Last night a group of us went to dinner at Fatty Crab. It was Sarah, Kelly, me, and my two new friends from my apartment building this summer, Sara and Alisa. It was so fun to have this eclectic little group together…and the restaurant was amazing.

Sometimes I get kind of stressed out when I try and combine different friends from different parts of my life. I’m not sure why, but I do. I’m just so glad that I have amazing friends who don’t. In fact, I can trace a large percentage of my current friends back to my dear freshman roommate and one of my besties, Jennifer. She has a talent for just forcing people together. From Jennifer came Sarah, and from Sarah came Kelly and Candice, along with a few more.

Anyway, I love when new can join the old (and by “old” I don’t mean age, just length of time). It’s not something I’m very good at making happen, but I want to try and do it more…because how sad would my life be if Jen hadn’t introduced me to Sarah, and so on and so on…

Feb. 19th – I love new friends that can hang with the old.

As a teenager, I started to delve into makeup now and then. I was never really totally into it. I just kind of did what my mom did (minus the 35 coats of black spider mascara). My junior year in high school, one of my friends on my cheer squad commented on my school picture saying, “Wow, I never realized how bushy your eyebrows were.” Well, you can imagine my delight at that observation…by the next day I had pencil this eyebrows with only the slightest hint of the redness required to get them that thin.

Right before I left on my mission to Switzerland, in an effort to take full advantage of the fact that I was leaving the country for 18 months and thus couldn’t be properly punished for spending a lot of money on my step-mom’s Nordstrom card, I spent an hour at the Bobbi Brown counter stocking up on new makeup and brushes, along with a quick lesson on how to apply everything I was purchasing.

Then, after I graduated from college, I went to beauty school to become an esthetician. Up until this point, I’d always liked makeup, but just as something you do as a woman. In beauty school, however, I learned all of these amazing tricks and ways to totally transform how someone looked. Then I spent four years working in a salon and spa. During this time I got to do bridal makeup applications and learned more and more about what can make or break a makeup app.

Fast-forward four years. I’m still totally obsessed with makeup. The MAC counter is one of my favorite shopping destinations. I update colors every six months or so and go in periodically just to learn new tips and tricks. (Just ask anyone who has seen my makeup collection and they will tell you that I have a problem.) The best part is, I feel like I’m lucky to be someone who loves makeup considering how very fair I am, and the fact that I’m now over 30 and seriously, there are very few women I know over 30 who can get away without wearing makeup

Feb. 17 – I love makeup.

When I was lying in bed for two weeks straight, dying of pneumonia, I watched a lot of daytime television (aka talk shows…I got over soaps during my undergrad and have never gone back). Anyway, one day Melissa Rivers was on the view and she is where I got the title of my post. I thought this quote was just brilliant.

No, I’m not currently on any kind of mood altering chemicals–I’m actually rather drug averse–however, if I needed to be on them due to a chemical imbalance, I would. What I wanted to share with you, at the risk of sharing way to much info about myself (what’s new?) is that I am currently in therapy and I talk about it a lot with my close friends and some of my family.

I was not abused as a child. Yes, I went through some hard things, but whose childhood wasn’t riddled with some kind of drama? And for those of you who happened to be in that lucky few who had perfect lives, I’m sure you have your own issues just the same.

Anyway, I kind of knew therapy would be a good thing for me a long time ago, but I just didn’t know if I was ready for it or if I really wanted to deal with my crap with a stranger. What I have discovered after only a few months of meeting with this woman is that I can actually make my life ever better than it is just by getting an outsider to encourage me to look at things differently. She doesn’t give me answers or tell me what to do. She doesn’t judge me. She just helps me to see my life and the decisions I’ve made and the things that have happened to me through a different lens. For those of you who have been in therapy, hopefully this makes sense. For those of you who haven’t, hopefully this won’t discourage you from going. 😉

Don’t get me wrong. I think I’ve got a pretty fantastic life and I thought that before I started therapy. But there are just some things that I want to make even better and some things I’d like to change, so I’m doing it. Therapy is not a cure-all and it’s not something I want to do for the rest of my life, but in its proper time, it is amazing.

Feb. 16 – I love therapy–in its proper time and place.

I grew up with a mother who loved when we were out of school. You know how lots of parents are just dying for school to start up again at the end of the summer? Well, that was not my mother. She was always so sad when we had to go back to school…and in hindsight, now watching my friends who are mothers, maybe my mom was just acting, but I don’t think so.

Our summers were filled with swimming (both for fun and for sport) and riding bikes and camping, etc. My mom was always getting us involved in activities and she was often right there with us, as our camp lifeguard or an assistant swim coach. Sometimes this created problems (I was great at being her kid, not so great at being her player on various teams), but most of the time it was just amazing.

So, today, I want to share with you my love of vacation days. Not specifically holidays…I mean, really, who gets super excited about Presidents’ Day festivities? (other than maybe sales?) But just time off. Especially time off when other people have the day off, too. In fact, when I started working as an esthetician I thought it was going to be so great to have this flexible schedule; a schedule that allowed me to work when I wanted to. Then I discovered that the best days to work–the days when I would make the biggest commissions–were those holidays when everyone had work off. I hated it. I mean, I loved my job and the money was great, but I hated having to work when everyone else was playing. It was honestly part of why I wanted to join corporate America–no joke.

Feb. 15 – I love vacation days!