Nashville: Thirty-Four Months

I started writing this five months out from my actual two year mark. What are my thoughts... convoluted, per usual. I've had some great experiences here, I don't know that I connect with this city. I talk to people that love it, that love it so incredibly much and I find myself so confused. What am I missing, what am I getting wrong here? So I go out and try the coffee shops and try the restaurants and go to the places that people make look so cool on Instagram and still I feel a little lost. What in the heck are these people talking about?

I was once sitting with a very good friend of mine having brunch one day when I looked over to this table of girls having brunch and I said, I wish I could be brunching like those girls. In my mind it felt so different, it looked like they were doing something so different than what I was doing but my friend looked at me and was like, Corey, we are doing exactly what they are doing... you are brunching like them. And while now I totally see what she means, then it felt different. Like somehow their experience was deeper and better than mine, that I would never be able to achieve this sunny life that other people seemed to be having.

Nevermind that I was sitting there, eating food with my wonderful friend at a time that would be considered brunch. I don't know what I felt was missing from that moment, maybe I felt like I didn't look the part of the brunching 20-something. Maybe I felt like our conversations weren't as light and carefree as the girls (women?) at the other table

Always looking for what I want to see instead of seeing what is in front of me. I look at these gorgeous pictures other people take and think, oh man, that's where I need to be. Then I can see these beautiful things and I will be happy. I did this often during my adventures with Dan, I would suggest another hike, another trail, and each time I would go through it and leave feeling disappointed.

Is Nashville suppose to convince me? Am I suppose to convince myself. There was a good month where I was driving around thinking, maybe I really could stay here for the long term. That didn't last. I don't have a solid idea of where else I want to go, I might want to stay, but at this point I have absolutely no idea either way. I have spent over a year not really exploring Nashville because I can't eat many things, I don't drink coffee, and I hate traffic. The things people seem to say need to be explored here are the food, the coffee and the parts of town that seem to be in perpetual gridlock.

I've spent a year going to Murfreesboro, to one specific bar almost every weekend, for a good 6 months at least twice a weekend. I wasn't drinking, I was dancing... and fishing in a pond that had no real fish for me. No, scratch that, I was the fish. Catch and release, catch and release.

I want somewhere to connect and set down roots but it's rare that I allow myself to frequent the same place over and over again. I don't have a neighborhood coffee shop because I 1) don't drink enough coffee and 2) don't go to the same place every time. I forget that the feelings that I am chasing in these Instagram photos are the feelings of belonging and comfort. I think that some place will just have that immediately, but often it takes time and repetition. It takes commitment. I found myself driving home from a show last night waiting for a person to merge over into my lane but they were waffling back and forth and I heard myself yelling "just like everyone else in Nashville, you can't seem to commit!" It's funny the overarching statements you make about other people and what they say about your perspective as well as yourself. This morning as I thought about that moment I turned it back around and thought, but darling, aren't you waffling just the same? Doesn't it take one to know one so well?

Mid Year, Here We Are

Like everybody else and their mother I'm having a hard time believing we are already mid year. What made it even harder to believe was looking through pictures from last Fall and feeling like it was yesterday. Nashville, it's always a wild ride, I swear.

I looked back a couple of posts, because I've become quite negligent with this blog, to see if I had posted a 2017 goals anything, and I don't think I did. So I guess we'll just start here with a little look over what's happened so far and then go into what I will be working on until 12/31/17.

So far this year I have -

+ Saved up for and gone to CA for my brother's wedding
+ Saved up for and completed an apartment move
+ Attempted a Low FODMAP Diet and threw in the towel quite fast
+ Read some really awesome books
+ Stressed out about and redefined some really tough goals I had from the beginning of the year
+ Pulled out of a spiral from said goals and redefinition
+ Deleted, redownloaded, and deleted again the Bumble app several times, as well as tinder, and also tried Zoosk for a month
+ moved the blog over here
+ made a new instagram handle and then, more recently, shut the old one down. Pictures are still there, not following anyone, not doing anything with it.
+ Finished the Swiss Cross blanket, it's gorgeous (and incredibly heavy)
+ Went on a roadtrip for my birthday to Knoxville and surrounding areas
+ worked out 4 times a week for three months
+ was sick 3 times in 4 months
+ transferred remainder of cc debt to no interest card! getting closer and closer to no cc debt!
+ treated myself to a meeting with a mentor about my resume
+ Had the crisis many woman seem to have (or media says we have) about turning 30 when I turned 31. I may still be pulling out of it.

At the beginning of the year I decided my word was Proud. My goal is to end 2017 really proud of myself for the work I have done. With that in mind, here's what I will spend the next six months working on:

+ Press handstands
meaning, work on core, and rehab shoulders in PT, and work on back strength
+ Be on schedule to completely pay off CC debt by 6/30/18
this means planning for possible big expenses and saving for them while also paying off card
+ further develop my skills in conjunction with my career
+ deepen friendships and family relationships
+ see a dermatologist -yay being of super pale skin
+ try a breathwork class

If I happen to come into extra money/resources I also wouldn't mind also:
+ starting retirement fund
+ having a base amount in my travel savings
+ opening savings account specifically for emergency savings only that is hard to access
+ start a puppy fund for eventual puppy friend
+ Lasik fund - want to get these eyes to see without contacts
+ start seeing naturopath about stomach and stick to plan

There they are, and here we go.

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May and June In Review

The two things I’m most proud of from May & June are:
1. Going to CA for 9 days, being in a wedding, and then coming home and moving (with movers) without putting anything on credit to pay off later. I had some help with this definitely, but even then, June has been crazy expensive and because I've been working on my money management for months and months and maybe even years at this point, I had enough saved up.
2. Completed my swiss cross blanket. It was a labor I kept avoiding but I eventually buckled down and I finished it at the end of May!
The two things I’m most grateful for from May & June are:
1. Being a part of the most amazing wedding. My brother married his best friend, my now sister-in-law, who is such an incredible person, and the whole weekend was so great.
2. All the privileges that I've had and grown up with that have made my life relatively comfortable. This is not a gloat, it's a real recognition. Humbling recognition. Just the beginning I think.

The lesson I learned and am carrying forward with me from May &/or June is: There was a line in some show I watched a couple episodes of and to paraphrase the character said that Adult children are always waiting for an apology from their parents and their parents are always waiting for a thank you. Both are left disappointed.

My #1 commitment to myself for July is: to take care of my health. Doctors appointments, leaning in to my counseling appointments, writing, vitamins and probiotics... etc

Because I am brave, here are two new/scary things I will do in July:
1. dating
2. facing my health/the money implications that may come from having to commit to evening things out

The one book I definitely want to read in July is: House of Plants

Something I want to experiment with in July is: Rest. Sounds funny, but experiment with sleeping earlier, reading, unsubscribing from hulu so I can read more, deep breathing, meditation, etc.

Just for fun, I will: Start re-watching Friday Night Lights

As an act of intentional kindness, I will: remind myself constantly that people need our love, not our judgements.

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April In Review

In April I...

• Compiled all career info including interests, notes from mentor sessions I've had before, parts of previously written cover letters I liked, almost every address I have had since I moved to Portland for college and so much more. Compiled, more organized, made easier to access. Stoked.
• Scheduled and had a career mentor call where I got helpful advice and suggestions on how to better sell myself and the kind of work that I do. Looking to make some shifts in the next few months and grow this part of my life. Pretty stoked.
• Made a new playlist for working out with old hip hop and pop songs as well as some current ones that still get me moving. It's really fun. I made it one afternoon after work but then erased the wrong version NOOOO and had to start all over again.
• Switched my credit card to one without an annual fee because I figure out the travel points I got back at the end of the year was basically equivalent to the fee itself
• Planned my money goals for the next couple of years. I've been looking at my money tracking and budget spreadsheets I made myself pretty much daily and I'm starting to realize I am not who I use to be with money and that's frickin awesome.
• Lined up most of the details for brother's wedding in June. Got my bridesmaids dress in the mail and it fits, found shoes, rented car for my time there... only a few things left to do.
• Tried dance classes at a new studio.
• Helped a friend at the stables she works at on a Sunday afternoon. Best Sunday afternoon ever.
• Had an obsession with iced mochas/iced coffee with chocolate
• Was sick the first half of the month, month and a half long issues. Then had a reaction to the antibiotics. I think I'm coming almost completely out of it. Nashville allergies are no joke.
• Rewatched the first half of the last season of PLL, can't believe we are almost done!
• started my I Believe or I want to believe practice.

The month didn't feel productive while it was happening but turned out pretty full. Funny how that all works out.

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March In Review

March was a hard month, and so I'm going to do a review and save April and next quarter's goals for another post.

At the beginning of March I turned 31 and while I usually get excited about birthdays, I crashed hard with this one. The crash was totally unexpected and hit like a tidal wave. The day of my actual birthday was spent alone, the next day a sickness hit that lasted a good couple of weeks and still has some residual lung issues. March was the month I had my first ever asthma attack, yay going back to the treadmill a little too soon, that was exciting. If I am being completely honest I feel like I am just now coming out of the overall mental and physical funk. (Thank goodness)

I decided this time that instead of being super hard on myself I would give myself whatever I wanted (within reason) and hold on. This meant using up my entire $50 starbucks gift card in a little over a week, buying little things that I had been putting off like a hat, a new chair for the patio, brown eyeliner and mascara, I ordered 3 different pairs of cowboy boots in different sized to try and find some that worked, none of them did, looked at rifles I might want to buy, looked at a whole bunch of fun shirts, added snapchat (something I was very vocal about hating for a while), went dancing two nights a week instead of one, decided I hated cooking and mostly bought precooked food and went out to eat, etc. As I'm typing this out I'm realizing how small some of these things are that I didn't allow myself to do or talked myself out of over and over again. No wonder I am tired.

The good from March:
- Booked plane ticket, and paid for parking for trip in June
- Order bridesmaid's dress for wedding
- Exercised 4x a week: Only missed one week because of the sickness, it was annoying
- Explored some new places- outside of Nashville: Knoxville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg
- Bought so much new music: Cody Johnson, some Josh Turner and Aaron Watson to name a few
- Drank a lot of iced coffee/mochas: tried with coconut milk, and low fat milk and decaf espresso and decaf cold brewed coffee... still trying to find my best option with the least amount of sugar
- Took a good amount of side roads during lunch and on the weekends, needed to be away from things
- Took a nap in my car at the library by a park under a tree and it was all kinds of blissful and a hint of the Spring I am looking forward to
- Painted a couple times
- Blocked some necessary people on different sites so I can keep my mind in the present, they weren't bugging me, I just got bored and would "see how they were" and then get into a bad mood. No need.
- Wrote and re-wrote goals, obsessed about the most random things
- got Snapchat and started talking to one of my sisters daily on it

March wasn't all bad, but it was mentally strenuous, I'm looking forward to the warmer days and then my vacation home in June. The countdown is on!

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Turning 31 Road Trip

I turned 31 this week. There's a lot to be said about that but then again, nothing at all. When I first moved to Nashville I had dreams of driving all over and going to so many different states but two and half years later I have only been into the southernmost part of Kentucky and as far south as Atlanta. I decided to do something about that this year and so I booked a night at an AirBnB in Louisville, TN and planned some stops along the way.

The trip was quick, one day out, one day back but I did manage to see a lot. A pink elephant, Hidden Hollow amusement park (unfortunately it was closed), Minister's Treehouse (I did not trespass to get closer, maybe one day), and Cotton Eyed Joe's all took up my first day. On the way back I went through Pigeon Forge (the love pancakes and old time photos), Gatlinburg (was a street away from the fire damage I guess) and into Knoxville (still getting hit by the drought pretty hard) then back home.

I hope to get a few more of these in over the year. Maybe Louisville, KY and Charlotte, NC. Gotta do what I came here to do.

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February/March

February has been unseasonably warm. It's wonderful!

February Goals:
- donate to one new organization: signed up to donate time - I signed up to be a volunteer at a Mud Run in May and this weekend I will be helping weed at a farm for The The Trust for Tennessee. Pretty excited about these.
- one date - accomplished
- at least one call to each of the designated family members - accomplished
- plan my 31st birthday party and/or mini trip - done! I will be setting out to a horse farm by the Smoky Mountains this weekend!
- read books I am excited to read (try to keep it at 4) - accomplished
- exercise 4x a week - DID IT! This is two full months of vigorously moving at least 4x a week.
- spend less than I make - ACCOMPLISHED! Clearly I am pretty excited about this. I have been working on my budgeting system and tracking each month, figuring out what I want to get out of it and this month I even took out the value of two extra days of pay in a short month and saved it for my birthday and STILL I spent less than I made. Praise hands and what not.
- create something... seriously anything (paint a picture, work on the blanket, edit some old photos) - did not do well with this, I am going to add working on the blanket to March
- take a walk/hike in a new park and visit a new part of Nashville every weekend: I did this a couple times but not every weekend
- continue on with gratitude/daily pages - accomplished
- file taxes - accomplished

*The lessons I learned and will carry on from February is/are: I get pulled into drama, not just with other people but in my mind, which means I also create some myself. The lesson I want to carry forward is to invest less, to notice when I'm getting pulled in to others issues as well as when I'm getting pulled under my own, I want to take the importance away from being in the know, to walk away from things that can admittedly be very entertaining and to react slower.

March Goals
- Get all travel plans locked in for trip home in June (plane, parking, rental car, possible mini trip)
- Order bridesmaid's dress for wedding
- at least one call to five family members
- exercise 4x a week: This time focusing on 3 times in gym or hike and then one free exercise any way I want
- stay in food budget - don't let overspending on food take from other categories
- work on the swiss cross blanket
- explore somewhere new every week

*Something I want to experiment with in March is: meditation

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*These questions are part of Nicole from Real Talk Radio's monthly review. I highly recommend her podcast.