Inspiration from Nora

Even though it has been almost five years since I graduated from college, this commencement speech at Wellesley feels very relevant and inspirational to my current life.  One of her most re-quoted statements in this speech has inspired this blog.  I think as women especially young women, we often forget that we need to be our own heroines.  The last year or so has been a time of extreme ups and downs.  I got engaged and have spent a lot of time planning our upcoming wedding (big up).  In my professional life I have had some great successes, none coming without a lot of blood, sweat, and tears mixed with mistakes along the way.  Most recently and probably importantly I had a pulmonary embolism that has given me a new and unique perspective on my life that could have been just as easily been taken away from me.  After spending a week in the hospital, it has been a slow and difficult recovery, but the only thing I can do is focus on taking on life one day at a time.

We as women also quickly forget how far our gender has come in a relatively short period of time.  When Ephron talks about the world she graduated in 1962, it sounds light years behind where we were in 1996 when she made this speech, which seems further back from 2013.  As I am approaching my new life chapter as a wife, these thoughts have moved into the forefront of my mind.  I have always fancied myself a bit of a feminist, but also consider myself pretty girly and I enjoy some very traditional women's activities.  As I move through my twenties I will continue to find that balance and continue to realize these are not mutually exclusive aspects of my personality.  All of this said below are my goals and topics for the future of this blog:

• Book reviews, thoughts, and lists.  I have always been an avid reader and recently have been trying to step out a bit of my comfort zone of chick lit and mysteries.
• Movie and television reviews.   
• Wedding planning tips and musings.  Our wedding is in May and we are now into crunch time!
• Heath and fitness posts.  I am struggling to overcome my pulmonary embolism, while getting fit for my wedding and shedding some weight I've put on the last couple of years.
• Funny thoughts and commentary on becoming a domestic goddess (ha!). 
• Inspiration that I have gathered from others (Nora Ephron among them).
• While I don't see this blog becoming a career advice site, I do work in Human Resources and have lots of opinions and observations of the workplace which I'm sure it will work its way in sometimes.
• For those that know me, this goes without saying, but I will most likely have lots of posts and mentions about animals.  Our children are a miniature dachshund mix, Gertrude, and a cat nearly three times her size, Bruce.  I am also committed to serving animals in my community through volunteering and those experiences always come with both sweet and sad thoughts.

I look forward to sharing all of the above and much more with you.  Above all how I am working to be the heroine of my life!

~Gen