Goodbye Letter… To My Condo

Dear Condo,

I’ve heard the expression that the best days of being a boat owner is the day you buy it and the day you sell it. While I have never been a boat proprietor, I imagine it’s one of those sayings that is funny because it’s true.

I wondered if I would feel that way as a homeowner. I surely was excited the day I bought you. I rushed back to work and joyously showed my new keys to all my co-workers. I couldn’t wait to get you some new carpet and update your kitchen appliances. I couldn’t wait to make you my own.

A little over four years later, I showed up today for the “seller” closing appointment and signed you away to a new owner. Though a huge relief and I am beyond grateful for the relatively quick sell, it wasn’t quite the same rush I had the first time.

Although I had already moved out of you, it was comforting to know you were there. Yes, you were there with a mortgage and an electricity bill that I was not particularly sentimental toward, but you also still housed all of the furniture I had lived with since my first post-college apartment.

Remember when I actually used your new kitchen appliances? That one time? We cooked dinner for JB and set the little table that had never been set before. JB was so touched. I told him it was the beginning of me learning to cook.

I haven’t cooked dinner for him since, but you sure provided a great setting for what has turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

Yes, with home ownership comes the handyman (who might just happen to drunk dial you), HVAC repairmen, plumbers, and Home Depot visits. Many Home Depot visits. Until the day I die, I will not understand why there have to be so many options for toilet seats. But you seemed to sense my lack of resourcefulness and gave me very few problems. Thank you for that.

Friends who visited often referred to you as “cozy.” My niece and nephew named you my “little house.” Yes, you were small. But you were the perfect size and place for me to transition to the next stage of my life.

I know the new owner is excited to make you her home. Enjoy getting all dolled up! What an exciting new adventure we both have ahead of us.

XOXO,

Caryn

Macy’s Day Parade and Me

Traditions abound this time of year. Most of these center around time spent with family and friends.

But one of my favorite holiday traditions is one that I keep for myself. Thanksgiving morning, wrapped in blankets (ignoring the high today of 70 degrees), drinking hot chocolate and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I don’t know when this tradition started in my adult life or how no one has managed to infiltrate it. I do know JB loves the guilt-free pass to play golf. (Don’t worry, I did invite him to join me in my holiday tradition of watching Love Actually, I’m not a monster!)

But back to the parade. As if Matt Lauer doesn’t have the most amazing job already (in addition to “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?”, just yesterday he had the privilege of interviewing this couple for absolutely no good newsworthy reason), he guides us through the three hours of parade coverage with Al and the current female co-hosting The Today Show.

Some people think you can just tune in at the second hour, when the parade floats have made their way to 34th Street. But for me, the first hour has some of the best action — the Broadway performances!

A great lead-in for the high school drill teams (miss you!), marching bands, and floats that will soon take over the TV screen — starting of course with Tom Turkey and ending with the much-anticipated arrival of Santa Claus.

Sure, there is a lot of NBC self-promotion and horrible lip-syncing. And it appears that the producers drink a vat of adult eggnog (which I will soon be imbibing!) and then assign the performers to their spot on the parade. Avril Lavigne on the Cooking Channel float? Um, okay!

But it is all part of the parade experience. As is crying during the St. Jude commercials and its meaningful tagline delivered every year by Marlo Thomas: “Give thanks for the healthy kids in your life, and give to those who are not.”

This solo tradition comes at a reflective time for me as I am just days away from turning over the keys to my condo — selling my home of four years that was a symbol of my independence. Combining traditions is truly wonderful and I’m so excited to do so with JB and his family, but I think having a few of your own is just as important.

One day I will, hopefully, share this tradition. I can picture myself sitting on the couch, wrapped in blankets, and sipping hot chocolate with a little baby on my lap. Sure, as Baby grows up, we’ll have to deal with questions about Santa and why he doesn’t visit our house and how that isn’t it fair and that Baby wishes he could live with Baby’s friends who have Christmas trees because they are more fun and Baby hates me for ruining his/her life.

On second thought, maybe Baby can go to the golf course with daddy. This tradition is mine.

Happy Thanksgiving! May we be thankful today and every day for the blessings in our lives.

Do you have a tradition that is all your’s? What is your favorite Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float?

Get Smashed

Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/217274078/

With cake of course.

Balance Overload is celebrating its first birthday!

While I have been a pretty neglectful mother over the past couple of months, I couldn’t let this milestone go unnoticed. On November 17, 2010, I wrote my first post and told five people. It would be another month before I would reveal to the masses (Facebook) that I had started a blog.

It took awhile to get comfortable with the fact that I was writing about myself, my life, my thoughts and reflections, and it was out there for the world to see. But mostly I was worried. Worried that friends and “friends” (Facebook) would think I was vain. “Why does she think anyone cares that much about her mundane life that we would want to take a break from writing status updates about our mundane life to read it?,” they thought in my imagination.

I still worry about that. I still wonder sometimes what am I actually writing about and why do I think anyone cares? Moving forward, I plan to really evaluate little Balance Overload and try to determine the direction I want to take it. I thought this would happen naturally as I started writing, but honestly, I am still not sure. I feel I want more focus. I feel I want to give more to those who read it, so it’s not just a story about my life, but that I offer something readers can take away. Food and recipes are out — but surely there is something else, right? It might be a whole new blog. Who knows?

There is a quote I snagged from a blog awhile ago that said: “Think of something valuable and share it with the world.” I wrote it down on a Post-it note and it’s in my office. I’m still trying to think of my something valuable.

But let us not forget that this is a party! Blogging this last year has been such a wonderful experience. I reunited with my first love of writing and I feel I connected with some of my friends in a different way. I even made new blogger friends for who I am so grateful for every time I read one of their posts or they comment on one of mine. I can’t thank you enough. There are some amazing writers and creatives out there who have so many valuable things to share — I’m blown away.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support and encouragement of my little hobby! And you are such gracious guests, I know you won’t even mention that I clearly messed up and thought the anniversary was today and didn’t realize it was actually yesterday until I linked to my first post. I hope this is not an indication of what I will be like as a real mother one day.

Have a great weekend and a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Life In Bullets

You might recall I have a blog. She’s been a little silent through October and up until now, which is ironic because the month itself was anything but (not to mention that I am usually anything but). Professionally and personally, October always seems like the busiest month of the year. Am I alone in feeling that way?

But we soldier on. So, in soundbite format, here’s what’s been occupying my time in the last month:

• One strike away. Twice. Heartbreak.
• Siri.
• The new television season.
• American Horror Story on FX.
• Reading online obsessively about American Horror Story.
• Having nightmares because of American Horror Story.
• Attending weddings.
• Planning a wedding (I have a dress!).
• Alternating between sweaters and flip-flops because Dallas is ridiculous.
• Trying to find the right energy bar or post-workout food/beverage to stave the blurry visions and headaches off I’m getting after my personal training.
• Drinking more water.
• Forgetting to drink more water.
• Turning 34. Will it be as busy as 33?
• Trying to figure our where in the world is Matt Lauer — otherwise known as the annual reminder that no matter how great it actually is, your job totally sucks in comparison.
• Counting the minutes until Thanksgiving.

What’s missing from this list? Books. Blogging. Google Reader. The part of me who loves to read and write has been absent lately. While I have my theories as to why (most of them surrounding horrific scenarios derived from American Horror Story), I think it’s just a simple matter of focusing on other things.

I miss reading and blogging and I think my life is fuller and more balanced with these hobbies around, but I also don’t feel the need to force them. They then move from hobbies to obligations. It’s kind of how I feel about our “passions.”

Hopefully my inner hipster-sitting-in-a-coffee-shop-with-a-composition book-and-an-e-reader will resurface soon. In the meantime, please share some book recommendations below and/or what you are enjoying this new TV season!

Thanks for reading!