Monthly Musings: Kelly
“Embrace the current season of your life.” -Gabrielle Blair
February 2014 is almost over… what?!? I feel like it was just Halloween and now you can see St. Patrick’s Day decorations all over the grocery store! This year is flying by, of course every year seems to fly as you get older. I tend to think of the calendar year as an oval. More specifically, kind of like an elongated clock (elongated at 3 and 9) without the times but January starts at where 3:00 is and ends where 12:00 would be located. So I guess that’s a funky clock that moves backwards but it’s oval/clock nonetheless. I also tend to think of the calendar in colors. Let me explain.
Right now, January- Mid March, we are in the time of the clock/oval I listed above and the color is gray. To me, this was always my least favorite time of year because it was always disappointing to go back to school after the holidays and the next big break wasn’t until Spring Break (in Mid-March). The days seemed to go by slower and it was usually rainy and gray (although this year, we’ve had an unusually warm and sunny winter season in Sacramento). Anyway, these were the dull months. School was slow, summer seemed forever away, and the NBA is incredibly boring so the time between football ending and baseball starting up meant sports was uneventful during this time. These were the “just trudge through and make it to Spring months” because with Spring came Spring Break, my birthday, lovely weather and anticipation of summer!
“I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me.” -Tracee Ellis Ross
This year, however, I am loving this gray phase from the 3-12 position on the clock! For one thing, I ended last year by tying up loose ends with an old friend which meant coming into the new year with a sense of peace of contentment, I’m working for an organization that I really believe in and that does great work in the mental health community, I’m starting a discipleship with a very trusted friend, I’m able to save a lot of money by temporarily crashing with my parents (thanks mom and dad!), I’ve become a crossfit junkie (in the sense that I love the workouts, not in the sense that I have completely given up sweets and have gone all Paleo), and I’ve got some really awesome trips planned for the year including Long Distance Baking’s Portland 2014 trip which happens to fall on my 24th birthday! (If anyone has any tips of what we should do or, more importantly, where we should eat while we’re in Portland, comment/message/tweet us!)
One of the big things that is really making the start of this year so great is that I am working on being financially sound. I signed up for Dave Ramsey’s 9 week Financial Peace University course through my church and it has been a great experience! I didn’t realize how much of a nerd I was until this week when I completed my first actual budget where I allocated where every penny would be spent (that’s not to say I’ll spend every penny) and I can’t wait to budget my next paycheck! I was never bad with money before, per se, but I was never really aware of where my money was going. I would just check my bank account online and make sure I wasn’t getting too close to zero and consider that success. For the most part, I did just fine (thank you, dad, for the times when I didn’t) but my goal is to truly be financially sound so one day I can buy a house, help with my (future) kids’ college tuition, and support my parents when they’re old (many years from now!). It’s become almost like a game and I look forward to class every week!
“Be silly. Be strong. Be bold.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Maybe these months are your red months or green months or blue. Or maybe you think of the year as a square or hexagon. Or, quite possibly, you might think I’m totally out in left field for designating a shape and color to the seasons. Regardless, I hope your year is off to a great start as well and that 2014 is filled with love, joy, and many delicious desserts 🙂
-Kelly
