New Entry Coming Soon!!! 
  Monday, June 21st, 2010

My new entry will be up very soon.  I've been tweaking it this month - my first month on my "Journey to 30."

By the way,  I'm no longer a stylist!  I adore the girls at the shop, and I made some really great friends.  I enjoyed my time there and learned a lot.  But, I'm certainly not sad, because I'm working back in landscape architecture and have a fabulous new position at an international company!  So, no - all the education and scholarship dollars are not not going to waste.  :)  

Also, check back for much more on what else is going on in my life other than work, work, work! 

Talk soon,
Tanya
Phil. 4:8


"Here's to it, and to it again.  If you ever get to it and can't do it - call  me 'cause I'm used to it." 
  Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Hello again!

 

Thanks to all of you who said nice things about my first post, my “Journey to 30,” my personal mission statement, etc.  It made me very excited to write more.

 

On to the thoughts for today:

My last post, pretty much involved “laying the groundwork” for what is to come.  However, I’ve yet to touch on what is really going on with me these days.

 

So, for those of you that didn’t already know – I am currently a stylist at a high end bridal salon.  That means that I assist brides in choosing their gowns, accessories, shoes, veil, and jewelry for their “big day” and then I can help refer them to other wedding vendors and friends in the business.  I do enjoy my job.  It’s fun to work creatively in the fashion industry and get to know my clients on a personal level.  Although, it is certainly ironic – I am the most unlucky in love person that I know.  It is what it is.

 

The experience of my crumbling romantic life has been surprisingly liberating.  At the end of every day I am so thankful for all that I have in my life, and, more importantly, for what I don’t have:

 

 

• I’m happy that I have discovered that I don’t have to search for someone in life “who has my back.” They are already here, and they always were.
• I’m happy to be nothing but myself – all day and every day.  I don’t have to bite my tongue and tiptoe around someone else’s insecurities.  I picked up something along the road “gumption.”
• When I arrive home at the end of my day, I don’t have to immediately get in the shower, put my makeup back on to go on a date someone who doesn’t appreciate me.  I can sit in my gym clothes for as long as want, and drink my favorite beer out of my favorite coozie. 
• I am so happy to know that above all that I value in myself  that I value my integrity the most.  I’m happy to know that, beyond any shadow of a doubt, and that I am not capable of doing the wrongs that others have done to me. 
  

And, on that note, I think that I pretty much summed up my point.  Sometimes people get so caught up in wanting more that they forget to be thankful for what they do not have.  I remind myself from time-to-time.  

 

I’m happy for all of the girls that I help to choose their wedding gown, but I am happier for me.  ‘Congratulations, Tanya!  You didn’t marry the wrong guy!!!’  

 

So here’s to me.

Proverbs 14:7

Talk soon, 

Tanya

"The Beginning!" 
  Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

So, I’m starting a blog…for real this time.  I’m not going to loose my nerve. You want to know why I’m going to keep my blog going this time?  Because I’ve finally figured out what I care about enough to keep writing about - my "Journey to 30."

 

“What can be done in the next five years of my life?

 

I spent five years in design school planning for a future that upon graduation, no longer existed.  That was discouraging.  My life has been tossed and turned in more directions than I care to oven look back on in the past year since graduation.  I found myself asking at times, ‘Is this it?  Is this all that I have worked for?’  And the answer to that is, ‘Hell, no!’ 

 

I think about all that I did during the five years that I was in college, and the leaps and bounds that I overcame as a designer, an artist, a person, a soul, a daughter, a sister, and friend.  It’s been a year since I’ve been out of school, and it’s been the best and worst year of my life.  I’m a product of what I’ve been through, so I don’t have to look back. - thank God.

 

I’m about to turn 25   5 years until I’m 30, which according to the superstition is supposed to be the best year of my life.  (I’ll be 30 on the 30^th of May in 2015.)  I spent 5 years in school, and it’s almost been 1 year since graduation.  I’ve thought, ‘Where will I be 5 years from now?’  I have decided, quite boldly and fervently, that my new question (and quest) is, “Where can I be in five years?”

 

“Where can I be in five years?”

 

Yesterday I was sipping coffee at Starbucks in Barnes and Noble, sketching, reading, writing, people watching, and eavesdropping when a book on a shelf caught my eye.  It was something like a horoscope book - Anyway, I was curious, so I flipped it open to my birthday and it said that my greatest challenge is…..learning to focus.  Imagine that!!!  I took some notes from the book before returning to my coffee.  Just now, it took me about 20 minutes of thumbing through my sketchbooks and journals to find what I had written down yesterday that was so important to me.  This was it:

 

The way forward is to understand that scattering my energies all over the place is equivalent to scattering my potential. 

At my worst I am: irresponsible, flighty, and nervous

At my best I am: fast, gifted, and expansive

 

I found this to be a huge epiphany for me!   From now on I’m going to make channeling my capabilities and making my thoughts, or at least the constructive ones, that stream through my mind work for me.  This is the time for me to get “my proverbial 'show'” on the road – define what I value most, set clear goals around what I desire to do, and (this is the best part) make it happen.  AND I’m going to be writing about this, that’s right, for the next 5 years.  It’s my “Journey to 30” and, who knows, it might even become my "road to riches!"   (Or maybe this is just some form of “quarter-life crisis” and I’ll be over this idea in a week – who knows.)

 

That brings me to my “mission statement,” because my life deserves a noble motive:

 

I believe that creativity, discovery, and self-expansion is the essence of being human being.   There are so many things that I want to learn, do, hear, see, and be.  I’ll make something out of this stream and influx of knowledge that I thirst for that other people find provoking, inspirational, and, quite frankly, brilliant. 

 

So, my mission is to bring inspiration and innovation to others.

 

….And how that is going to happen is still in the works.  Maybe it’s through my art and design, maybe it’s through my writing, or maybe it’s what has grabbed your attention to read into my “verb-age” this far!  (And I bet those of you who were getting “snarky,” were just put back in their chairs.)  It’s probably going to be centered around my quirky, hilarious, and blunt outlook on human nature. 

 

So, look forward to more blogging, writing, or whatever you want to call it.  My initial goal is to post something new up about 3 times a week or so.  These things, will be writings on the hilarious happenings in my life, my outlook on issues, events, and happenings that capture my attention, and other thoughts and ideas that I feel like sharing.  If you think this is stupid, boring, a waste of time, etc. then why have you already read this far into the entry? You’re wasting your valuable time. 

 

Talk soon,

Tanya

Ecclesiastes 3:12-14