It feels as if the past month has gone by in a matter of only a few New York minutes. I never really understood the meaning of what exactly a New York minute felt like until this past year. This past month has been filled with activity and has also allowed me to cross a few things off of my bucketlist including watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when my dad came up to the city to help me move and celebrate Thanksgiving in Jersey with his family.
We even ventured into the chaos of Black Friday to help me with my move into my dream New York City apartment with the best roommate (and not one I had to find on Craigslist!).
I feel as if I finally have a place I can go to at the end of the day and call home. In addition to that, it is just a few steps away from the most amazing view of Time Square which still feels surreal every morning I go to catch the subway to work. I don’t exactly love being submerged in Times Square, but the sight of it still gets me a little giddy and takes me back to how thankful I am to be where I’m at.
There are certain things I realized I took advantage of when I lived in Boise. For example, having laundry conveniently in my apartment or in the building. Last week, I found myself having to carry a garbage bag full of laundry over each shoulder as I trucked down the block through our mini snowstorm. Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but it felt like it in my broken rain boots and loads of laundry slung over my shoulders. My laundry basket wouldn’t fit through our gated door and I haven’t invested in a fancy $5 laundry bag yet, which after yesterday I most definitely will. I had to just laugh as I imagined what I must have looked like at that very moment to the tourists making their way to see Times Square.
I also didn’t realize just how much I missed having an apartment where I had the space and environment to have friends over for breakfasts and dinners or work on arts and crafts. After a Sunday morning workout, CeCe and Kasey came over and we made brunch and were able to sit down and enjoy our Sunday together.
We made a Baked Pear Vanilla Oatmeal, from Babble but substituted the sugar for Truvia and replaced the butter with coconut oil. We also added cinnamon in, being the believers that cinnamon must be included in all baking. Alex and I even took a Friday night to relax and make our Christmas stockings for the apartment! Needless to say, I love my new home.
I’m finally the owner of not just a functioning phone, but an iPhone! And am no longer left out of Snap Chatting, Vining, Instagramming, and whatever bizarre forms of communication will come along in the future. Now you can follow me on Instagram: Genevieve_nutting where you’ll be entertained by fun, spontaneous pictures like these.
I also was finally able to try SoulCycle, and am wondering how I didn’t try it soonr. I’d heard a lot about it before I moved to the city, but never being a huge spin fan, I wasn’t that eager to give it a try. However, having recently become a spin fan addict, it’s now taken a place on my bucketlist of things to experience. CeCe had invited me to try it this past weekend and my body is loving/hating life right now from it! The class we took was a 45 minute session where they dim the lights, turn up some motivational music to get the endorphins pumping (in this case, Beyonce’s new album), and involved free weights and core movements on the bike to create a full body workout. By the end of the class my abs were on fire, my arms couldn’t even lift the 2 lb free weights, and I literally had tears streaming down my face. It was that empowering.
In addition, I’ve had long days at my new job but am still loving it and finding myself eager to go to work each day. Having no degree in business or sales, it has definitely been a huge learning experience but has been incredibly intellectually stimulating. I thought I was familiar with excel before, but that holds no candle to all the shortcuts, formulas, and layouts I have learned now. One of the women from WH online and I found ourselves laughing at how enthusiastic we get over learning a new formula or shortcut to make life easier through Excel. Does our enthusiasm for Excel classify us as a bit of nerds? We’ll take it.
To have such an immense amount of activity and life events occur over such a brief period of time, it can be difficult to remind myself to sit back occasionally and take it all in. Absorb where I’m at in my life, right here and right now. For just one moment, take the focus off where I hope to go and instead reflect on where I’ve come from and how I’ve gotten to where I am today.
I think that pertains to life in general though. Especially around the holiday season I think people can get wrapped up in finding the perfect gift, hosting the party everyone talks about, or trying not to gain that dreaded holiday winter weight. It can be difficult to take a step back and live in the moment, taking it all in.
“Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has yet to come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.”
-Ida Scott Taylor
How to be mindful and live in the moment
Be present – Focus on what you’re doing at this moment. Holding a conversation? Pay attention to what the other person is saying instead of what you need to take care of next.
Don’t dwell – on the past. There is nothing that can be changed about the past, so put your energy towards what you can control which is what’s happening right now.
One thing at a time – Focus your energy on one thing at a time. Avoid multi-tasking and thoroughly complete your actions.
Don’t take of more than you can chew – Learn how to say no and focus on what’s truly important.
Speaking of chewing – Eat slowly and savor the flavor and work that went into preparing each meal.
Allow extra time – Give yourself time in between things so you aren’t rushing from one thing to the next.
Schedule “you” time – Schedule time for yourself each day and do something you enjoy that relaxes you.
Plan for the future, but don’t live in it – Make your future goals important, but try not to live in the future. Live in the now by focusing on what you can accomplish now, not what you should be worrying about later.
Don’t just live in the moment, enjoy it – Lastly, if there was an event you were looking forward to or a project you were working on, enjoy the moment when the project is finally complete or your event has approached. You’ve worked so hard to get there, now is your time to really step back and just focus on the present.
What do you do to live in the moment?
Your Daily Dose of Vitamin B with Genevieve Marie 