iambaffled-

Hello, thanks for picking me 😉 I don't want for much in this world but most everyone in my life asks me (some insist) for links to exact items I want so they can gift them to me. It's always nice to receive something you want but my favorite gifts have always been the ones someone put original thinking into which is why I love participating in Secret Santa. I run my own business with my husband and the past few years have been super busy. We also have a toddler and my aging mom in our care. The chaos doesn't leave much room for my own hobbies. Instead, I do a little bit of a lot of things sporadically. I collect hard seltzers to sample and have enjoyed pretending I'm a seltzer influencer (note: I am not. I think I once broke 100 views in a single video, one time, hahahaha). I love comedy and listen to autobiographies of comedians and a few podcasts hosted by some. I love live stand-up. I'm a pretty girlie-girl who likes jewelry (more fashion than fine). I like accessories (shoes, purses, headbands,etc) and make-up (but I don't own any epic make-up, I just like it in general). Anything that can take a basic shirt and jeans outfit and make it a little more me. I love planning trips and finding the most random experiences in each new destination. We don't often travel abroad or to exotic locations: mostly just the south and eastern US. I don't like to sit still and like experiences. Some of my recent favorites are jumping in a historic horse drawn carriage ride, apple picking, the planetarium, the aquarium, the massive ferris wheel, rickshaws through random cities, climbing a lighthouse, finding filming locations from movies, etc. Selfishly, this year has been a lot about others. We had 7 weddings in which we attended 6 of them, which 5 required hotels, and 4 required flights. Gratefully, we utilized airline miles strategically for most of it. Also this year, my husband had major surgery after a health scare. He is 100% ok and recovered but it happened during a very busy time of year for our business. I covered for both of us with work as well as managed his recovery and our kid. We had two elderly large dogs. One was very elderly and the other was terminally ill. They both passed away this fall and our hearts are so empty without them. I've favorited and saved every version of doodle breeder and rescue group within 500 miles of me on social media to fill the void they left behind. We will likely welcome a doggo in 2023 but not just yet. It's still too soon. Their care towards the end was a handful and tedious. It was a lot of work and I'm leaning into this break. As things have begun to wind down this year, I feel a bit burnt out. My goals for 2023 are to try to put myself first more -- while 2022 has been fun, it's been exhausting. Thanks for getting to know me a bit. Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah and Happy Kwanza and Happy New Year!