weekends

Hold On, Let Me Check My Calendar…

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BUSY-Calendar

I don’t know what it is, but this summer has been incredibly busy for me.  Perhaps even the busiest summer of my life- and I didn’t even go on a real summer vacation! I had time off, but only went on trips for the weekend, usually visiting family. It’s gotten so busy that I’ve traded in my planner notebook for Google Calendar, which has been a lifesaver. I can view it on the computer or my phone and it syncs to let me know what’s going on from anywhere. It’s gotten so bad that my husband and I have to check our calendar before we make any plans. I know a lot of people are like that, but I used to be able to keep track in my head. Not now. We try to make plans and I have to say, I don’t have a free weekend until the middle of August! Today was the only real weekend day where I didn’t have any plans. We made a nice day of it, went out to lunch, shopping and to the movies. It was really nice to just decide in the moment and go and enjoy ourselves. With our friends, we have had to make dinner plans on weeknights because the weekends are too busy. I like being busy and having things to do, but sometimes it can be overkill and burn you out.

Be-so-busy-loving-your-life-that-you-have-no-time-for-hate-regret-or-fear-from-Starling-FitnessI think our busy summer started when I was off for two weeks from work and planned activities for my husband and me to do most days. He took a couple days off work to relax and spend time with me. We went to “the beach.” OK, it was the lake beach, but it was still a good time. We ate at new restaurants and really just enjoyed ourselves. Then more and more plans were made, my husband had a few more photo jobs, and our calendar really filled up. Last weekend, we traveled to Tennessee to see my husband’s niece play in a softball tournament, and they won! It was nice to spend time with my in-laws and I discovered I actually like watching softball. I’m not really a sports fan and don’t enjoy going to baseball games, so this was surprising to me.

This upcoming weekend, we are going to visit more of my husband’s family at Lake Helen, Florida. I’m really looking forward to it. Maybe we’ll go canoeing and ride on the four-wheelers again. The next weekend I will be in Athens for a celebration for the return of Delta Phi Epsilon at UGA. That is the chapter I initiated at, so I’m really excited to see the chapter come back and visit with some of my sisters from that school who I have not seen in years.

It’s looking like things will slow down for me in the fall. I’m looking forward to my birthday, not because I turn 30, but because I love my birthday- who doesn’t? Well, some people dread turning older, but I love celebrating with family and friends. My mom will be in town for my birthday and I have a couple days off work to celebrate with her. After my birthday comes, it’s my husband and I’s two year wedding anniversary! We won’t be on a fancy vacation celebrating, but we have both taken the day off work and are going to do something fun during the day in Atlanta and have dinner at a nice restaurant.

Life gets so busy, especially when you have two jobs (and so does your husband) but I wouldn’t trade mine for the world. Here’s to living life to the fullest!

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Life After College

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Life after High School and College: When Your Social Life Turns into Your Work Life

In this blog entry, I want to share a common problem most twenty something college graduates may have. For me, college and high school now seem like such a long time ago. My ten year high school reunion is creeping up on me and, a little over four years ago, I graduated from college. After college, when I joined the working world with a full time nine to five, I noticed that my social life had dwindled. Not that it went away completely, but I was going to less social engagements and work seemed to take up more of my life. The sorority events, fraternity parties, and homecomings turned into deadlines, business emails, and life spent at the computer. I suspect this happens to a lot of college graduates when they enter the work force. In college, I was in a sorority and between that, school, dating, and my part time job, I was incredibly busy. Once I changed over that tassel on my graduation cap, my social calendar somewhat declined. But, if you want to have a good balance between work life and social life, you have to plan for it.

Kennesaw Graduate

My Graduation from KSU

It’s hard to be as busy socially when you have a full time job that requires you to wake up at the crack of dawn and go to work every weekday. For me, and my current job, I work four 10-hour days. You try having dinner with friends and getting in time for a workout when you get off at 7 p.m. every day! For me, a good benefit is having three day weekends and never having to work on a Monday. This brings me to my next point—take advantage of your weekends! Having three days instead of two allows for weekend trips and makes it easier when you go on vacation. But, if you only have two days, you need to make the most of them. Unless you work from home on the weekends sometimes, these are your two days to relax, unwind, and have fun with friends and family. Get out there and have some fun!

One thing that has made my life busier is joining my sorority alumnae association. We have events several times a month, so it brings back that sense of togetherness and added social time. As the twenty somethings get to be closer to thirty, life gets busier with co-habitation, marriage and having children. But, while most of us don’t wish to go back in time and relive our college years, you still sometimes miss staying out all night partying when your alarm goes off bright and early at 6 a.m. for work. Well, back to the grind…