Enough has happened in the past few months that I feel this blog deserves an update.  Kind of a semi-annual review, if you will.  This year has been a time of great personal development; I’ve gotten closer to figuring out what I really value in life, as well as the best way to get there.  Here are a few things I’m talking about:

Professional development.  I’ve been at my current job (and a resident of Missouri, incidentally) for just over a year.  I still feel like I’m learning a lot and making a valuable contribution to the department.  I know that this isn’t where I want to spend the rest of my professional life, but I’m content to get what I can out of it for now… at least until I figure out something I want to do more!

Personal finance and fiscal responsibility.  These are areas where I’ve managed to maintain my good habits and start developing new ones.  Thus despite buying some big-ticket items like a new couch, table and chairs, and a piano keyboard, I’m consistently saving 25% of my income…which has allowed me to retire one of my student loans! (The small one, of course.)  Future goals involve me being more aggressive with my savings in terms of investing, retirement funds, etc.  One of the best personal finance books I’ve read so far is Your Money or Your Life…the author has a very simple budgeting system that seems like it was made for me.  I also follow several PF blogs online that have helped to steer me in the right direction.  Now all I have to do is figure out how I’m going to retire by 40 🙂

Personal relationships.  I value the few friends and family members I have nearby so much!  I’m lucky enough to have a couple of very close friends around, but I know I need to branch out and make new ones.  I hate making new friends, incidentally.  I did it once in high school and once in college…can’t I be done for life?  I also had a brief, awkward flirtation (ha! ha!) with online dating this summer.  I went on quite a few dates with quite a few guys before I could could admit to myself how completely wrong that way of meeting people is for me.  I’m optimistic and serene right now about it, realizing that I can make my own circumstances more conducive to finding someone, but that ultimately trying to force it makes me stressed and tense and definitely NOT romantic.  So in my quest to engage in other activities…

I’m auditioning for the Johnson County Choir next week!  I’m really excited about this–I really miss singing in an ensemble, but don’t really feel like going the church-choir or super-hardcore-choir route, which seemed to be my only two options.  This is a mixed choir of all ages and they only practice one night a week–exactly the commitment level I was going for.  I don’t know what the audition will be like, but I really hope I make it in!

One more thing I’m super-happy/proud about: my personal health is off the charts! Well, off my chart, anyway. I have a couple of good friends who started cycling this summer, and I kind of got sucked into it (in a good way, though).  For once in my life, I love exercising!  Even when my legs are sore because I did 18 miles yesterday, I can’t wait to get back on and go.  It was helpful to have a friend who was such an enthusiastic convert–he did tons of research when buying his bike, and then I just mooched off his brains ;-p I got a new bike for my birthday this year, and I did 143 miles this August!  Not only am I in better shape than usual physically, I’m getting more in tune with other areas of my health (sleep patterns, mood, etc) and getting closer to finding that sweet spot of emotional and physical wellbeing.  Hopefully it doesn’t all go downhill this winter, when the cold and dark makes me fat and grumpy ;-p

If this post seems a little perky and exclamation-point-ridden, I’m still surfing on my morning-bike-commute endorphins and my first cup of coffee.  I hope you’ve managed to read this far without getting too irritated.  Before I sign off…to all my not-near-but-still-dear friends: as you might be able to tell, I’ve had a busy summer, which hasn’t given me as much time as I would like to be able to catch up with all of you.  I hope you know that even though we maybe haven’t talked in while, I still think about you guys every day and I’m so grateful that you’re in my life. </sappiness>

I hope you have a wonderful day!  Now I have to go deinstall a fountain.