROM COM with.. because no one has ideas as good as we come up with. Alanna.. my favorite artist.. the best relationship and life conversations come out of our closes.. I realized.. we ARE a rom com! Strange how much we have in common.. even all the amazing music from 2005! And, of course, Rivetts.. my human diary.. you know more about me than most people ever want to. We have our own personal book club discussions over Glee, New Girl, The Office.. and face rubbing. You’re my very own personal assistant. I would never have enough coffee in my day if it wasnt for you, and you pretty much kept me from going crazy. Thanks for quitting on me while I was on vacation, and thank you for being the.best.waitress.ever. Now get me a pancake.. and a coffee ♥

And now for the finale..

From the beginning, it has been quite an adventure. And there is one person who I shared it with all the way to today.. MISH! 🙂 My peer, my friend, my manager.. you and I both know that I do not know what I would have done without you these past 4 years. From teaching me how to close, to wedding planning and bridal showers. Bachelorettes and pole dancing.. Weddings and amateur parties, laughing, crying, complaining, and all the tequila I should have drank the year before you came back. All the advice I called you for and Twilight talks.. when I finally read/watched it! Cheesecakes and cookie-cakes.. meatball subs.. and doritos.. and coke.. and chips and dip! We are BOTH always eating! We ran this store from the start, and will run it together until 5:30p. I learned so much from you in regards to management, and even more through friendship.. because we all know what kind of friend I am.. waste.of.my.time! You always had more patience, even though most people never saw it. I love you and miss you already.. I will never work with someone who I can yell at without shame ever again.. Thank you for everything through the good and bad.. and all the undies in between ♥

You girls are the reasons why I stayed as long as I did.. most people would never deal with the crap I have gone through at this job, and many managers haven’t.. so I thank all of you for your support and for giving me a sense of sanity. I will miss the laughs, the stock room gossip, the undie tables, bra hangers, conference calls, schedule making, being mini mall-cops, and every moment I had with each of you. Now someone get me some gin and a new ROM COM story..♥

“We make more in life lessons at aerie than dollars..” Dani G.