Blog Everyday In May Challenge Recap

I can't believe we're already four days into June, and the Blog Every Day In May Challenge has come and gone. The challenge lived up to its name, and was well, challenging. But I also really enjoyed it. I tried to put a personal spin on each of the writing prompts to make it my own. And I think I was successful at that. By far the best part about this challenge was meeting new bloggers.

I decided to borrow an idea from my new blogging friend, Erika and compile a list with all of the posts for the challenge together in one so it is easy to find and refer back to down the road. Plus, I love stalking my favorite bloggers as well as new blogs that I discover so this will help any of you who like to do the same :)

A big thank you to Jenni at Story of my Life for organizing and hosting everyone for the May Challenge. It was a lot of effort and I know we all appreciated your effort in having the post up and ready for us to link to everyday. I was surprised how many people participated, and impressed by how many of us completed all 31 days of the challenge.

Congrats to all of you who participated, whether it was for one day or 31 days. It was fun to be involved! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of you and thank you to all who found From Foothills to Fog through the challenge and stopped by.

Day 1, Wednesday: The story of your life in 250 words or less (or one paragraph... no one will be counting your words... probably)

            A Short Story of My Life

**Day 2, Thursday: Educate us on something you know a lot about or are good at. Take any approach you'd like (serious and educational or funny and sarcastic)

            It's All In The Details - Phillip's Baby Shower

Day 3, Friday: Things that make you uncomfortable

            You're Making Me Cringe

Day 4, Saturday: Favorite quote (from a person, from a book, etc) and why you love it

            Start Now

Day 5, Sunday: Publicly profess your love and devotion for one of your blogger

friends. What makes them great? Why do you love them? If you don't have blogger friends, talk about a real-life friend or even a family member

            Love These Ladies

Day 6, Monday: If you couldn't answer with your job, how would you answer the question, 'what do you do'?

            A Few of the Things I Do

Day 7, Tuesday: The thing(s) you're most afraid of

            My Worst Fear

Day 8, Wednesday: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.

            Trust Your Gut

Day 9, Thursday: A moment in your day (this can be just a photo or both a photo and words)

            Playing Dress Up

Day 10, Friday: Most embarrassing moment (s). Spill. 

            Accidental Flash

Day 11, Saturday: Sell yourself in 10 words or less

            Sold! - In 10 Words orLess

Day 12, Sunday: What do you miss? (a person, a thing, a place, a time of your life...)

            Happy Mother's Day!

Day 13, Monday: Issue a public apology. This can be as funny or as serious or as creative as you want it to be.

            I'm Sorry, Friend

**Day 14, Tuesday: Ten things that make you really happy

            Happy Happy Happy

Day 15, Wednesday: A Day in the life (include photos from throughout your typical day - this could be "a photo an hour" if you'd like)

            Day In The Life

Day 16, Thursday: Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it

            Feeling Blessed

**Day 17, Friday: A favorite photo of yourself and why

            Say: "Go Giants!"

**Day 18, Saturday: Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

            Vanagon Stories

Day 19, Sunday: Five of your favorite blogs and what you love about them

            The Graduate

Day 20, Monday: Get real. Share something you're struggling with right now.

            Struggling to Get to the Gym

Day 21, Tuesday: A list of links to your favorite posts in your archives

            A Look Back...

Day 22, Wednesday: Rant about something. Get up on your soapbox and tell us how you really feel. (a pet peeve, a current event, a controversial topic, something your husband or roommate or neighbor or boss does that really ticks you off)

            Really!?! Noisy Neighbors

Day 23, Thursday: Things you've learned that school won't teach you

            Things I Didn't Learn in a Classroom

Day 24, Friday: Your top 3 worst traits

            Some Things I Need to Work On

**Day 25, Saturday: Something someone told you about yourself that you'll never forget (good or bad)

            Something My Aunt Told Me...

Day 26, Sunday: Something you read online. Leave a link and discuss, if you'd like.

            Worth Reading

Day 27, Monday: A letter to your readers

            A Letter to My Lovely Readers

Day 28, Tuesday: Only pictures

            Memorial Day Weekend

**Day 29, Wednesday: Five songs or pieces of music that speak to you or bring back

memories. Use Grooveshark or YouTube to include them in the post

            O'Brien Family Soundtrack

Day 30, Thursday: React to this term: Letting Go

            Letting Go

**Day 31, Friday: A vivid memory

            There's No Place Like Home

** my favorite posts from the challenge

Let me know if you compiled a similar list so I can come make sure I didn't miss reading any posts during the month of May!

I promise, this is the last you will see of the Blog Every Day In May Challenge from me :)

xoxo,

Theresa

There's No Place Like Home

Well, we did it!! 31 one consecutive days of blogging! I'm pretty impressed with myself. Although, I have to admit, I was definitely getting a little burnt out by the end. This really was a challenge for me. I enjoy my weekends and some days it was hard to find the time to blog, but I am proud of myself for sticking to it and completing the challenge. A big thank you to Jenni for organizing this challenge and hosting all of us each day. It was such a joy to read the other posts and get to know so many new bloggers in the past weeks.

**********

While I'm gallivanting around Las Vegas with my best girls, I'll leave you with this entertaining little memory!

Day 31: A vivid memory.

Just Click Your Heels Together and think, "There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home"

Are you all getting sick of my camping stories from childhood?  Not yet? Good.

When I was about 8 years old, one of our family vacations was a camping trip to Moab, Utah. Sadly, this was after the Vanagon days, and we were tent camping. My sister and I shared a pretty awesome, retro, tepee tent. It was old, and we had to bungee cord the poles at the top so it would stay upright.

Then on one fateful night, a storm came. A wind storm. And I was terrified. My sister and I laid in our tent wide awake.  Between every gust of wind, the tent would collapse on us. When the wind would pick up again, the tent would rise back up. My memory is like those dancing air figures they have at car dealerships. You know the ones I mean?

Of course, my sister thought that my melt down was rather hilarious. In the standard older sister fashion, she told me, "just click your heels together three times and say: there's no place like home, there's no place like home." At the time, I did NOT find that amusing AT ALL.

Finally, my tears led to my mom and I sleeping in the back of our SUV. And my sister ditched our collapsed tepee for my Dad's tent. For the record, it was so windy my mom even said it felt like we were sleeping on a train in the back of the car....or did I say that? What can I say? I take after my Gram, I don't like the wind!

As ridiculous (and whiny) as I sound in this story, it has become a great inside joke for my sister and I. I even incorporated it into my Maid of Honor Speech at her wedding.

I like to think I've gotten a lot braver since then, but sometimes I am still a total baby. 

I hope you all have an amazing weekend! I'll be taking the next few days off from blogging to enjoy a girls weekend with my best friends in Las Vegas! I'll see you Monday!

xoxo,

Theresa

Letting Go

pretty flowers in my parents yard

Day 30: React to the term, Letting Go

A few of the things I am working on letting go of, to become the best version of myself:

Letting go of the past so I can live in the moment

Letting go of my insecurities

Letting go of my desire to sleep in (to get to the gym and help with the insecurities)!

Letting go of my fear of failure

Letting go of caring what other people think

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After work I'm heading to Las Vegas with a few of my closest girlfriends. We'll be spending our days lounging by the pool with cocktails in hand! I can't wait. I am in serious need of some Vitamin D. I'm especially excited for the Cirque du Soleil show on Friday night! I've always wanted to go, so I'm really looking forward to it!

Don't worry, I have my post all lined up for tomorrow so I can say I successfully completed the Blog Every Day in May Challenge!

I see you all back here Monday!

xoxo,

Theresa

O'Brien Family Soundtrack

source

I've always been one of those people that constantly needs music. In the car, working out, cooking dinner, cleaning house, even at work. I am a sucker for anything sentimental and nostalgic, and I love how music can take you back to an exact moment in time.

I attribute my love of music to my Dad. Growing up, we always had music playing in the house. I used to get out his records and play them, my favorite was The Monkee's "Hey Hey We're The Monkee's." But most of my memories listening to music take place in the Vanagon. I've mentioned how much time my family spent traveling and camping when I was growing up. And there was always music playing on those long drives. We had a huge basket filled with tapes on the floor board between the driver's side and passenger seats. Since my Dad was a high school teacher, we had the best mix tapes that his students would make for him. I still love, and listen to all of those songs. They always take me right back to those road trips we took growing up. And it's actually one of the first things I loved about Andrew, he and I both have the same love for Classic Rock and music of the 60's and 70's that we got from our Dad's.

For the blog challenge today I decided to make an O'Brien Family Playlist with some of my favorite songs from that old basket of tapes, a Family Soundtrack, if you will.  

O'Brien Family Soundtrack

1. America Pie, Don McLean

2. The River (live), Bruce Springsteen

3. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Crosby, Stills and Nash

(affectionately named the "Do Do Song")

4. Get Back, The Beatles

(Mom's song, because her name is Loretta)

5. Hotel California, The Eagles

6. Graceland, Paul Simon

7. Money For Nothing, Dire Straits

8. Red Red Wine, Bob Marley

9. Imagine, John Lennon

10. Little Lies, Fleetwood Mac

11. We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy Joel

12. Pinball Wizard, The Who

13. Cats in the Cradle, Cat Stevens

14. Against the Wind, Bob Seger

15. Pink Houses, John Cougar Mellencamp

16. Who'll Stop the Rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival

17. Forrest Gump Suite, Alan Silvestri

(Or, "The Feather Song" as we called it)

I kept wanting to add more, but I figured I should stop before I had a box set. What songs would be on your family's soundtrack? 

A fun side note: At my sister's wedding the DJ played America Pie. The four of us, my Dad, Mom, Sister and I all danced together and sang and cried for the entire song! I think it's a favorite memory for all of us.

xoxo,

Theresa

Memorial Day Weekend

Day 28: Only Pictures. 

I'm bending the rules a little bit on this one, and writing a little bit about what we were up to this weekend since I hardly took any photos. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday weekend! Ours was pretty low key, but really nice. We started off the weekend at the Giants game Friday night. Then Saturday we met some college friends for a little hike along Crissy Field and under the Golden Gate Bridge. The wind was a little too intense so we ended our hike early and heading towards Maregno's for lunch and a few cocktails.  Our friends had planned to go home that afternoon, but decided to stay in the city with us. We went out to dinner and had some fresh squeezed boozy juice at Lion Pub, they were delicious.  

Sunday Andrew and I were pretty lazy. We went to a late brunch at Eats because we'd been wanting to try it. It did not disappoint. Thankfully we live close by, we'll definitely go back for more! I had the pulled pork hash, but I'm dying to try the lemon poppy seed pancake with ricotta! Andrew had the bacon and waffles and loved it. Later in the afternoon we decided to head over to the Patagonia store just for fun, but we didn't find anything we couldn't live without. We also decided to walk up to the famous Lombard Street, since I hadn't hit that tourist attraction since I moved to the city. I'm not sure who's brilliant idea that was on a holiday weekend. We basically ran down the stairs to get away from the crowds. But, it was still fun to see the view on a clear and sunny day. We spent the rest of evening curled up watching movies together. We finally saw Silver Linings Playbook, and both really liked it. I have a serious girl crush on Jennifer Lawrence.

Yesterday was spent running errands and doing Sunday Monday chores like laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. You know, the fun stuff. We made pizza for dinner, which was delicious but not the best diet friendly meal for less than a week before I'll be poolside in a bikini. Then we watched a documentary on Yosemite since we'll be there later this summer. It was such a nice, low key weekend. I was not ready to get back to work today, but it's a very short week because I am off Friday for a weekend getaway in Vegas with friends!

Well this post quickly became more about words than pictures. But since I didn't do a very good job taking photos this weekend, this will have to do. I did look at camera's while we were out yesterday, so I'm one step closer to finally upgrading my poor, beat up little cannon.

I hope you all had a great long weekend!

xoxo,

Theresa

A Letter to My Lovely Readers

 Day 28, A letter to your readers.

Dearest Readers,

I can’t begin to express my appreciation for you. It seems crazy that I’ve only been blogging for a few months, and I’ve already started building relationships with some of you. I wanted to thank you for being patient with me, as I learn more about the technical side of blogging and find my voice as a writer.

Everyday I look forward to sitting down and reading other blogs, and now that I have my own, it’s even more meaningful since I’m a part of that community I always admired. Thank you so much for all of the sweet comments and emails. I LOVE hearing from you. I still can’t believe it when I see your names in my inbox, and I get a little start struck to receive comments and tweets from the bloggers I follow and love so much. All of you mean so much to me, and I am so appreciative of each and every one of you and the support you've given me during the first few months of my blogging journey. 

I’m still surprised that it’s not only my family members reading my blog everyday. And I want you all to know just how much it means to me to know that you continue stop by my little corner of the blog world. I feel like I’ve really found a niche for myself and I am so thankful you’ve all been so welcoming to me.

With love,

Theresa

Worth Reading

We’re nearing the end of the Blog Every Day in May Challenge. I’m pretty proud I’ve made it this far. But, I have to be honest; I’m looking forward to taking a little break next weekend when I’m in Las Vegas with my girlfriends. Then jumping back in with my own prompts come June.

Day 26, Something you read online. Leave a link and discuss, if you’d like.

I decided to include a link to something I read the other day that I found interesting. I thought it was an interesting perspective on communicating in relationships, and the importance of seeing both sides and trying to understand the other person’s perspective.

What to do when you’ve made someone angry

I also considered these two articles as well, so I figured I would include the links in case someone else was interested in reading them.

Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

This was the commencement speech that Steve Jobs gave in 2005 at Stanford. My Dad printed a copy and gave it to me when I was getting ready to graduate in 2007. I’ve kept it and read it again many times since then. I’m sure many of you have already read it, but for those of you who haven’t it’s worth a few minutes of your time.

16 Ways I Blew My Marriage

I think I came across this on Pinterest. Based on the comments I think it was somewhat controversial, but I found it very interesting. If nothing else, it’s a good reminder that relationships take a lot of hard work. 

I hope you’re all having a nice Memorial Day weekend.

xoxo,

Theresa

Something My Aunt Told Me...

Today on the Challenge: Something someone told you about yourself that you'll never forget.

As usual, I was having trouble thinking about what to write about today. Last night I went to the Giants game with my friend Erica and we took our standard picture to upload on Instagram. We were talking about getting older and how we are starting to notice wrinkles and the changes in our bodies.

And then, something my Aunt Cheri said to me popped in my head. One time, maybe in Hawaii for my sister’s wedding, she overheard my sister and I negatively talking about our bodies or how we looked. And she told us, “you’ll never look as good as you do now.” She wanted us to appreciate ourselves and see what she sees when she looks at us.

Since she told me that, I always try to remember to focus on the qualities I feel good about. As I get older, and start to notice the changes, I understand more and more what she meant when she said that. Not that we’re not as beautiful as we age, but just to appreciate each stage, instead of always wishing for something we don’t have.

xoxo,

Theresa

Some Things I Need to Work On

It's finally Friday! This week actually went by pretty quickly (they all seem to lately) but I am really looking forward to the long weekend. We are just staying in the city, but have a few fun things planned. It's supposed to be decent weather too, not too warm but sunny at least.

Tonight we're off to the Giants game with our friends Corrie and Erica. Then tomorrow some friends from college are going to be in the city so I think we'll have brunch and go for a hike. Unless bottomless mimosas get the best of us. I'll let you know how that turns out :)

I hope you all have a great weekend planned!

Day 24 is your top three worst traits. 

This one was tricky. It's hard to look at yourself with a critical eye. There are so many things I know I need to work on. But these three stood out to me.

I tend to over think everything - I've always had a hard time with this one and I know it can be toxic  and create self doubt. I've definitely gotten better about just letting go and accepting the situation, but sometimes I find myself replaying things in my head over and over again.

I am the worst procrastinator  - I have always been bad about waiting putting things off and then rushing to get things done in time. Whether it was writing an essay in school, packing for a trip, or writing a blog post for this challenge, I always wait until the last minute. I know it just creates more stress for myself, but I can't seem to break the cycle!

I can be too sensitive - I suppose this goes hand in hand with over-thinking things, but I am a very sensitive person. I'm learning to embrace my sensitivity. I know that sometimes it can actually be one of my good qualities. But there are times when I take things too personally, and get upset about things that were not meant to be hurtful.

Enjoy the long weekend!!

xoxo,

Theresa

Things I Didn't Learn in a Classroom

Day 23: Things you've learned that school won't teach you

There's a lot to be said for the classroom. Some of us were lucky enough to have incredible teachers, who helped shape us into the people we have become, those who stick with us long after graduation.

I was born into a family of teachers. My Dad was a high school teacher before becoming the District Superintendent, my cousin was a teacher for many years before becoming an administrator herself, and my sister is getting her teaching credential as well. I've seen firsthand the impact teachers can have on their students. However, there are many things we don't learn in school. As we go through life, our experiences and struggles help shape us, and teach us many important lessons. Things that cannot be found in a text book.

I don't think any of us ever stop learning. A new lesson can be found in every experience. My friend Jen once told me she looks for the lesson whenever life throws her a curve ball. And since, I've tried to do the same. There is a moral to every story. Something that we can take from it, to enrich our lives and become better for it. 

In my 27 years, these are some of the things I've learned so far. Some are a work in progress, and I'm sure there are many lessons I've forgotten to include.

accept yourself for who you are -  YOU are amazing just the way you are. Try to remember that. All of our unique qualities define us, and make us individuals. It's a constant struggle to embrace ourselves for who we are, and not compare ourselves to those around us. But once you can accept the qualities that set you apart, you realize how special you are and all that you have contribute.

always say I love you - Always tell the people you love how much they mean to you. In my opinion, hearing someone say they love you never gets old. You never know what could happen, and it's best to make sure that the people you love have no doubt about your feelings for them.

trust your gut-  I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again. Follow your heart and trust your instincts. They're usually right.

go see and do- Travel. Get out and see the world. The more cultures you experience and places you travel, the better understanding you'll have of this world and the people in it. Meeting new people and seeing how they live and understanding their history gives you compassion and understanding for other people.

don't settle - I've seen many people get stuck in a routine they feel safe and comfortable in, and not "break free" and push themselves to reach their full potential. I could have been one of those people. Thankfully, I worked up the courage to take a risk. And although it was hard, I am 100% happier today, and so thankful to be where I am now.

it's okay to say No sometimes ­-  I am a people pleaser through and through. I am still working on this one. But I'm learning that it is okay to say "no" sometimes. It's better to put the best version of yourself out there, then spread yourself too thin. I'm still trying to learn not to put too much on my plate. I've learned that when I focus on a few things that matter to me, I see better results and feel more fulfilled than trying to please everyone and do everything. 

xoxo,

Theresa

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