Amy and the Great World

Hello and happy Friday! I hope you’ve been having a great week.

Today, for my Freestyle Friday, I decided that I should have you over, for coffee, maybe a cookie, maybe a drink, and we can get to know each other.

(There’s been lots of “I’m a Girl Who…” and “Be That Girl…” and “Coffee Talk” posts this week from other bloggers, so I’m feeling inspired).

Like anyone else who has a blog, my favorite thing is writing, closely following by writing about myself, which for me are both probably tied with writing about travel. I enjoyed most of the above posts I read, with the exception of the “Be That Girl” posts I read. While sometimes I enjoy those inspirational be-the-best-you posts, I wasn’t feeling it this week. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get a little sick of all the platitudes and quotes and advice we are overwhelmed with daily, especially with the ease of the Internet, quotes on Pinterest, wonderful blogs full of wonderful words, news at the brush of our fingertips on our technology.

This week, I read this post, and the quote featured, from B.J. Novak’s new book, sums up how I feel about these quotes and words and advice and news:

“If you love something, let it go. If you don’t love something, definitely let it go. Basically, just drop everything, who cares.”

Don’t you find them contradictory sometimes, too?

So, in that spirit, we’re keeping it real around here today! I promise, no quotes, no advice, just me, in all my glory.

Me, talking about me. Which might be my actual favorite thing (I did just say I’d be genuine, after all).

While I’m talking about me, I also hope to get to know you, too!

+ Although E and I are not engaged and will likely not be for the foreseeable future, I have the location of my someday-wedding picked out. Why I wouldn’t say I have every detail of this hypothetical wedding planned, I do have a few. However, I think if none of these ideas happen I will probably be okay, also. At least, I hope so…

+ Despite the fact that every time I see a baby my uterus yells “YOU NEED ONE OF THOSE RIGHT NOW,” I’m not even sure I want kids. Cue gasp! I want to try being an aunt, first. (Hear that, siblings? You get to go first). I think it’s my love of traveling and being a nomad–it’s hard to picture bringing a child into that, even if I don’t plan on thinking about children for another ten years at least, so who knows what I will be doing. I am certain I want a dog, though. Despite what people tell you, I have a feeling kids are slightly more work than dogs. But, what do I know? I think I love dogs so much because my parents’ dogs are my babies. Since I’m kind of their “aunt,” I figure being around actual nieces and nephews might help me decide the kid issue.

I love them.

+ I tend to be so sarcastic I’ve been told it’s off-putting, but what can I say, it occasionally garners laughs. As a middle child, I was always the little monkey of the family, performing for attention and laughter. While I’m trying to learn the value of being serious (which, let’s face it, I sometimes find overrated) I’ve never broken the monkey habit. I think it’s so ingrained that even when I am making an effort to be serious (in class, for example) I still get many unexpected laughs. Maybe it’s just my face.

+ I change what I want to do on a daily basis, but constants in my life have been writing, reading, travel, and helping people. I’ll let you know when I find something that combines all of those. Hopefully, simultaneously, because hey, dream big, baby!

+ Once I find a TV show I love, I will watch it over and over (same goes for movies. And books, I tend to re-read those too). I can’t help it, it’s comforting to me somehow. Most of the time, it helps me fall asleep to have one of these familiar shows on in the background. I tend to get a second wind the minute I hop in bed, so I need to do something with my brain that isn’t too taxing. As an avid reader, I do occasionally bust out a book–but I often get so into it, I stay up even later, which defeats the purpose.

+ I’ve recently started to enjoy yoga, but I think I do a “lazy” version. My favorite session is a DVD that’s basically a “night-night” version of yoga. Pretty much, lots of breathing and stretching and relaxing and I LOVE IT. None of that fast-paced, millions of down-dogs for me. Or, at least not yet. I still can’t touch even touch my toes.

+ I have a bad tendency to let things I read trigger my anxiety and send me into a spin of doubt, or to make these articles/words into absolute truth. It’s good to remember that a lot of what we read is opinion, or biased, or applicable to the individual who wrote it. However, that hasn’t kept me from buying two-percent milk after reading an article about how full-fat dairy might actually be better for you than non-fat. And the study is still in the theoretical stages! But, seriously, there’s nothing like full-fat dairy. (Bloggers everywhere are horrified at this. I’m also more into dairy than almond milk…I think I might get expelled from the blogger club. Oh wait, am I even in that, yet? I do make this smoothie with almond milk so that has to count for something, right?).

+ Although the rest of the world is so-ready for winter to be over, I love winter. (The winter here in Denver barely counts, anyway–70 in February? Are you joking me? If you want this weather year-round move to San Diego, people!). Anyway, I love cold weather so much more, and (more importantly probably), I love cold weather fashion. Scarves and boots and leggings are way more my thing than shorts and sandals. I don’t mind dresses, but I don’t love tank tops or swimsuits. Give me a cute, snuggly jacket and crisp weather any day! I also dream of foggy mornings and cloudy days…I should probably live on the coast.

+ As you can tell, I love lists, and I have so many ideas on where to travel next that sometimes it makes me anxious. That’s me: take something fun to plan and add it to my worry-list (oh, hey, look at that, another list!). However, once I have a trip actually booked, I can’t make myself stop planning feverishly. On the same note, I feel anxious and listless when I don’t have a trip to plan, even if it’s a weekend away. I sure sound fun to be around, don’t I?

+ I’m a terrible eater. There. I said it. I think part of it is that I’m a comfort eater and my current schedule, between school and internship, leaves me very stressed and desperate for macaroni-and-cheese. I’m working on it, and working on being healthier overall, like yoga. We just got a Trader Joe’s here in Denver, and it has so many healthy options–and so many not-so-good ones. I’ve been once, and I came home with sea-salt brownies, coffee ice cream, macaroni-and-cheese bites, and guacamole hummus (which had avocados and chickpeas, so, healthy). Maybe that won’t be my new grocery store. I am telling you this mostly so you never make the mistake of thinking that this is a healthy living blog (but really, why would you?).

+ I consider myself very messy, unorganized and kind of a disaster, but at the same time, I love to decorate and make things homey. Those who visit my apartment always compliment us on how cute and clean it is, so, I’m pretty good at hiding this fact (usually by closing doors and filling closets Monica Geller style).

+ I’m a little addicted to BuzzFeed and BuzzFeed Travel. I take many quizzes and look through many must-see lists. According to BuzzFeed, I should live in Greenwich Village, Australia, or London, I should be an astronaut, I should immediately be embarking on a road trip, and many other things. Sometimes, I take the quizzes again if I don’t like my answer. However, no matter how many times I took that particular quiz, I was always told I should be an astronaut. Although most other articles might have me switching careers, I am luckily able to take BuzzFeed with a grain of salt. Except for the London/Australia/Greenwich Village part, because I want to live in all of those places.

+ I measure out my life accomplishments by where I’ve traveled. While most people seem to talk about their careers, marriages, babies, houses and the general American dream (which is not a bad thing!) I count the countries I’ve been to and my most memorable travel experiences as my big accomplishments. When ever I feel like I haven’t done anything with my life, I remind myself of these and I feel better. (I’m obviously not immune to those other types of accomplishments, as I’ll be finishing graduate school in June).

So, there you have it. The “real” me. Can we be friends now? Come on over and join me in the comments! If we become friends, I promise to send you a care package with, you guessed it, cookies. 🙂