9 poor choices that I make on a (near) daily basis

Hello friends! This past weekend my mom and sister came to visit. It was wonderful to see them. I gave them a tour of campus, my lab, and went to the bookstore and stocked up on Yale goodies (my sister got a hoodie, my mom got my dad a t-shirt.. I am poor and got them key-chains as gifts, but those alone were 7 dollars each!). It was nice having them around and to show them I can do this whole adult thing. But then when they had to leave, I was reminded of how home sick I actually am. No matter how adult I feel, I still want my mommy. This is my first time living this far away from home (3,000 miles). And what is even harder is I don’t know if I will ever live close to home again. On the brighter side, only 3 months until winter break! I can’t wait!

Also while my mom and sister were here, we painted my living room! Yay! Here are some photos of my apartment.

The lovely mansion 

I love the new paint color in the living room so much. It was all white before. It didn’t feel that inviting. Now it is a wonderful place to relax. I just need to get furniture! And there is my sister in her new hoodie!

The boring dining room..

My favorite part of my apartment is the huge kitchen window.

So if I had to give myself a grade on how I am doing at being an adult, I would give myself a B+. For the most part, I feel like I have it down. I pay my bills on time. I clean regularly. But there are some areas that could use some improvement. After reading a buzzfeed article on decisions twentysomethings are bad at, I decided to make a list of my own.

Some examples of the decisions I have trouble with (#8 is the one I struggle with the most.. which is extra bad because is probably the most serious of them all..):

1. Go to bed on time, or watch back-to-back Psych episodes on Netflix until 3 am

2. Immediately address an email, or star it so I don’t forget about it and forget about it anyway

3. Work out at the gym, or work out why my bed is suddenly so comfortable

4. Make a home-made, healthy meal, or make ramen via the microwave and add frozen vegetables to the broth to trick myself into thinking that this is a healthy choice

5. Plan a budget, or spend a disproportionate amount of money on alcohol and clothes

6. Put laundry away right after it is done drying, or let it sit in the basket for a few hours and later try to get the wrinkles out using my hair-dryer.

7. Put my phone on the charger at night, or sleep in because my phone died and didn’t set off an alarm to wake me up.

8. Check that I have all of my belongings with me as I leave a restaurant, or suddenly become stricken with panic as I realize several minutes after I left, I don't have my purse/phone.

9. Eat breakfast at the kitchen table or opt for my comfy bed and then desperately try to wash orange juice out of my comforter with hand soap in my bathroom sink

Seriously! Why do I continue to do these things?? While my life would be infinitely easier if I didn't make these choices, in some ways it keeps it interesting.. like every time #8 happens (which is much more often than you might think) all the sudden my life becomes a scene from an Indiana Jones movie as I race back to the restaurant hopping over tables to save my precious phone from a person with malicious intentions about to snatch it up! Actually, I have never lost my phone or purse this way. Every time it is either still there or someone has turned it in to the hostess.. this restores my faith in humanity a little.

Okay, I am off to get ready with a friend for tonight's Yale speed dating event. Not for me of course. I am happily taken :). But a few of my friends are participating and a few that are not participating will also be going with (plus, it is two for one drinks night!). Apparently it sells out every year, so it should be a lot of fun! As a behavioral ecologist, I can't wait to people-watch this.