Good Things Late Twenties

I feel like I am letting out a deep breath that I have been holding in for a long time.

August, with its parties & weekend trips & weddings is almost done & while I love looking back on the fun I’ve had I am glad to be doing that from my couch, in my house, living my homebody dream life.

Bridget made me this cross-stitched bee necklace as a birthday gift. Love it.

On Sunday I turned 27.

I had a lot of dread about it for years (!) beforehand. I felt like my life was behind schedule, you know?

I strongly reject the thought that everyone must aspire to careers & hetero marriages & kids & suburban homes or whatever that scripted timeline might be. But I still felt like I was a bit too broke & aimless to be living up to whatever goals I might substitute in for the status quo.

That feeling dragged me down through the winter & nagged at me in the spring. But somehow lately I stopped feeling bogged down & started pushing back, learning a lot, trying out shit I never thought I could really do. Tho this transition might not be noticeable to others, the things I’m working on right now really matter to me, & that makes life feel pretty exciting.

Patti Smith quote lettered by Lisa Congdon

This year, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to live according to my values. 

• Acknowledged my desire to accomplish more shit in my life.
• Started thinking a lot more about the difference between being selfish & wanting financial security.
• Stopped living in hipster denial & got serious about just liking the things I happen to like.
• Felt confident in negotiating love & long distances.
• Challenged myself to take care of my body while having more fun.

Cory Roberts for the To Resolve Project

This year, I did a lot of things that I have been meaning to do for years.

• I knit my first sweater.
• & my first piece of clothing made to my measurements.
• & knit a lot of other things I’m really proud of.
• I, um, started a blog.
• I got to have a mini femme conference with two best friends.
• I started standing up for myself more: No Bullshit 2012.
• Bought some makeup brushes. Stepping my fancy face  game up.

Best Femmes Stick Together embroidery by me.

& those things are nice but here are some good things from the last two weeks, too:

• Virgo birthday season! A lot of people I love have birthdays right now because I love a good virgo-on-virgo friendship.
• Don’t laugh at me but I went to go see Hanson for free at a show two blocks from my house & it ruled. I had to go alone because none of my friends understand my childhood dreams but whatever, I was 20 feet from the Hanson bros & the eleven year old girl I used to be would be giddy about that so I was too.
• Spent my birthday bawling my eyes out with happiness & also getting boozy with some best friends at their wedding. It was so freaking charming. My pal Meagh officiated & I hope there are notes from that because there were some beautiful things in there about chosen family & queer friendships that I want to remember forever. I loooooooove  those people. They cooked all the food for their own wedding – shit, they grew a lot of the stuff that they used to cook the food. Total respect & amazement.
• Spent Monday with my pals visiting pretty much every coffee shop & yarn store & vintage store & record store in Toronto & it was nice to take a day actually off with no chores or errands.
• I still get a total kick out of going to the library. ANYTHING I WANT TO LEARN AVAILABLE FREE!
• Having great chats about health, exercise, appearance, & feelings with my BFFs.
• Back on a budget kick & paying attention to what I am doing with my money is always more reassuring than not doing that.
• Have been finding more time for knitting lately & that’s awesome.
• Did some pretty rad open bar family bonding at a different wedding last weekend. Dance party! Hungover mini putt.
• Talking about anger management & tiny city lifestyles this week. Breaking stuff.
• I got an ice cream maker for my birthday! I am really excited to try that out.