Things I'm Looking Forward to BESIDES My Party

  I’ve been looking forward to and planning my 30th birthday party since May. I knew I wanted it to be a 100 Acre Wood party for Pooh and all his pals and for the last few weeks my parents have gone above and beyond creating that. My mom turned music stands into trees, put signs on the trees that said things like "Eeyore's Gloomy Place” and she’s making three homemade cakes: a gluten free, coconut almond one, a chocolate one and an applesauce cake with brown sugar frosting. Could all this be undone by some wind and rain? Hurricane Polo struck the lower U.S. this week and it’s going to be here tomorrow. However, I’m not near the coast so we can avoid flooding and my mom and several friends have assured me it’ll just be some rain and light wind. I have a rain date as Sunday but not all my friends can come and they certainly can’t stay over. I’m hoping for tomorrow. But I have to keep it in perspective. Here’s some stuff I can look forward to besides my party:

• Gretchen Rubin’s new book coming out next summer

Gretchen Rubin wrote my all time favorite book The Happiness Project. Since then she’s followed it up with gems like Better Than Before and Life in Five Senses, which I simply devoured. Next July she’s coming out with her latest book Project Empty Nest. I can’t wait to see what she’s up to next.

• Working on my own research essays

Today I finished my research essay on energy drinks and (not to spoil anything) but a surprising amount of people have died from energy drinks. Usually it is cardiac arrhythmia or cardiac arrest. And people who have bipolar disorder should probably not drink energy drinks either. It can lead to psychosis and mania. 

• Story of Hope book launch

I’m so pleased with how my book is turning out. The cover is exactly what I wanted (it was my idea but they did a great job with the design). I  would estimate my book launch will be in late November and early December. It will be a reading followed by a book signing. Last time we all went out for dinner afterward. I am proud of my work and want to show it off.

• Elisa Gabbert’s book of essays from the library

On vacation I read a book called The Unreality of Memory. It’s what inspired me to make my own book of research essays. It covered so many interesting topics; I knew I had to read her again. And now her book The Self Unstable is on my “to read” list.

• Book club meetings

We have book club once a month. It is a true book club in the fact that we pick books and we actually read them then discuss them (over snacks of course). We have a very diverse group from our book preferences (which is why we read so many different kinds of books) to our snack preferences (I talk about snacks alot) to our ages and personalities. But we all love reading.

• Making new buttons

For my birthday I got a button maker. It’s one of the coolest gifts I could have gotten. I’m still getting the hang of it which is why half my buttons are upside down. I have faith I’ll improve. I’ve saved some that really resonate with me. The rest are presents.

• The “holiday season” (dop dee do and dickory dock)

Okay maybe it’s early. But I LOVE the holiday season. Day after Thanksgiving (or sometimes more realistically on Thanksgiving) my Christmas playlist is on and soon I’m enjoying the decorations, the lights, the tree, and all the festivities that come with it. One of my new favorite things to do is accompany Justin to his office party. It all feels so grown up.

• Using my Fruit Loops candle and my oil diffuser to scent my room while I craft

When my  room smells good it’s more warm and welcoming. Certain crafts my mom doesn’t let me do downstairs (anything involving ink or paint which is a wise decision on her part) so I have to be upstairs for them. The smell makes it a little less lonely (so do the holiday tunes) 

• Mom’s gravy and stuffing on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving  is in my top three holidays, mostly because the holiday season has a officially started but also the food is amazing. Turkey never tastes good except on Thanksgiving. My mom’s stuffing could make any meat taste good. She also makes great mac and cheese and coveted stuffing. We have run out of stuffing in the past so she has doubled the amount she makes in recent years. Still we never have any stuffing left over.

• Seeing the Cursed Child (with Tom Felton!!!) on Broadway

My birthday present (aside from dinner at a very nice restaurant) from Justin was tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ON Broadway WITH Tom Felton. I like Tom Felton alot. Not simply because he is good looking but also because he put in a good word for J.K. Rowling once during an interview unlike Daniel Radclife and Emma Watson who threw her under the bus because she disagreed with them. Plus well, yeah he’s hot. And a good actor (for those who don’t know he played the original Draco Malfoy in all the movies).

• Putting together a new workout at the gym after a particularly useful training session

My gym gives you a free personal training session every birthday. So yesterday I went to the gym and had a session with a trainer I personally knew to be one of the best. Now I have about six more things to add to my workout routine and I can add several more machines that were once a mystery.

• Navigating my latest knitting project (an off the shoulder with loose bust and a cinched waist). 

I just finished a wedding bag for my best friend so she can hold her wedding cards. I think it took me three months. This ambitious project might take me a year,who knows. I have to learn how to read a pattern, improve my purling and learn several new stitches. Will the shirt even turn out to be wearable? I don’t know but I’m hella ambitious.

• Taking more classes at the gym

This involves waking up earlier and scheduling my journaling time for later. I like classes at the gym but they are either too early in the morning or in the evening and my workout time is usually around twelve. I am going to try to adjust my schedule for some of the classes I really enjoy. I can get lazy during my workouts. I need  a teacher who isn’t afraid to push me. 

• The Dodge Poetry Festival

This is a poetry festival (three day festival) that occurs every year. They have so much to offer and I come home full of inspiration with poems coming out of my ears. So come with me and be prepared to learn something from a new perspective. 

• Working door for the next slam

I’m part of a poetry organization so I work door (accepting money and signing people up) at open mics and poetry slams. I actually like working slams more than open mics because there is more room and I feel less stressed even though it means I can’t compete. It’s actually fun because you can just rest after everybody is signed up and there is no pressure to win.

• Working on thank you cards for my presents (I bought blank cards just for the occasion!)

I have a vision in mind for my thank you cards. I want to paint the top of the card blue (sky) and sprinkled below it will be the pressed flowers and flower stickers my aunt got me for my  birthday. Then on the inside a heartfelt message. Because I really do appreciate it.

• Working on the book club Christmas presents

I  have a very good idea for my book club present. It would be better if everyone filled out the surveys I sent out but I’ve learned that you can’t force people to fill out surveys. But members of my book club who have not filled it out….please. It correlates with the Christmas present. Plus my OCD likes everything to be completed. It bothers me when everybody else does something except one  person.

• Work on comfort books and my scrapbook

These are the presents for my family (plus they are also getting a button). My 2026 scrapbook was given to me last Christmas by my Aunt Dorothy and  Uncle Lance. It’s a beautiful notebook that was full of homemade paper. Since then I’ve decorated it with pictures, tickets and the resolutions I make each month.

• Wendy’s church conference

Every year my friend Wendy invites me to a church conference. It’s a retreat that runs all day with songs and guest speakers. Last year they had several people who would pray over you. I got so emotional I actually began to cry as the kind woman asked God to absolve me of my mental illness. I take notes on the speeches and every time I get home I write a long, long letter to God.

• Compiling a Best of 2026 YouTube artists

This is a project for me. I want to keep track of which Youtube artists I watch in different years. I don’t watch TV much (although I do go to the movies 2-3 times a month) but Youtube is on all day unless I’m really trying to concentrate on something. It’s on right now actually. 

• Creating movie awards for Justin's homemade Christmas present

I’m creating a log for Justin of all the movies we’ve seen together in theaters. It must be at least forty. From Oppenheimer to the Meg 2 to Smile to Batman if it’s getting buzz, we’re getting in the seats. We’re a little backlogged because right now I want to watch Resident Evil, Primetime and Clayface and people keep having birthdays. How dare they?

• Continue to do book reviews and author profiles on what I've read

I love writing book reviews and doing author profiles. Someday I hope to turn what I’ve written in to a book.

• Buy a new Switch game (preferably something to  do with fashion or design)

I rarely play my Switch anymore after I was unable to advance in Dream Daddy and had to do some stuff over again. But I’m going to look out for a new game, maybe in fashion or interior design.

• Hitting “publish” on a blog post