Accomplishing Something

I officially submitted my grad school application today. It feels good to complete something so long in the making.
I started thinking about graduate school a few years ago. I knew as a psychology major, graduate school was probably in the cards for me at some point. Senior year came and I just could not bring myself to apply. I felt so naive about the "real world" that I wanted to just soak up some experiences before jumping into another academic pursuit. Despite everything this past year, the job from hell and an incredibly stressful 8 months, I'm so glad I took this time. I have always been on the type-A track. I graduated from high school at 17, finished college in four years, and forged ahead, full force to adulthood. It never occurred to me to do it any other way. I wanted to get there as quickly as possible. Wherever there is. And the sad (funny? crazy?) thing is, I still feel this way. More than ever. I want to be there already. I am enjoying the process. I am so grateful for everything I have learned this year. The amount I have changed and grown since last May sort of blows my mind. For the first time in my life I feel like an adult (sort of.) And you know what? I kind of love it.
I can't help that I love knowing almost as much as I love the idea of being there. I love knowing that I am back on track, going in the right direction. (The whole maybe I want to work in advertising blip is thankfully over.) I love that soon (next fall) I will be working towards my future. (Fingers crossed that I get accepted.) I love that I have had this time (for the first time in my life) to figure out exactly what I want. The kind of life I want to lead. Who I want to be. I love that I know how I want my future to look. And who I want to be with (swoon). The days of dreaming (maybe one day I'll be super rich) are over, and have been replaced with realistic plans, which I like even better. Some day we'll get married. I'll have a job where I actually help people. That I find ridiculously interesting and rewarding. We'll buy a house. And plan vacations. And have lots of little munchkins. And I love that.
I'm in a good mood today. I feel good about myself. I feel that in my heart of hearts I'm doing the right thing. And that's a refreshing feeling, one that I didn't feel for a while... and last night was lovely. (BF and I had dinner with my parents here to celebrate his birthday. The food was OMG delicious, and we all had a really fun time.) I made a huge pot of french onion soup today, and it's delicious and I reek of onions. and that's kind of gross. And tonight I'm going to watch The Bachelor which I tivo'd and have been dying to see since Monday.. and yeah, life is good. Can't complain.
In the interest of goodness, I've been wanting to start posting some of my favorite things. Just because I love it when other bloggers do it, and I'm a huge copy cat...
So without further adieu...
FIVE (completely random) Things I would rather not live without (first I wrote things I can not live without, but that seemed a little high maintenance, and actually a lie, because i technically could live without them, I just don't want to.)

1. Muji Pens. OMG. I love these pens so much. I first found these in Tokyo when I was there a couple years ago. I bought about a billion (true story). I was extremely happy to discover a few months later that a Muji store was opening up in New York. While I don't live anywhere near NYC, I have friends who live there who now bring me Muji pens because they know how much I love them. (I have also turned a few of my pen loving friends on to these spectacular treasures. Seriously, they are the best. I've tried everythingggg.) My favorite are the push top .5mm in all the beautious colors.

2. Lotion, creams, moisturizers. My skin is so dry. Think Sahara deser (or Palm Springs for us LA folk). I've been using eye cream since I was 18, not because I'm afraid of wrinkles (because I don't think eye cream really helps all that much with wrinkles anyway) but just because the skin around my eyes burns, it gets soooo dry. (tmi?)
These are my favorite loition-y substances for the moment (in order by eyes, face, hands & body):


3. Philips Sonicare Elite Toothbrush. I don' feel clean unless I have brushed with my sonicare. It's the best toothbrush ever. Take it from a girl who really values oral hygiene. (hygiene is a gross word though.) I want to upgrade to the new sonicare that comes with a magical bacteria killing machine soon, because that is awesome...


4. Calendars. Planners. Well, actually I love all list making/ organizational devices. I do not discriminate. I love my moleskine for random thoughts, but I especially love my Kate Spade Planner. It's the perfect size and the inserts are adorable.

5. Ok this next one I actually could not live without. No exaggeration. My MacBook Pro is the love of my life. The Boyfriend is a close second, but this baby has my heart... forever.
p.s. I still have not gone to the gym yet this week. Don't judge me. I'm going tomorrow. I swear.