Back By Popular Demand

My fans may be few but they have spoken. I've heard you and I am writing my first post as a normal 20-something. Actually, I'm turning 25 in a few days, but I'm having a quarter life crisis, so let's stick with 20-something. This will, in fact, be the last birthday I will acknowledge so it should be a good one. If you're going to be in Ann Arbor on Thursday plan to celebrate with me.

So, I'm still not sure what this blog is going to be about. I thought about making it an outlet to share key learnings and profound thoughts, but they apparently don't happen on a regular basis. Well, I'm sure they do on some level, but that's boring. For example, today I learned that I've been wearing the wrong size running shoes. It was a pretty important lesson, but kind of useless to anyone who isn't me. Thus, while I'm still deciding where to go with this blog, I'm going to keep it anecdotal.

Last night I wenPublish Postt to the Miss Oakland County pageant to watch my friend Sam take her final walk and cheer on another friend, Shelia, to victory. Both were fabulous and Sheila won, so congrats to her. I had a chance to see a lot of my pageant peeps, which is always nice. However, pageant family is like real family; you love seeing them, but they always ask you the same questions that you don't want to answer, or you just don't have a good answer to it. The questions of the evening were, "How does it feel now that you're not Miss Michigan anymore?" and "What are you doing next?".

Please allow me to answer these once and for all. It doesn't really feel different at all. I have more free time, I've been going out with my friends a lot, and I've been dating a ton. I still work just as much, and life is pretty much the same as it was before, but I can sleep in more. I feel like people are expecting me to feel like I have this big void to fill, which is strange considering the circumstances under which I became Miss Michigan in the first place. The title was something I squeezed into my everyday life, not the other way around.

This bring me to the second question of what's next for me. I've been repeating the same line about being patient and waiting for the next opportunity, but I feel like that answer is a huge let down. It's flattering that people expect great and exciting things from me, but the fact that I have a great career and a home to take care of doesn't seem to impress anymore. It's so last year of me. Sorry to disappoint, but I have no immediate plans to save the whales or take up spelunking. I just want to take a few deep breaths enjoy my summer. I'm not going to be here forever, but when I decide to make a move, I'll blog about it for the whole world to know (insert shameless plug).

So how have I been enjoying my summer, you ask? Well, I just spent four days at the Rothbury Festival just outside Muskegon, MI. It's a camping and music festival with over 70 bands including Dave Matthews Band, 311, John Mayer, and Snoop Dogg. I went with my friend, Jen, and my sister, Christina. Since this is a public blog and I feel the need to keep it PG, I'll just say that I witnessed things at Rothbury that I had never witnessed before. It was quite an experience, to say the least. I did love the relaxed atmosphere, and four straight days without a computer was a dream. We took a lot of naps, ate a lot of good food (s'mores included) and listend to a lot of great music. We met some great people and some not-so-great people. We also bathed in Lake Michigan and discovered new strategies for port-a-potty usage. In Google performance review terms we call that 'navigating ambiguity'.

Rothbury is a mini metaphor for what I hope my whole summer will be like: concerts, camping, road trips, and good company. I feel like I'm doing all of those things you're supposed to do before you settle down. Of course, with as much as I'm enjoying life right now, I don't plan on settling down any time soon. Maybe that's the point.

gv