Birthday Positivity

Oh hello! Yes, yes I did just miss an entire week of blogging. There was my birthday and then a few projects got kind of consuming and before I knew it, it was Thursday. Seriously, where did this week go? Shit, where did this month go? Where did my life go? That would be how I felt last Friday on my 27th birthday. How the hell did I end up here?

A few days back, or weeks I'm not sure, my lovely Kristen did a post on positivity and I immediately put it on my never-ending list of post ideas. And now that I'm officially a year older and I basically skipped the blogsphere's mandatory "Today's my birthday!" post, I figured it'd be the perfect post to commemorate turning 27. Sidenote: 27 is such a weird number. For real. I'd much rather be 26 or 28. In fact, let's pretend like I'm still 26 and then next March 6th I'll just magically be 28. Like "poof, I'm 28!" (see that Sex and the City reference here for a good laugh!).

Something you love about yourself.
I really love how passionate I am. Or maybe I love how obvious that is to other people. Since I was a teenager, it's always one of the first things people use to describe me. Whether it's "wow, you're excited, aren't you?" or "you really throw yourself into what you love" or "you love hard" or "you feel everything" -- I translate it all to a note about how passionate I am about things. (Although, that first comment might actually be an insult in disguise :) Whatever.)
Passion is such an important value to me and living passionately is something I've always strived for and loved identifying in others, so I'm so glad others see it too!

Something you want to work on.
Kindness. Kristen mentioned being nicer to herself in her post, and surely I need to work on that too. But really - being totally transparent here - I want to work on being kinder to other people. Last summer I read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and a quote really stood out to me. "Be kinder than necessary." I've since learned that the quote originated with J.M. Barrie, but I'm still striving towards it. I don't really mean showing kindness to those I know and love. I think I'm a pretty nice person in that sense. But I'd like to work on being kinder to those around me, walking down the streets with me etc. I'm a New Yorker through and through, and we tend to move quickly and have a tough attitude. So yeah.
...There's also always losing a bit of weight and shiner hair :)

Give someone a compliment and mean it.
There are legit 50 different bloggers that I can genuinely compliment. I've met some amazing ladies over the past few years. But there are three ladies in particular who immediately pop into my head right now.
Dearest Kay and Deb, you are both such wonderfully supportive and positive people. You inspire me to dream because you never shoot down my fantasies, however unattainable they may be. As such supportive and nurturing people, you're bound to be (or rather already are!) wonderful mothers.
My soul-writer Mae, your kindness and sincerity are a rarity in this world! You dole out wisdom like it costs you nothing, and despite doing eleventy billion things, you find time for other people. They truly do not make them like you anymore.

Something you are proud of, succeeded in, or are just generally pumped about.
Generally, I'm really pumped about a few of the projects I've been working on recently (including Skylights Magazine launching in just a week! Get notified here!).
I think I'll always be proud of graduating law school, regardless of whether I practice or not, because it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Another thing that'll make me super proud of myself? Finishing the first draft of my novel, hopefully by the end of March. I also wouldn't complain about a two book deal from a well-known publisher :) Hello, Simon and Schuster!

Happy Friday!