21 Things Update

I’ve been twenty-one for a day and I’ve already crossed two items off my 21 things to do whilst 21 list!

Yesterday for my birthday, my friends and I went to the Yuengling Brewery for a free tour and samples – yum! This completes item 1 on the list 🙂

In addition to that, I did get my daffodil tattoo listed in number 3, HOWEVER, I did this technically a few days BEFORE I turned twenty-one. Guess that means I’ll just have to get another tattoo this year to make it official?

The story behind my daffodil tattoo is simply that it is lovely and I adore flowers and wanted a piece that was just beautiful, more there for aesthetics than my other two tattoos with deep meanings. The reason I chose daffodils is the following poem by e.e. cummings.

“in time of daffodils(who know
the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,remember how

in time of lilacs who proclaim
the aim of waking is to dream,
remember so(forgetting seem)

in time of roses(who amaze
our now and here with paradise)
forgetting if,remember yes

in time of all sweet things beyond
whatever mind may comprehend,
remember seek(forgetting find)

and in a mystery to be
(when time from time shall set us free)
forgetting me,remember me”

I love the concept of the goal of living being to grow. I find this profoundly beautiful and my tattoo will serve to be a reminder to keep on growing.

I’ve also started purchasing some beers I haven’t tried yet in order to complete number 4 on the list – to try 21 new beers and document each one. So I’ll get started on that tonight 😉

Okay, so I’ve had PLENTY of the Blue Moon pumpkin ales, but the other five I have only either sipped on someone else’s or have never tried at all, so they’ll be included in my 21 new ones.

I’m off to enjoy being twenty-one now ~

Too Blessed to Be Stressed

While driving home from another long day of work, feeling worn out and blue, I was planning a blog post in my head. I was going to throw a little pity party and whine about life’s unfairness. About how all of my tires are bald and one of them is going to pop soon (I can tell because my car is doing this thing were it is bouncing up and down when I drive it, but not in a fun hydraulics kind of way, in a my-tire-is-going-to-burst way), and it still seems to have an overheating problem, and I almost die every time I drive in the rain, and my gas light just came on and I have $1 in my bank account until Thursday. I was going to complain about being in the middle of a seven consecutive day workweek because I picked up a shift on my last day off. I was going to talk about how poor I am, how I wish I had insurance, how rent is due, how I hate smelling like doughnuts and being treated poorly by customers. I was going to quote William Faulkner. Tell you how much I want a cold beer and how I’ve started smoking again and I can’t seem to lose weight. But I think I will save all that for another day.

Because I came home to find a brand new pair of eyeglasses in a box by the door. And then I found an unsecured wireless connection in my bedroom. And heck, my tire didn’t explode. Joseph (whom I adore and am loving as a roommate) and I have the money for rent (which I will be running to Amscot shortly to pay), and that makes us lucky.

Now I am listening to Bon Iver and gleefully typing on the internet and smelling like soap because I just shaved my legs. I am sitting at my desk by my pretty curtains with the sunlight coming in. I’m going to get a big fat paycheck on Thursday because I worked some overtime. I’m starting back at Godiva tomorrow after my other job. My birthday is in ten days, and I’ll be doing fun things with people I love, and utilizing some PAID time off (unreal how awesome PTO is, right?). I’m going to be okay.

Here’s to focusing on the good.

Speaking of these glasses, I have Coastal.com to thank for them. Using promo code “FIRSTPAIRFREE” all you have to pay is shipping (like $16) on a brand new pair of beautiful glasses. I just ordered them Tuesday and here they are. They came with a nice hard case and lens cleaner. Baller status.