I can’t stop looking at the sparkly diamond on my finger. It’s beautiful. Our relationship is beautiful, and I’m SO excited for the future that lies ahead. The thought of having someone to share my life with is such a special feeling, and I’m so thankful I found such a special person, who makes me want to be the best I can be.

For those of you that have never met Jonathan…He’s thoughtful, passionate, fun, has a sexy accent (he’s from South Africa), loves surprises (or maybe just surprising me), and basically we just enjoy each other’s company to the fullest. Whether we are eating at our favorite restaurant, watching movies on the couch, at the beach, on the golf course, or traveling to South Africa, we just like being together.

Some people have suggested that I take our money and use it as a down payment on a house. And that is realistically I good idea, but what is the fun in that?? I love a party and I want to celebrate my happiness with all my loved ones. So there WILL be a party, and a honeymoon I’ve been working on our wedding website so I’ll be sure to post the link to that when it’s up and running! Yay!

This is just a warning that this blog is about to take a different turn as I will be focusing more on perfecting my domestic goddess skills (cooking & crafting) as well as wedding & entertaining ideas, all while exploring who I am as a person.

This meal was seriously delicious and a cinch. I looked up a few recipes for summer squash and decided on this one from All Recipes.

I don’t typically follow recipes ingredient by ingredient, partly because I look up recipes AFTER i go to the supermarket and partly because I enjoy being creative and cooking by feeling.

This is what I ended up using:

• 1/2 box penne pasta
• 1 medium onion – chopped
• 1 medium tomato – chopped
• 1tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2 small yellow squashes (about 1.5 cups) – sliced and cut in halves
• Bit of olive oil
• 1/4 cup Alfredo sauce
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese for garnish

Prep vegetables. Put water on to boil pasta and cook according to box. Heat olive oil in saute pan, add chopped onions and garlic – i used quite a bit of garlic, you can adjust this to your own taste. Saute for a few minutes to soften. Add yellow squash, saute for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and mushrooms, salt and pepper. Saute for 5 minutes, until mushrooms start to cook. Drain pasta and incorporate into mixture. Add 1/4 cup alfredo. You can add more if it’s looking a little dry. Toss until pasta is coated. Turn off burner and add parm cheese. Allow it to melt on top then serve, preferably with a class of white wine.

After doing a bit of internet research I found a similar recipe by Tyler Florence. In this recipe he roasts the vegetables in the oven and also uses zucchini. Brilliant! I’d still prefer the penne pasta though

How many times have you thought, “life just isn’t fair.” I know I have, and I’m going to go ahead and make the assumption that just about every human on this planet has as well. Whether you have millions of dollars with personal servants, or you are one of those servants, you’ve probably thought that life owes you something. Well lets just be clear, it doesn’t. Take for example, the game of golf:

When my boyfriend had a golf sponsorship, he and his buddy used to spend eight hours a day practicing. They would putt, chip and drive until the sweat poured down their face. This isn’t the kind of “practicing” that men tell their wives they are doing, which really means playing at the driving range and then driving around on golf carts, bud light in hand.

No, this was legit. They had expectations set. If they practiced, hard every day, their skills would be good enough to get them on the PGA tour. But something happened. My boyfriend’s game started to take a backturn. When he used to practice two times  a week, he would shoot 67, maybe lower. Practicing every day he was barely able to break 70. This left him disappointed and beyond frustrated. Surely if he practiced and put the time in the game would reward him.

But golf gave him no reward. This recently led him to  a new philosophy that he uses, and has been successful. You need to remember that Golf, like life, owes you nothing. Just because you are practicing hard doesn’t guarantee you amazing success. We’ve all seen that desperate guy at the bar who girls think is creepy or the girl that will go home with anyone if there’s a chance there might be a spark. That desperation in any aspect of your life will get you absolutely nowhere – and might even set you back.

I have no experience in golf, but this idea has struck me in my personal life. When I graduated last year with a degree in Journalism and Communications I thought I was golden. I’d worked hard, not just in college but also in high school. I took the classes, made the grades, got the internships, did the extracurriculars. Surely when I started “life” I’d be able to land my dream job and start my perfect life.

And at first it was. I had the perfect relationship. I was able to travel, but when it came down to my job, I just couldn’t find the perfect gig. Slowly I learned the hard way that a degree doesn’t guarantee you anything. No big companies were knocking on my door with big offers of big salaries. So I waited, and waited and then took the first thing that came. Then quit six months later, taking the next thing that came along. I watched as some of my friends landed the perfect jobs. And as each one did I felt more and more desperate. What did I do wrong? Should I have written more articles in college? Took more internships? Read more self help books? Maybe. Who knows and who cares at this point.

How did they land the best jobs and I couldn’t? My best friend says a lot of it is luck – and I am inclined to agree. But at the end of the day I think there is a lot to say about being focused on one singular thing that you forget the other great things that you do have. Maybe life hasn’t given me my dream job yet – but it has given me a great family & friends and a happy relationship, which I know a lot of humans out there would die for. Maybe my boyfriend hasn’t made it on the PGA yet, but dropping both his expectations and the thinking that golf owes him one, might just get him there.

I’m not saying you should stop trying to get what you want, but stop being desperate for that date, or that job or that status, or what someone else has or you think you should have, and just keep being YOU. Keep trucking along, working towards what you want, while appreciating what you have and you’ll be a whole lot happier.

“It’s your story. Make it beautiful. Fill it up with what you love. Remember what matters. Forget what doesn’t..”

]]> https://nicolelinton.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/what-does-life-owe-you/feed/ 0 nicolelin wheat with sun https://nicolelinton.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/this-spring-may-be-the-start-of-something/ https://nicolelinton.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/this-spring-may-be-the-start-of-something/#respond Sun, 06 Mar 2011 21:53:04 +0000 http://nicolelinton.wordpress.com/?p=345 So it’s been about six months since my last blog post – oops. I’ve been a bit caught up in life and looking back, a lot has changed. I moved in with my boyfriend and welcomed two new additions to our family – Mimi & Autumn.

Mimi

Autumn

Last night we took a journey to get icecream, and when I say journey – I mean it! We took the kids in a caravan of three 15-passenger vans, a mini-van and two cars. Because Westtown is sort of out in the middle of nowhere, we had to drive 20 minutes to get to an icecream shop, only to discover it wasn’t even there anymore! Luckily the kids got a good laugh out of the whole thing and we ended up getting Rita’s water ice. The Swedish Fish flavor was absolutely delicious!

However, as you know, things don’t always go according to plan. We checked the weather beforehand, saw there was a chance of thunderstorms but decided to risk it anyway. Bad choice.

Photo snapped before the rain hit

About 30 minutes after we arrived, I was soaked. Unfortunately this was not from a casual dip in the ocean, rather from a downpour of rain that met me as the three of us ran like losers to the first shop we could find. I ended up doing what I seem to do best – spend money. We ran from store to store in the Atlantic City outlets. Not exactly the weekend I had in mind, but we did have a good laugh. Erin picked up three huge, colorful watches from fossil and I got a great pair of white shorts.

Sad faces after getting caught in the rain!

After debating for a while about getting our belly buttons pierced, (is that even cool anymore?) we decided against it and managed to catch the train back in time to get a bite to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. After savoring a bite of rich, chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, I can’t say the day was all that bad.

It’s been fun getting to know some of the kids, and I’ve even done a couple of blog posts for the Julian Krinsky website on some of our star students, Emily and Alana.  The campus here is beautiful, and the last few days have thankfully been cooler than usual. I was able to snap a few photos during one of our evening activities.

This might not sound that strange to you, but I’m the kind of person who usually always sticks to a red or pink. I follow trends cautiously. But tonight I thought, why the hell not? So as I type, I’m staring down at seafoam green nails with tiny pink flower decals.

You can learn a lot from kids if you really listen to them. They have opinions on everything from music, to tattoos, world wars and religion. Today I learned the capitol of Nevada is Carson City (I know as a journalism student I should probably know that, but I never learned the capitols song in the fourth grade).  I also learned that hippos can run incredibly quickly, around 40mph.  During our evening activity, a relaxing spa evening, which was basically a big slumber party where we did each other’s hair and makeup, I learned that Mandy has an older brother who is practically her best friend and all about the process of relaxing hair.

Sure, the hours are…practically 24 hours (right now I’m manning the 2nd floor in case anyone tries anything sneaky), but there are a lot of perks to being a camp counselor:

1. The food is decent, if anything above average in quality as I’m working at a fitness camp.
2. I get to go on weekend trips, like last weekend when I visited the Big Apple and saw a Broadway show…for free.
3. But the best part of camp…the absolute most amazing part, is letting go and learning how to be a kid again.

It hasn’t come as easy to me as it has to some of the counselors. I’m a rather orderly person by nature, which I usually attribute to the fact that I am a Capricorn, and even as a kid I would often get along better with adults than I would with the other kids. It has taken a week and a half for me to discover the reason why I’m at camp. To let it all go.

First day of camp, hanging out with my fellow counselors

I’m only 22, but sometimes I feel so burdened by life decisions that I become so uptight and everything becomes such a serious matter. So I’ve made some new goals for myself. This summer I’m going to laugh at myself more, paint my nails whatever color

I feel, talk a little too loud, live with no apologies, and enjoy this journey, because, although this may sound cliche,  you really never know what tomorrow will bring.

THEY FINALLY ARRIVED!!

My darling little campers. They are absolutely adorable, all 18 of them. I am so excited for these upcoming weeks. I knew I made the right decision to work at this camp after I got to talking with some of the girls and guys. Some of them seem a little nervous, but most are excited and eager to start learning more about health and wellness and all the program has to offer. I have to admit I’m a little jealous because a lot of the classes seem so fun. I’m talking yoga…pilates…bosu…nutrition, cooking classes, classes on having better posture(which I’m sure I could use).

I think the concept of the camp is awesome and I am super excited to lead and be a role model for the children.

Also, I was put in charge of taking photos for the program and updating Twitter for JKCP Fitness. Talk about right up my alley!

I’m going to include a few photos of where I’m staying on the Bryn Mawr campus because it’s absolutely beautiful here.