My 30’s began at Kennywood Park on June 30, 2011. We celebrated my birthday and my cousin made me the most scrumptious cake ever. It had blue icing and weather icons on it. Turning 30 was a welcome change after my late 20’s brought me misery and heartache. My late 20’s were just a dumpster fire 🔥.
Turning 30 did bring me Toastmasters, which I’ll discuss later on in this blog. But despite the slight improvements I had in 2011, I really wasn’t out of the woods yet. Five years after college and at age 30. Go figure.
Eventually, I put my back to school dreams on the back burner for good and accepted my past college experiences. The day of Gary’s memorial service was a turning point for me. But even in 2013, I still had a long way to go before I would be in the clear.
I still struggled with not taking stuff personally. This turned into a huge problem at work and it also became a big distraction when I started taking on bigger leadership roles in the District. I followed political pages on Facebook but the views and opinions of others brought me down. Even things that happened years ago were still bothering me.
That epiphany that I had in the Spring of 2013 was feeling more like a wasted opportunity as I reverted back to my old ways. Going back to school seemed like a good idea, but for me it wasn’t for the right seasons. Even going back to learn my field of study on my own was a challenge. I’d been out for so long that I just didn’t have the motivation anymore.
It would take until 2018 for me to finally stop living in the past and move on with my life.
My 30’s brought a lot of Toastmasters memories. I had plenty of magical memories at Disney in 2015. I launched the blog in 2019, dealt with the pandemic 😷 in 2020, and had a health scare earlier this year.
I attended plenty of great Toastmasters events in my 30’s and want to continue the trend into my 40’s. One of my best stories from TLI came at our last in person training before COVID-19 hit. It was one of our most well attended sessions and everyone was asking me about my blog and complimenting me on my stylish attire. Last year’s virtual Winter TLI had us who won the Spirit of Toastmasters participating in a panel discussion. I hope we can meet in person soon.
This past Spring, while at my doctor’s appointment, I found out that my blood pressure was through the roof. I was at heart attack/stroke level and wound up in the hospital for four days. All this to get that bump on my head removed. I came home the day before Easter. I went to my Cardiologist later that week and scheduled an appointment with the Dermatologist. A week later I finally got my cyst drained and removed.
Since then my blood pressure has gone down and I am feeling a lot better than I did when I made that trip to the Emergency Room. I’ve also had a great support system in place and lots of great friends who have reached out to me.
In October 2017, we witnessed the end of an era with the Fall Conference coming to an end. It would be replaced with the Fall Symposium the next Fall. In October 2018, I ended the long-standing tradition of attending Homecoming at Slippery Rock University. It was fun for a long time, but after so many years and having been out of college for a decade, it just got too stale and was dated. My new Fall tradition would be that Fall Symposium the next year. Tonight is the last night of my 30’s.
My 30’s brought the light at the end of the tunnel. But for a while those lights were from oncoming trains 🚆. Patience was a virtue even well into my 30’s. My 20’s were about academia and later on, I paid the price for my education and lack of work experience. My 30’s were a slight improvement, but I was still feeling the effects of the previous decade for a long time after.
The latter half of my 30’s brought a lot more happiness than the stagnant first half which saw me going nowhere chasing an education I did not need. 2019 was a sad year as I mourned the loss of loved ones. But it was also a standout year for me in Toastmasters, as well as launching the blog, and thinking about dressing nicer. A girl in a cute pink cherry dress can do that to you. 2020 saw me learning to support my local everything and falling in love with my hometown. I won the Spirit of Toastmasters award at the Fall Symposium. I started carrying a bag and wearing patterned scarves and worried I would be shamed but I had the love and encouragement of my friends and adopted family.
2021 is where I will end this blog and I will talk about the two biggest stories. I became more confident about myself and attended a great wedding. In February, I went to Tanger and bought some awesome bags from the Coach outlet. This is me being confident. I broke gender norms and rocked some pastel blazers and a leopard print cardigan. What’s next? Headbands, scrunchies, fashion jewelry?
This past May, I attended the wedding of my dear friends Rob and Sara at the Greensburg Country Club. Sara is one of my biggest encouragers and it was a pleasure to attend her wedding and reunite with her and her family. She loves my fashion sense and the blog. I’m her own personal Harry Styles. I always look forward to us hanging out when our schedules allow and hope to do more with her family soon.
As we begin to have more social gatherings, I’m able to talk more my lifestyle changes and the blog. Speaking of, the blog continues to grow and I have some exciting content that’s coming this summer. I have an ULTA Beauty/Target trip planned for July. That might have me buying… cosmetics. I’m also planning a back to school blog for the middle of August and another Outlets trip. That might happen around Labor Day weekend.
Lots of fun things are happening in Toastmasters as well. A dinner planned on July 24 to honor all that the District has done during this trying time will be held at WCCC. Dates have planned for the Fall Symposium and Winter TLI. I’ll cover these as they get closer. For now enjoy summer.
Bye everyone. ❤️ you.
Stylish 🍒 