Category Archives: Let’s Be Adults

Defining Busy: One Year Later

6th February 2013

If you haven’t been able to tell through my past posts, I’m a big fan of nostalgia. Stories, cards, photos, I keep them all. When I stumbled across Timehop a little over a year ago, I was instantly obsessed.

If you aren’t familiar with Timehop, this brillant little app takes your data from across your social networks and delivers it to you in a nice, neat little daily email sharing exactly what you were doing one year ago on that day. You can also download their app for extra love and see back as far as you have been active on a particular social network…posts from freshman year of college are AWESOME in case you weren’t aware.

As much as I LOVE Timehop, it’s not exactly the primary purpose of this post. So back to our regularly schedule programming we go.

A year ago, I posted this to Twitter:

Working ~~in a client-facing business~~ means I’m constantly pulled in a billion different directions. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the hoopla of it all and share with everyone just how busy you are as if there were some award for having the most miserable schedule. Believe me, I’m guilty too.

A year ago, I challenged myself to remove those words from my vocabulary, I even blogged about the ordeal and how it made a difference in my day.

There will always be a deadline, another project, or something else to check off of the list. It’s only going to get crazier from here – heck, I’m a single girl and I don’t have the responsibility of a cat in my apartment, let alone a husband and children. If I’m completely honest with myself, that future juggling scares me to death.

BUT …

At the end of the day, you are busy doing the things YOU want to. Only you can make the decisions for how you fill your days – that’s one of those great perks of being a grown-up. I’m fortunate enough to be surrounded by some awesome people who are constantly trying to remind me of that, as difficult as that can be somedays.

One year later, I’m still guilty of letting the b-word slip, but it’s a work in progress. Taking time to do things like sit, set goals and blog more are now also on my to-do list. I love this quote from Jessica Lawlor in a recent interview post for Rachel Esterline’s 13 in 2013 series:

The truth is, there is no such thing as work-life balance; there’s just balance.

I couldn’t have even thought to sum it better myself. How do you keep balance between the crazy?

Unfinished Resolutions

13th January 2013

I spent yesterday morning wandering about one of my favorite Atlanta places with some of my favorite people, and a few new friends as well. I could go on and on about the treasures of Scott’s Antique Market for hours (Like the blue Mason jars I scored for $3.75 each – seriously?! – or the dinosaur family that stole my heart), but today I want to focus on something a little different than my love for the unfinished and antique (sort of).

One of the girls I met on yesterday’s group trip is a physician’s assistant, and as I’m in marketing, I love hearing about other’s professional lives that are so different than my own. She told us a story of a patient this week who is in his late 80s, still in relatively flawless health and how she asked him why he thought he had made it this far, his response, “I don’t worry. What ever is going to happen, will happen. There is no sense wasting my time with anxiety.”

So simple, but so powerful. My grandfather passed away a few years ago just shy of his 91st birthday and I can honestly say looking back he embraced much of the same mentality. He held numerous careers, followed his passions and had a love so deep for his large family that I’m not sure how he held it all in.

We may be a few weeks into 2013, but I know I could certainly resolve to do a little less worrying, a little less stressing and a lot more following my heart and listening to those Bigger than myself. Inspired by this weekend, here’s my slightly late, slightly lofty, but all around possible 2013 resolution list:

Worry less, act more
Say what’s on my mind – written and spoken
Follow my passions
Continue to task risks and step out of my comfort zone
Move a little slower – take a walk, wonder the market a little longer, resolve to spend more time cooking, reading and running
Share the good, the bad and the fantastic moments by myself – and with those around me

2012: A Year in Review

3rd January 2013

OK, so I’m a little behind on the “how great 2012 was” posts, but in all of its cheesy goodness, 2012 was a pretty great year. From new friends, triumphs personally and professionally to a few fantastic adventures with loved ones, 2013 has some big shoes to fill. Month-by-month, here are just a few of its highlights:

January: I started the new year embarking on a new tradition with colleagues who also double as great friends (funny how that works). Our book club, morphed into craft club, which quickly became wine club and it’s still one of my favorite monthly traditions.
February: I made my first ever ski trip and it turned out not nearly as terrifying as I expected. Three days, a few blue-black runs later, I was hooked and found a new passion.
March: I ran my second half marathon with one of my dearest friends and despite the never ending hills, we beat our goal of 2:05, coming in at 2:03. I was psyched. Just a few months later, another friend dragged me across the finish line of my third half at a time of 1:49. It’s impossible to think I took 17 minutes off of my very first half marathon just over a year ago. Training pays off, and better yet, falling in love with a sport that revolves around free time with my favorite people.
April: P and I wound up with free entry into Atlanta’s Great Urban Race. Awesomeness and a lot of running ensued and landed us a trip to Vegas.
May: My baby brother graduated from UGA, marking the second of four Dennihy kids to do so. My ties from UGA are officially cut (for now, come on siblings three and four). This was a heartbreaker, for the first time in six years, Athens no longer offers a dedicated couch to sleep on.
June: I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago several times over the summer for work, talk about blessings for business trips at the most beautiful time of the year. Even the 5:30 am runs were worth it.
July: I took a full week vacation for the first time ever. It was amazing.
August: P and I went to our first UGA game in Alumni seats. Fancy. (This may have been in September, who knows, but the tickets were a birthday gift and that was in August, so it counts.)
September: I went rock climbing outdoors for the first time with my best friend. Another sport I am now hooked on. (Sensing a pattern here…wilderness, no technology…humm).
October: We took a family trip to New York for my Grandma’s 80th birthday. We also had a chance to visit a former mental hospital on Long Island that is now deserted. Yes, an odd tourist destination, but the history buffs in the family (myself included) were thrilled.
November: Vegas! We survived the national championships and are already scheming on how to make it to next year.
December: A week off of work meant lots of time with family and friends. We spent a large portion of it playing things like Words with Friends version 1.0. How primitive.

2012 could not have left me more blessed or with a bigger smile on my face and I cannot wait to see what challenges and adventures 2013 throws my way. What highlights did 2012 bring you?