Birthday!

In less than a week, I will be the big 2-5, quarter century old. I'm actually feeling pretty good about this birthday, not as old as I have been feeling in the past. I'm starting to see all the joys of being an adult, such as increased independence, earning a living and supporting myself, and all the opportunities I have open to myself, such as going to Scotland/England next year to live. I guess I'm just feeling more excited about the future and what God has in store for me than I did before. I've been a lot more faithful recently in my nightly devotions, and I think it is having an effect on my attitude towards myself and life in general. Or maybe it's the fact that the sun is out more and it's starting to warm up (slightly). Or maybe that I am starting to see the end in sight for my master's degree. I have really been enjoying this internship. I think I am in the best possible place right now. I'm still a little more lonely than I would like to be at times, but I feel confident that I won't always feel this way.

I'm really excited about this weekend. I am going shopping with my Dad for my birthday, I'm going to the Opera with Sarah and Josh, I get to watch the Oscars with Sarah, and it's my birthday on Monday! I feel as if life is pretty good right now.

Life and Times of the Shopaholic

I have been feeling so much more relaxed since I went down to working one day at Barnes and Noble. It has been two weeks now of that for me, and I think I definitely made the right decision. Not that it is easy taking my grandma out. She has more energy than I do, I think, and that is sad considering she is 83 years old and I am almost 25. I really think she needs a sedative. I am taking my grandma out tonight and tomorrow night. We'll probably go to Borders and read. At least she is quiet when she is looking at her magazines. She talks non-stop otherwise, about the same things over and over. She always asks me about how certain friends of mine are doing, and she even remembers Peter for some reason and will ask me about him from time to time. That's kind of strange. It's hard taking her shopping now because I don't feel I can leave her because she gets panicked if left alone, so I have to stick with her non-stop. And I have to watch to see where she puts her purse because she loses it constantly, leaving it on tables, in bathrooms, etc. She's always telling me how good I look, though, so that's a plus. : )

I had a nice four day weekend last weekend, and I barely did a thing because of that detox diet. I am off of it now, and so happy! I don't know if I feel detoxified, but I lost a couple of pounds, so that is nice, especially getting close to bathing suit season. I went shopping on Monday with my mother for my birthday presents, and I found a lot that i liked. I got this cute purple short sleave spring shirt from Ann Taylor Loft, a yellow cardigan from Express, and this cute almond colored short sleaved sweatshirt zip up shirt from French Connection. It's all cute, believe me. I'm hoping to go shopping with my dad next weekend and get my birthday present from him, so I will keep you updated.

Detox Diet

I have been on this detox diet this weekend that is making me really cranky. Sometimes I wonder why I do these things, but my mom suggested it, so I told her I would do it with her. It's supposed to cleanse your body out of all impurities, so you have to eat certain food each day from certain categories, but it's extremely limiting. Like, I can't eat sugar, alcohol, caffeine, wheat, soy, dairy, or artificial sweeteners like splenda or sweet 'n low, so I can't have coffee, tea, Diet Coke, any sort of diet pop whatsoever, and it is driving me crazy! Especially with today being Valentine's Day, there are donuts and candy all over the place. All this is doing is making me want to eat even more. On the plus side, I went to see Brokeback Mountain over the weekend, and I really enjoyed it. I took my cardio kickboxing class last night and made a friend. There's this girl there about my age who I think we begin running together some, so that will be fun.

Update

I am not feeling very creative at the moment. I don't really have a whole lot to say, but I think I should try to update this for those of you who make an effort to keep up with my life. It was my mom's birthday on Thursday, so we celebrated twice for her, once on her birthday, and once this weekend with my sister and her husband coming up. That was fun having family here. I really like it when I get to see my sister and brother-in-law. We went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse (mmmm), and my sister made this homemade German Chocolate cake which was way delish. Overall, I had a pretty relaxing weekend. I had to go to Champaign on Friday, and now only have two more times left to go to Champaign, for which I am very happy. That drive is starting to get to me. 5 hours spent in the car for a 4 hour class. It's just ridiculous. Although, they put this new boutique on the corner near the social work building, and this time I couldn't resist buying something there on our way back to the car. I got a cute new summery top that's a white cotton tank with black flowers embroidered onto the bottom, and this cute red chunky beads necklace to go with it. Trust me, it's cute. The weekend always seems to go by so fast, and now it's Monday. Although, this was the first weekend I did not have to work at Barnes and Noble, and I feel so much better today at work. Now I'm only working on Tuesdays there, and a couple of days a week I will take my grandma out. I'm taking her out tonight, we'll probably go to Walgreens so she can look at the make up (she really likes it there) and then maybe to a bookstore. I think I like this new schedule.