I’ve put another decade past me.
A few years ago my blogger bestie over at Ask Away Blog wrote a 30
before 30 post and I decided to do the same.
Well, I didn’t complete all 30 things before I turned 30, but I got a
decent amount done, and I also realized how much I’ve changed since I wrote
this post only 3.5 years ago. I’m going
to copy and paste that post below and then bold anything I add today. Also, underneath this I have decided to write
a letter to my younger self since I have officially been alive for 3
decades. I’ve learned a lot over the
years whether it be about life, family, friends, what’s important, and what’s
not, along with knowing I haven’t made a dent in what I will learn in the
future. So, after my 30 before 30 list
keep reading to see what I would write to my younger self about my life up until
30. To be completely honest, the person
I was so many years ago would never believe this letter to myself lol. I would laugh at it. Also, side note, don’t forget to enter in the
birthday giveaway in yesterday’s post!
1. Move out and/or buy a house/condo. Moved out March 12, 2016. I moved into an apartment so I didn’t buy a house but almost lol! I would love to be in a house by LATEST 40 lol
2. Start my own business, or just the blue prints for one would work too! 1/19/14 DONE! And my Etsy shop is already gone, but this blog has become my business.
3. Adopt another dog. Adopted Zero April 14, 2016!
4. Get involved with the Epilepsy Foundation.
5. Pay off all of my student loans.
6. Get started on my PhD (only if number 5 is crossed off).
7. Build my blog. 2015 was my year. I had so many collabs and sponsorships along with getting my stats up. Definitely loved 2015 here on the blog. 2017 has been my year too, so many collabs this year!
8. Plan an event and/or find someone (aka mentor) in the event planning industry. I don’t think this will ever happen because I’ve actually taken a step back from anything event planning oriented.
9. Possibly move back to Texas. At this point, I think I’ll just be getting a vacation spot in TX.
10. Go on a cruise in the Carribean-I’ve never been.
11. Go to Lucky FABB in LA. 4/3/14-4/6/14 DONE!
12. Do a photo shoot. 4/4/14 at Lucky FABB DONE! 8/17/14 First REAL photoshoot!
13. Grow out my hair. Started to in November 2016. Still going strong!
14. See the Grand Canyon. I still want to do this!
15. Ride a horse. I have a fear of horses so the closest I got was petting the horse from the horse and carriage when we visited Krakow, that’s why I’m crossing it off. July 2017
16. Tone up a little bit. September 2015-thanks to Pole Dancing I got toned up a little bit and it probably saved me from more injuries in my car accident. Volvo is the SAFEST car ever.
17. Eat Healthy Started June 2016-Present
18. Work with brands/collaberation. 4/30/14 I got my first email from a brand wanting to collaberate!
19. Learn how to cook. 2015, I made an omelette (lol) and some other dishes, but nothing major.
20. Learn how to make pierogi. I still haven’t learned, but maybe this will hapen before I’m 40 lol.
21. Pay off my car. 8/28/14 I traded in the car I was referring to in this post and got a car on my own with NO cosigner. I’d say that’s worth a cross off this list. However, now I have a new car so I’m back to payments, but in my defense I was rear ended and my car was totaled so it’s not my fault!
22. See Wicked and/or The Lion King on Broadway.
23. See a ballet.
24. Make more blogger friends. 5/17/14 my blogger brunch, I got to meet 3 more bloggers.
25. Write a book.
26. See my name in a magazine for blogging purposes. Featured as of 6/16/14 I saw my picture in the Indie Chick magazine under the sponsor section! Yes, I paid for it, but it was still pretty cool to see my name in there hehe.
27. Go to a country concert. 8/30/15 Went to see a few bands Rascal Flatts was one of them.
28. Be in a car show. July 2017 my Uncle entered the fiance and I in a car show.
29. Run a marathon, or do the Triatholon with my Dad.
30. Learn to bake without a recipe. 11/30/14 I made brownies all on my own and they actually weren’t too bad. Just added too much flour hehe.
always right. I think since I didn’t
really start acting up and being over dramatic (seriously, I was like a living,
walking, soap opera) until my late teens/early 20’s I want to rewind to that
time era; the last decade and maybe give or take a few years. Let me just put it to you this way, you are
not as “badass” as you think, you’re just an asshole haha. You are not an adult just because you turned
18. How are those multiple jobs and
going to school full time working out for you?
You really thought you could move out on your own in NJ with the sky
high rent with 2 minimum wage part time jobs you have? You really thought you didn’t need your
parents?
and been smart. You would’ve wanted a
house at 30 years old lol and you have only paid off ¼ of your student loans
that you started with back in 2009 and 2012 when you tacked on some more loans
for your MBA. If you think the last few
years of being an “adult” were hard, haha, buckle up sweetheart. You’re still young, live at home, work a part
time job, and go to school 3-4 days out of the week. The world doesn’t owe you anything just because
you got diagnosed with epilepsy. Grow
up. Just because you went to college
doesn’t mean you’re entitled to anything.
Work for what you want, life doesn’t hand you anything on a silver
platter. You don’t pay for anything
compared to your actual adult self when you’re 30. You go out with your friends and stay out late,
well guess what? Fast forward to 30, you’re
in bed by 9pm on week nights and 11 on weekends. You work Monday through Friday and your
weekends are dedicated to meal prepping and a blog.
to be your forever. This one was way
more serious than all of the other ones that you cried over. This one will break your heart and shatter it
to a million pieces for part of your 20’s.
If you thought you felt heart break before, this will be the worst. You will end up putting yourself in an insane
amount of debt that you will be paying off for years to come. This will be the most toxic relationship you
will ever be in, in your life thus far.
It will make you angry, it will make you hurt, it will make you blame
yourself, and it will make you lash out on everyone. Everyone will tell you he’s wrong for you,
but you will make excuses because you “love him.” You will learn from this and you will
grow. You will eventually learn not to
hate him and be happy that it ended. You
will take what you did wrong and what you did right and use it in future
relationships. You will become more
patient, you will be strong, you will know your worth, you will learn to love
yourself again, and you will learn to trust again. Life will go on, I promise.
mistake moving there because it was an experience, but it was definitely wrong
timing to go lol. You weren’t really
going there for all the right reasons.
You were running away instead of facing the music. Even though your dream was to live in TX, timing
was not on your side. It was the first
time in your life that you were extremely spontaneous without a care in the
world. I mean, I would’ve said be spontaneous
and maybe go on a vacation, maybe not necessarily move there, but I mean what’s
done is done and it was definitely a learning experience. Once you come back to NJ you won’t understand
why certain things happened but then Hurricane Sandy will hit within a few
months and then everything will start to fall in place believe it or not.
every single toxic person in your life.
You’ll get your big girl job (finally!), and you’ll start this blog
again. You’ll reconnect with an old
college friend who you will outlive. He
will teach you to let go of the past. He
will teach you to view the world in a positive light and not a negative one. He will guide you in the right
direction. He will lose his battle to
cancer in 2013. You will change your
life completely in honor of him. It will
definitely be hard and you will be upset that you didn’t have more time with
him, and you’ll never look at chocolate chip pancakes without thinking of him
and the last time you saw him, but you will learn to love and trust the human
species again thanks to him. You will
get up off your high horse and become a human again. You will realize that life is short and you
need to make the best of it.
20’s than you were in your early ones.
You will become someone that your 30 year old self is proud of, instead
of cringing at your 21 year old self haha.
You’ll choose to be single for a few years because working on yourself
is more important than having someone in your life. Once you are 27 you will reconnect with
someone that you’ve known since high school.
You’ll eventually start dating, and then 2.5 years later you’ll be
engaged to your best friend. He will
propose in your home country! He will
show you that love does exist; that the fairytale exists. He will show you the way a woman deserves and
should be treated. He will also show you
exactly how patient and relaxed you’ve become over the years haha. You will learn to discuss disagreements
rather than have a full blown fight of yelling.
You will learn to listen. This
special guy will teach you how to stick up for yourself. He will open your eyes to a lot of things,
one of which being the reality of certain things. He will be your partner for your life, your
Dom to your Letty. You will experience
so much with him and create so many amazing memories. You will imagine your future together and it
won’t be a relationship that you have to work on. The relationship will just flow. You will realize that this was the guy you
went through hell and back to find. He
was the light at the end of the tunnel you were searching for all of these years.
your fur babies. You will dream of
opening up an animal shelter one day, and who knows, maybe in this next decade
that will actually happen. First I want
to pay off all of those student loans haha.
When I look back at the last 10 years let alone 30, I’ve changed so
much. I’ve become a person that I’m
actually proud of. I feel like I’ve
accomplished something in life. I may
not be where I wish I was back when I was 20, but I feel like I’ve done pretty
alright. I remember telling myself that
by 25 I wanted to be married, have a house and kids. Now that I’m 30 I’m actually glad I don’t
have that yet. I’m engaged, in an
apartment, with 2 pups and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Where I would like these next 10 years to
take me, I honestly don’t know yet. I
would like to be in a house and married of course, and then maybe have paid off
my student loans but we will see what happens.
I’m excited to see what my 30’s bring me! I never thought I would say this, but I’m so
happy my 20’s are behind me haha!
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Loving this post! Happy Birthday, and the 30's are the BEST!
Happy 30th!!! What a great age to be. I think I honestly felt like I was at my best in late 30's early 40's! Enjoy your special day!!!
Welcome to the 30 club! HBD!!!!!
Such a great post! Happy Birthday!
Mary
https://www.themarycurator.com/
Happy Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday Monica! This is such a wonderful post. I got a little teary eyed reading this because you could have been writing this letter to me in my twenties. I loved reading every bit of this. I hope your thirties are full of many more wonderful memories!
xx, Elise
http://www.sparkleandslippers.blogspot.com