Happy Say-Something-Nice-About-Me-Sunday! You guys know what to do😘
This weekend I stayed busy. Harper and I worked hard to get our steps in to do our part for the team wellness challenge. Yesterday morning, we went on a walk through town. About a mile and a half in, we realized we had gone too far and it was way too hot to continue on, so we turned around and tried to find the shadiest path to walk home. Harper’s exact words were, “Wait, there’s a big shadow up there.” And that is how we navigated our way home. Later that night, we were joined by JJ and we went on a Nickelback Walk™️, which is where we walk and listen to Nickelback. On this journey, I saw a night bee. What was a bee doing out at night?
I’ve decided that starting tomorrow, I will begin my journey towards doing my big one. Some of you may be asking, what is my “big one”? That’s a good question. It’s where I chase after my goals and get better in every way possible. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. It’s where I’m just better. Six months from now I’ll look back and think, “Wow, I really did my big one this year.” In the words of Timothee Chalamet, “I’m really in pursuit of greatness.”
My big one starts with my mentality. I believe that your thoughts become your reality, so my first mission in this pursuit is to guide myself back to a mental state of gratitude and positivity. From there, I can achieve anything. My next move is changing the way I fuel my body and using that fuel to go crazy in the gym. I have to start treating every day like I’m training for the Level Up Games. I also need to greatly limit my screen time if I am going to accomplish any of this. I must recover the part of my brain that has been captured by Instagram reels. I just love posting on my story too much to just outright delete it, so I will have to find another solution. I also plan to master a handstand by the end of the year, and I want to be able to do one unassisted pull-up. Lastly, I will realign myself with joy and whimsy and seek out opportunities to experience and create both. These are my goals and I know that I will achieve them.
Everyone feel free to follow me on Instagram to view my previously mentioned stories:
I’ll be improving my diet, increasing my daily movement and working to be more mindful, joyful, and less stressed out. Additionally, I am swearing off all romantic endeavors as they always lead me astray and distract me from my goals. I can’t risk having an upset heart when I am pursuing all around greatness. My big one is about me and all that I can achieve when I put my mind to it. However, nothing is accomplished alone. I will need the support of my lovely subscribers to keep me on track with my goals.
If it feels right for where you are right now, I encourage you to think about what your “big one” would include, and to join me in this journey towards it. I hope the week ahead contains laughter, love and warmth for you all!
For dinner tonight, I am enjoying a bowl of peas. I am eating this bowl of peas while I write this, wishing there was just something I could do to have more energy throughout the day. Surely it’s not by properly fueling my body with more than a can of peas. The six grams of protein I’m getting from it must be beneficial in some way. Surely I’m not overly fatigued and getting sick right now from over exerting myself at the gym and just having peas to recoup. That would never happen to me.
Today was an odd day. It consisted of skipping down the hallway at work with my colleagues in attempts to win blossom points, an uncomfortable meeting, an unfortunate drive in the rain, a tough but rewarding workout, and an overall state of exhaustion. I still laughed and I still danced, so it’s a good day in my book.
I just wanted to share that I had the best weekend of my life. I watched my nieces and nephew for the whole weekend and it was just the most wonderful time. They are the funniest, silliest, and sweetest kids in the world and I’m so grateful I got to spend that time with them. We played a lot of games and dress up, and had some fun and messy craft time. My sweet nephew showed me his best impression of Cookie Monster and I have to say, he is very talented. I love them with my whole heart and I’m excited to see them again tomorrow!
I fear that my lack of blogging has come across as a lack of interest, but that is not the case. I have been working on my little project and just have not had the mental capacity to work on two posts at once. I have overcome this hurdle though and hope you were all excited to see that Dawg With A Blawg notification in your inbox. I hope to wrap up this project in the next few days, and I’d just like to give a fair warning that it is very long. It’s more of an extensive essay than a blog, so just be aware of that should you choose to read it.
I hope you all have joy in your hearts and know that if times are tough, they will get better. They always do.
As I’m writing this, I am sitting on the windowsill in my empty bedroom, staring at the most glorious sunset I’ve seen in a while. This will be the last time I sit in this window watching the sky change colors at the end of the day. My apartment is empty and it is almost time to leave. I’m sitting here thinking about the last year of my life and all that has changed and I am feeling quite emotional about it all. Although I am not going far at all, I am going to miss this place a lot. I thought an appropriate end to this chapter would be to sit in my favorite spot and share some memories from my time here.
One of my favorites is the time my sister and I were sitting in the living room with all of the lights out, watching the lightning during a crazy storm. I don’t remember what exactly we were talking about the entire time, but I do remember that we would try to predict when the lightning would strike again by counting down to it. I think there was only one time that it actually happened when counting down from three, so we started counting from other numbers. My sister started somewhere around 95, and the sky finally lit up when she got to 90. We both got excited and shouted, “NINETY!!” as if that would cue more lightning. It sadly did not work, but it sure did make us laugh.
Ninety!!
Another highlight would be the time we had a game night that ended with JJ and I having a foot race. We somehow went from playing Uno to sprinting through the parking lot. I say “somehow” as if I didn’t blatantly say that I was completely sure that I could beat him in a race and was willing to prove it right in that moment. We got our running shoes on and headed outside. Long story short, I did not win that race. I did try my best though and I didn’t fall down, which is always a win in my book.
A night that I will always remember and will probably never hear the end of, is something I now refer to as The Great Christmas Meltdown. I had just returned home from watching Marty Supreme on Christmas Day and was talking to my sister about a small fear that had slowly crept into my mind as I watched that movie. During our conversation, that small fear quickly turned into a full-on panic attack, an uncomfortable text, and an expensive Doordash order. My sister witnessed what was probably one of my most insane moments as I sat there trying not to fully spiral out of control. While the memory itself is not necessarily a positive one, it made me grateful to have my sister’s support on a night that just felt like the definition of being 23.
In June, I had someone here visiting for a few days and there are a lot of moments that I really cherish from that weekend. The first would be when he was trying to teach me and my sister some self-defense moves. He was showing us all kinds of crazy stuff and I couldn’t even comprehend how to do a lot of it. He managed to pick me up and lay me on the floor in half of a second, and as I was laying on the floor, I thought two things. #1: “I need to get a lot stronger because if this actually happened to me in the real world I don’t stand a chance.” And #2: “Of course this is what we’re doing right now. Of course we are standing in the living room showing my sister how to throw someone to the ground and break their arm. What else would we be doing?” The second thing that I think about a lot is when he just kept putting my socks in the freezer all weekend. Just disappearing into my closet and then trying to sneak them in the freezer as if I wouldn’t notice. It was another good reminder to just be strange and silly. The last moment that I think back to frequently, is when I was sitting on the couch, crying just a little bit, after he told me he was moving to Chicago. It was bittersweet, and believe it or not, that conversation is the reason that I am moving out of this apartment today.
Standing up to this in .5 seconds
I could write a million more paragraphs about the memories that this place holds, but I can’t risk losing the attention of my lovely readers. Instead, I will do a speed round of everything that comes to my head with no further context. #1: Being surrounded by blueberries as I laid my head down on the counter saying, “This wasn’t supposed to happen to me.” #2: Watching the most insane show ever created with my sister and her boyfriend and calling those days “Tim Sundays.” #3: Looking at my kitchen counter that was covered in plants and being proud of my ability to learn and grow. #4: Being told by a five-year-old that I don’t have enough toys in my house and could I please get more toys? #5: Crying a whole lot while my mom held me. #6: Discovering I could do 10 consecutive push-ups.
And finally, memory #7-#348: Dance Parties™️. My favorite part of this entire year was the countless dance parties that I had. I think it’s important to note that I am not just talking about anytime that I was dancing, because a true Dance Party™️ consists of me blaring my music, dancing like my life depends on it, while my sister sits on the couch and watches as I try to get her to participate. For awhile this was happening at least 3 times a week. Around 7PM, music would come on and I would dance for at least 45 minutes as my sister sat nearby. It was like a nightly routine at one point. If I was ever in a bad mood, she would put on Carry Out and I could not help but stand up and dance. I’d stop dancing an hour later and my bad mood was cured. I sure do miss those dance parties.
This past year here has been very special. My life has changed greatly, as have the people around me. It has brought me great joy and great pain and a whole lot of growth. It’s led me to a brand new season of life and has helped me to learn that change is unavoidable, so sometimes it’s best to dive headfirst into it. I encourage everyone reading this to think back on the last year and reflect on all that is different and all that has remained the same. Think about where you’d like to be a year from now and ask yourself what changes need to be made in order to get you there. Remember that you are capable of anything and everything that you set your mind to!
Be mindful of what you’re building your life around, Dawgs ❤️
This has been the craziest and busiest week that I have had in quite a while. In all honesty, I do not have a second to spare to even be writing this. My lease ends tomorrow, and if you think I’m even slightly prepared to be out of here in 24 hours, you would be mistaken. I feel like I have been packing and downsizing for three hundred years and I’m still not done. My brain is just soup at this point and not even a good kind of soup. It’s something akin to broccoli cheddar, so not even something I could appreciate😞
I have done just about everything that I can to procrastinate tonight, and I am deeply regretting it in this moment. I’ve stopped to read through all of my old journals as I pack them, I’ve danced, I’ve hula hooped, I’ve practiced my handstand. I’ve done it all. Which is why I am writing this blog right now, because it’s either this or I keep packing. I also just got to meet the sweetest little puppy that I have ever seen in my whole life. That gave me the energy I need to make it through the next two hours of moving boxes around and wishing that I had made different choices the past two weeks.
Despite being a bit chaotic, my week had some really wonderful moments. I spent some time with family that came to visit and we discussed how some of us would try to negotiate our way out of a robbery. I’d love to see that play out in real time. I answered a phone call from my brother and was pleasantly surprised when I realized it was my three-year-old niece calling to ask how far away I was. She then proceeded to call me about 7 more times, and I was overjoyed every single time I answered. My future roommates and favorite mechanics, Harper and JJ, helped me fix my car and it has been running smoothly all week, which has been such a blessing. My nephew confused an orange for a strawberry, then confused it for an apple, and then somehow confused it for the color green. Today I was asked what my favorite food was, and I managed to forget every single food that has ever existed. Every single thing I have ever eaten completely vanished from my mind, which I imagine is what was happening to my nephew in that moment.
I conducted my last round of interviews for the future blog that I’ve been working on; thank you to all who participated! It has been so incredible connecting with people over this and I’m so excited to work on this piece. What I’m less excited to work on is the rest of this packing process, but it must be done. If I am asleep by 4AM I will call it a successful night! I imagine most of you will be reading this in the morning, so I hope that you woke up with joy and love in your heart! Today, I encourage you to go out of your way to make someone else’s day better in whatever way you can!
Today, I helped to create a beachfront view for one of my wonderful colleagues. What was once a cold, empty wall framed between two cubicle panels, is now a sunny scene of palm trees and ocean waves. If he’s ever feeling down about the blue light from his monitor piercing through his retinas, he can instead look up to see blue sky and water. With the help of sweet Sheccid, we created a cubical vacation.
I had an unexpected change of plans this evening, which led to me taking an impromptu tennis lesson. It was led by an incredibly interesting coach, who gave quite the speech on what it means to be a winner. This was my second tennis lesson ever, with my first one taking place about 6 months ago. I’ve found that it’s best to space them out this way so that I don’t get too good and accidentally end up in the Olympics or something. The number of times I swung the racket versus the number of times I hit the ball is really quite embarrassing. I’d say it’s a 4:1 ratio at least, but it’s better than not picking the racket up at all!
Then, I headed to the gymnasium to work on my basketball skills. My layups, my jump shot, my dribbling, my pivoting, my dunking. All the normal and totally real stuff that I can do. My colleagues were begging me to stop dunking and making everyone else in the gym feel untalented, but I just looked at them and said, “The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.” And then I dunked on them. This is completely accurate and not made up at all, you can even ask them.
Next stop of the night: Coconut Margarita! Truly one of the best drinks I’ve ever had. I heard a hilarious story about toilet paper flying in the wind, while celebrating the not-birthday of a friend. Finally, my last stop of the night was at Harper and JJ’s house, to eat some of the delicious food that my sister had made. Our conversation during dinner gave me such profound inspiration. In that moment, I decided what I would be naming my future children. I created a list on my phone, and if I somehow ever come up with better options than these, I will add them to this list.
These are my kids: Colby, Jack, Cheese Pyle
While my original plans for the evening will always be my favorite plans and my favorite place to be on a Wednesday, I’m grateful that I still ended up having such a fun night with some great people. I hope that everyone reading this is healthy, happy and joyful. After you read this, I encourage you to do something spontaneous or something outside of your normal routine, even if it’s small, and see how it changes the course of your day!
If there is one thing I have learned about these evening shifts in the gymnasium, it’s that you really get to know the people you’re working with. Some of my best conversations have happened in that gym and tonight was no exception. I challenged a new colleague of mine to a game of one-on-one basketball, and while that’s not exactly what we ended up playing, she certainly put up a fair fight. She also became the newest subscriber to my blog!
Tonight, I was made aware of how much some of you still truly enjoy these blogs, and that warmed my heart. This started out as a joke with my sister that I thought would last maybe a week. After almost 4 months, I have to say that this is one of my favorite things I have ever done. It is so silly and the look on people’s face when I tell them that I have a blog is just priceless. It keeps me connected with people that I don’t get to see that often and is a very fun way to document this stage of my life! Someday when I am a rich and famous blogger, I will look back on the Dawg Days and think of the 25 subscribers that got me there.
Over the past four months, there have been many different chapters and regular Blopics™️ (that’s Blog Topics, for my newer readers) and phases that the blog has gone through. From the early soup days and puzzle updates, to my gym competition and alter egos. We’ve been through a lot so far. For my loyal fans, I thought you’d all like an update on one of my frequent Blopics™️: Mr. Handsome. The journey with Mr. Handsome has been an interesting one, and it has certainly been entertaining. It all started from me pretending not to know how to use a scoreboard, and it all has ended with him unsubscribing. That’s right folks, Dawg With A Blawg has lost its first subscriber. I have said from the beginning that if you wrong me, I will write a hate post about you. While that’s not necessarily what I did, it was still enough for him to remove Dawg With A Blawg from his inbox, and from his heart. So, this is me officially bringing the Mr. Handsome chapter of this lovely blog, to a close. Let us reminisce on his best and worst moments in the blog.
Best: When watching The Santa Clause 3, in total seriousness, he said that Santa Claus and Jack Frost were brothers. Not even part of that sentence was a joke. When we got to the point in the movie where Jack Frost tricks Santa Claus, Mr. Handsome just said, “Oh. I guess they’re not brothers.” It took all I had in that moment to hold it together, and I could die laughing right now from the thought of it.
Worst: The very simple sentence he said to me almost four months ago, that has genuinely haunted me ever since. It really altered something in my brain and made me question the way that I am. Five little words. “You’re very pretty…just goofy.” Just. Goofy. It was quite deflating for someone that prides themselves on their joy, whimsy, and general unseriousness. Seems small, I know, but it just really stuck with me. Just. Goofy.
I am silly and I am goofy and I do make a joke out of most things. Maybe that is a character flaw to some, but it is the reason I get up in the morning. It is the reason that I laugh 300+ times a day. It is the reason that I started this blog in the first place, which has added an immense amount of joy to my life and has allowed me to connect with people in so many different ways. If that is a weakness, it is one that I own and will cherish. Even though I’m never going to die, life is too short to not laugh every chance you get.
Everybody take a moment to mourn the loss of this blog character. Okay half a second is enough. We are on to a new chapter, and this one will be even more chaotic and exciting. Moving, new roommates, new goals, fresh hair. I’m seconds away from actually doing a handstand. Good things are happening and I can’t wait to share them with my amazing subscribers. Keep seeking out excitement, movement, joy and resilience. There are good days coming your way!
I am currently sitting in my bed with a heating pad pressed against my face. I’m watching a creepy new show while I wait for my ice cream to melt a little, hoping that the throbbing pain in my jaw will stop before I cry. Just your typical Saturday night.
Anyway, happy Pi Day! On this day, 12 years ago, I won a competition for memorizing the most digits of Pi. Two days before the competition, I printed out a piece of paper that had a whole lot of numbers on it and taped it above my bed. For those two nights, I read through that list of numbers over and over, adding 7 numbers at a time after I memorized what came before it. Threes and eights and twos swirled around in my head as I drifted to sleep. When it was my turn to stand up and recite what I’d learned in front of my classmates, I stared at the floor and spewed out as much as I could remember while trying not to pass out from anxiety. Turns out that in two days, my 11-year-old brain had held onto 77 digits of Pi. I impressed my teacher and won a cookie cake, my favorite! If you’re asking why the prize wouldn’t be a pie, that is a great question that I myself have been wondering over the years. My teacher made me go to each classroom and recite it for the other teachers and students. It was incredibly embarrassing and my classmate, Michael, was mad because he thought that he was going to win with 60 digits. But no, I beat him. Because even at 11, I was a beast that knew I was never going to die.
Today, I can only recall about 40 numbers of Pi, but as I’m writing this, I’ve decided that I will try my best to get back up to at least 70. I need to start exercising my brain more. At 11, I was memorizing large amounts of numbers by just staring at them as I fell asleep. At 23, I will forget what I was saying mid-sentence at least fifteen times a day. I need to figure out what the equivalent of a burpee is for my brain and start doing that every day. Maybe then I can get up to 100 digits of Pi, and someone can give me another cookie cake 😃
My prize that started a lifelong love for cookie cake
One other thing of note before I wrap this up, today I was informed that they dyed the Chicago River green, and I wish I’d been there to witness it. I didn’t know they did this until about a month ago, and I have been eagerly waiting for an update from an inside source. It is truly an insane sight, and I am sure that next year I will be able to see it in person. I think they should also consider turning The Bean™️ green as well. They could call it The Green Bean™️.
Does this confuse the fish?
I am about to take an unfortunate amount of ibuprofen in hopes that it eases some of this pain, and pray that I look less like puffy-faced goblin when I wake up tomorrow morning. I am still looking for more people to participate in a short interview for something I am working on, so if you have 5 minutes to spare, please let me know! I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend and experience something joyful in the next 24 hours!
I am once again sitting in a gymnasium, listening to sneakers squeaking on the floor and kids yelling at each other while someone’s music is playing from a speaker that appeared out of nowhere. While all these noises do at times make my brain feel like it is going to burst into flames, I don’t really mind it tonight. It’s kind of nice watching different friend groups come in and connect and do something they all enjoy together. Plus, it gives me time to sit down and write, which I know my loyal subscribers have been missing lately. Before I continue, I’d like to let everyone know that I am working on an idea for a future Blawg, and need your participation to make it happen. All I need is approximately 5 minutes of your time to answer one question. If you are interested, please reach out!
The past few days have been a bit of a blur, but a fun blur! I went to a 3-year-old’s birthday party and thought that my friends and I were going to have a pack of dogs sent after us, but there was a quick-thinker amongst us that knew just how to fix things: playing Victor Vito Funny Food Song for Kids at full volume. Did it help the situation? Not exactly. Did it make me laugh and get stuck in my head for the next two days? You bet. After the party, I stopped by this very gymnasium to help set-up for a comedy show, and I had the opportunity of a lifetime right in front of me, and I didn’t take it 😞 I was on a stage with a microphone, with the spotlight shining right on me, and I didn’t use it to sing my rendition of One Little Slip from Chicken Little. I passed on the chance to have all of the attention in the world (from the 3 people that were in there) and I know that I will always regret it. Take advantage of the opportunities that come your way, you never know if you’ll have them again.
I could have had it all 💔
A song I’ve been listening to a lot the past couple days is called The Great Lakes Song by Lee Murdock. It’s a song that was always sung on the last night of summer camp, and while that was always a very sad night, the song now brings me an unexpected amount of joy. Something else I’ve been listening to on repeat in its entirety is Harry Styles’ new album. It is truly incredible and each song gets better every time I listen. If anyone is interested in listening, my Top 5 from the album are: The Waiting Game, Coming Up Roses, Season 2 Weight Loss, Paint By Numbers, and Taste Back.
Here’s a quick summary of everything else that happened this week: I pet a donkey, I wore a basketball hoop on my head, I took a picture with some camels, I met with a trainer at my gym to learn how to do a handstand, I almost hit a panther, I curled my hair with socks, I watched a pig in sunglasses sing a song, I chopped my plant up in hopes of making new plants, and I watched Season 50 Episode 2 of Survivor and it was actually so hilarious.
I hope everyone’s week is full of love, hope and laughter. As always, I encourage you to seek out joy and remember that in order for new things to arrive, you have to let old things go.
I am starting a petition to change the Cheerio’s mascot name from BuzzBee to Buzz Honey. It is just a sweeter name and feels a lot more lovely and fitting for that sweet little bee. BuzzBee is just too predictable and puts me to sleep when I hear it. Don’t get me wrong, the marketing he’s been doing for the company is truly great, I’m a big fan of the positive affirmations that are on the boxes lately, but the name just needs to reflect the joy and love that bee is trying to share. Sign my petition below, or never eat another Cheerio again in your life.
I spent pretty much all of Friday trying to learn how to do a handstand and I definitely made some progress. Unfortunately, I have not been able to attempt it again in the last few days because I am so unbelievably sore from the 500 times I tried it on Friday. I seriously can barely straighten one of my legs. I won’t let this hold me back for long though, I must persist through the hard times.
My previously mentioned big decision has led to other decisions that will be happening sooner rather than later. I still cannot disclose the big decision, but everyone just keep sending me good vibes from the depths of your hearts to support me. In the next few weeks, I need to downsize a lot and get to packing. My goal tomorrow is to get my closet completely cleaned out. However, it’s also very tempting to jump on a plane and just get out of here forever. I shall trick my family into coming with me. I’ll provide an update tomorrow on whether I organized my closet or fled the state.
Lastly, I have a challenge for my Dawgs, and it may be a problematic one. At the local Jersey Mikes, there is a cardboard cutout of the one and only Danny Devito. If one of my subscribers can find a way to get this to me, they will get the shoutout of all shoutouts. There will be an entire blog post created in their honor. It’s a big ask and may not even be possible. But should one try and succeed, my life will be forever improved. *Please note: I am in no way asking anyone to thieve or commit a crime.*
This has been a bit all over the place, but it is extremely accurate to what my brain looks like right now. So much to do, so much to plan and prepare, so many more handstands to attempt. I will just keep doing my best in the ways that I can. I hope that whenever you’re reading this, you have hope and determination and joy in your heart. You can do anything you put your mind to.
In all honesty, the last 24 hours have just been bad. They have been the worst, actually. My heartsong is silent and I don’t know what to do now. I’ve just listened to sad music all day and cried at my desk and went to the gym and now I sit here with no distractions and I think I may throw up. Today’s blog is kind of just a big bowl of nothing, but it felt necessary to document my life right now.
Please enjoy this picture of a tangerine, which I got for free thanks to my dear friend.
The leaf is everything to me. I have about 50 pictures of this thing.
Below is a list of songs I have been listening to in attempts to process my feelings. Feel free to listen if you’d like to also be sad.
Rivers and Roads by The Head And The Heart
Matilda by Harry Styles
Que Sera Sera by Doris Day
Brand New Key by Melanie
The Best Day by Taylor Swift
You’re Gonna Go Far by Noah Kahan
Big Rock Candy Mountain by Harry McClintock
That’s all I’ve got tonight. That may be all I have for a little while. I know that joy returns, and life goes on. In the meantime, I will distract myself and try to downsize my life.
