October 2024

How old is too old for Halloween

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This entry is directly inspired by a conversation I had with a friend. I use the word “friend” loosely here. More of an acquaintance I have known for a couple years now.

Recently, I had been posting on social media photos of myself wearing my old halloween costumes from previous years. I thought it would be nice to showcase that creative side of me. However, I had a friend message me and the conversation turned to him asking me what I’ll be this year.

Me as an angel, Halloween 2020

After sharing, he told me that it was “crazy” that I was 30 and still dressing up, but not before reminding me to be sure to take a picture. I did not reply, in truth, I was stunned and more than a little upset. I am 31, not 30.

I jest. The real reason why I found that upsetting is because plenty of adults dress up for Halloween. Why was I being judged for something everyone else does? When you walk into any costume store whether it is “Spirit” or “Party City” you will find sections of kids, juniors, and (you guessed it) adult costumes.

Not only that, but there are costumes for babies and pets! It looks like anyone could dress up if they wish to. I thought about pointing this out to this individual, but it felt like a waste of time. His comment had nothing to do with me.

Don’t worry about what someone thinks of you. What matters is what you think of you.

Sometimes people will judge you because it makes them feel better about themselves. There can be any number of reasons why someone does this. You can try to analyze them all you want but at the end of the day, it’s not up to you figure out why people feel the way they do towards you. As a bright woman once said,

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Me and my cat, Bruce. Halloween 2021

So I continued to post my old costumes and will continue to dress up, as long as I wish to. Dressing up for Halloween can be fun (my family does it every year for an annual photo). Life is too short to be spent worrying about what people will think of us.

We should take time to enjoy the fun and not take ourselves (as well as others) too seriously We are only human once. Let’s partake in our humanity by being kind to each other and providing space to let others feel safe to be themselves as well.

Me as a mermaid, Halloween 2022

So if you’re an adult and you feel like celebrating this year and dressing up then go for it! It is seriously so fun. It’s the one night a year where you get to be someone other than yourself, and you won’t be the only one doing it!

That being said, I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween! 🎃

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Relationships

How to sync your canvas calendar to your phone calendar

Leave a Comment / Productivity / /

So a new semester is starting and you want to prepare. Typically it’s best to start prepping for a new term the moment classes are open. If you are an online student, you may become a little overwhelmed by the amount of assignments being thrown at you. It is hard to keep up.

As someone who likes to keep things structured to mitigate that, I found a great system for staying organized. Here I will show you probably the most important step you should do when beginning a new class online. Writing down deadlines.

Sure, writing things down manually works. However, one way to do this more efficiently is taking a look at your canvas calendar.

Step 1: Open the Canvas Calendar

On the right side bar, you will select the classes you want to sync in the Calendars section. Once selected your calendar will show you the assignment deadlines for only those courses. Next, you will look at the bottom right corner, under “Undated” you will find the words Calendar Feed. Click on that.

Step 2: Click Calendar Feed & Download

After clicking on Calendar Feed you will get this small window. Click on the “Click to view Calendar Feed” link.

This will download the calendar to your computer as an ICS file. You will go into your downloads window and click on the downloaded file. It should look something like this or be the most recent downloaded file.

Step 3: Sync to Calendar

Clicking on the file should automatically open up your calendar app. It will prompt you on which “destination” you would like to send the calendar. (This is where having a designated place to put certain events would be most useful. For me, I like to color code different events. For school events my color is green, and labeled “school”. Yours may look a little different. You can toggle the settings of your calendar in the calendar app to customize it in the way that works for you.)

After choosing a destination and clicking “OK” you now have your assignments for the term synced to your computer. One useful thing to do is to sync your calendar on your computer to the calendar on your phone. For me, I use iCloud to sync most of my files across my Macbook Pro, iPad, and iPhone.

I also like to place a widget of my calendar app to somewhere I can see it every day. For me, I like having it on my home screen. This may not be ideal for some people, but this is just what works for me. Having the calendar front and center means I will always know what deadlines are coming up next.

Hopefully this may be helpful to some students who are in similar positions. This method may not work for everyone, but it’s always great to learn different ways of planning and prepping so that we may achieve the results we want. Good luck to you all and have a great and successful semester!

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Productivity

Why you should celebrate your birthday every year

Leave a Comment / Life, Self Care / /

Birthdays have always been a really special day in my perspective. It is the one day of the year dedicated exclusively to celebrating you and the fact that you exist. I have always cherished my birthdays especially because the years seem to fly by so quickly.

It’s a good time to reflect on how far you have come. It’s also a time to set forth intentions for a new year of living. What can you work on? How do you want to spend your time? What mistakes can you learn from? It’s a time to reassess and realize the things you know, now that you are a little bit older and (hopefully) wiser.

Is it another day?

Some people treat their birthdays like it’s just another day. I have had coworkers and friends tell me they either worked or did absolutely nothing on their birthday. Sometimes I found it heartbreaking, You exist. I want to say, You’re here, and you’re alive, and we get to be involved in this great miracle called life and it’s just another day?

It deeply puzzled me. However, sometimes they truly seemed happy with the way they spent their day. To them, they celebrate the fact that they exist by being present and doing the things they would normally do anyways.

From my little sister Marissa’s 15th birthday party

But why not treat yourself in some way? Your birthday only comes once a year. It is the only time where you can truly feel special and no one can say anything about it. You don’t have to feel guilty over allowing yourself to give and receive (to yourself).

The memories that you will share are reason enough to go out and do something. Whether it is going to a place you have wanted to visit for the longest time, trying something new, or watching that movie you’ve been meaning to watch. The ideas are endless.

Life isn’t short, our time is

Who knows how long our time here is. It’s important to find joy in the fact that we made it another day. We got to wake up in the morning and experience life all over again. These are mini blessings that we take for granted.

Our birthdays are a time to practice reflection, to practice gratitude, to celebrate another year come and gone and the wish to experience many more after. It is also a time for the people around you to appreciate you and spend time with you. As someone who is big on giving hand written cards for birthdays, I find it the perfect opportunity to go into detail about how much the person is appreciated and loved.

My sister Angie celebrating her dog’s 1st birthday with a dog edible cake

As an aside, my birthday is coming up (the reason for this week’s topic), and I have been feeling really reflective about my life so far. I find myself happy about certain milestones. I find motivation to continue to make more progress to my own personal goals.

I am happy to get to reach another year. For some people my age (especially women), turning older seems like a scary thing. I can understand why to some extent. However, getting older is the natural course of the world and there should be nothing scary about it!

Each year is a new stage

There will be moments as you get older where your priorities will shift. A lot of ego deaths as well. The things that seemed to matter to you so much when you were younger don’t seem to be that important any more.

You find interesting new desires and things you would rather accomplish and your purpose becomes sharper. Getting older isn’t scary. It is enlightening. You get to experience for the first time adulthood. Something that was so mysterious to you as a child becomes fun and exciting as you age.

Balloons from my 29th birthday

It also helps when you are surrounded by older women in your life who seem to age so gracefully. You realize you can only get better from here on out, and that’s the secret to birthdays. Birthdays are a signifier of accomplishing and completely another stage of life.

So for those thinking of not doing anything this year or the next, I implore you to at least try doing something for yourself. At least once. You are too important and your presence matters to everyone around you. Walk with pride in being part of this amazing experience of living and changing.

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Life, Self Care
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