Things I would do if I wasn't 100% overscheduled already:

1. Sleep for approximately 14 hours to get all caught up.

2. Get my grown-out manicure fixed.

3. Linger at a coffee shop all day and read everything by Graham Greene in one sitting (newly obsessed). 

4. Actually address the 300+ emails piling up in my inbox instead of following the triage method. 

5. Call back the 4 people who I owe phone calls to. 

6. Make this insane coffee cake. (This one is actually happening in time for Saturday's ND-Syracuse "gamebrunch," yesssss!)

7. Read every drop of coverage on the internet about a: Kate and William's Canada tour and b: what on earth to do to salvage my fantasy football team. 

8. See my family. See my friends. Thank them for their patience with my general basket case-ishness lately. 

9. Go smell every fall candle at Target. It's therapeutic, I swear. 

10. Blog. Right. This space has stopped being a priority just for this crazy season, but I promise I'll be back soon. 

Inventory: June 2016

As of 8pm last night...

Making: time for myself after a long stretch of being way too busy. 

Cooking: Italian herbed chicken in my crockpot for a week of lunches.

Drinking: leftover sangria from Eva's bridal shower yesterday.

Reading: everything I can find on the internet about #Brexit.

Wanting: my art from Scandinavia and Paris framed for my gallery wall. 

Looking: forward to a doubleheader wedding weekend at the end of July.

Playing: around on Tinder way too much. 

Listening: to Verité's "Underdressed" on repeat. 

Wishing: to be better at making decisions. 

Enjoying: yoga at Lake Harriet...I'm addicted. 

Waiting: impatiently. 

Liking: the peace and quiet of a clean, cool, empty apartment. 

Wondering: if I can get away with wearing white pants to work tomorrow. 

Hoping: that I'm right about everything I think I'm right about these days. 

Marveling: at the spectacle of Pride, and all the joy and love and celebration that is still raging outside in Loring Park. 

Needing: sleep. Always. 

Smelling: the aforementioned chicken cooking. Domestic goddess status. 

Wearing: new floral leggings and a yoga tank from Old Navy because I am now a #basicyogabitch.

Following: up with my interns, constantly, all summer long. 

Noticing: how freckled my nose is eek. 

Knowing: that I need to not hit snooze tomorrow, and therefore need to get to bed early. 

Thinking: about Norway...a daily occurrence since we got back. 

Bookmarking: gowns on Rent the Runway for the various fancyyy events I have coming up. 

Giggling: at the "Classical Fuck" Instagram account, which I find hilarious. 

Feeling: weirdly at peace yet anxious. 

Inventory: Spring 2016

Making: a giant mess in my apartment in the name of cleaning everything out before my move!

Cooking: over the weekend: a giant batch of homemade French onion soup. 

Drinking: a literal gallon of water trying to fight off migraines. 

Reading: a biography of Edward VII, The Night Circus (again), and the Twitter feed of the NFL draft. 

Wanting: to sleep through the night. 

Looking: out my window at absolutely pouring rain.

Playing: with all my cards on the table.

Listening: to my crazy "Orch Dork" playlist on Spotify (currently, Sibelius A Minor.).

Wishing: for time to speed up. 

Enjoying: checking things off my absurdly too-long to-do list. 

Waiting: for weekends.

Liking: where things are headed. 

Wondering: when the heck it's going to stop raining and start feeling like spring. 

Hoping: that May is as wonderful as it is busy. 

Marveling: at my immaculately clean pantry and closet. 

Needing: sleep, patience and a less analytical approach to everything. 

Smelling: a lemon candle burning on my stovetop. So domestic. 

Wearing: LEGGINGS AS PANTS OH THE HORROR. 

Following: my heart (#BASICBITCH). 

Noticing: how sore today's gym session left me. 

Knowing: that I will get through everything on the absurdly too long to-do list. 

Thinking: about the logistics of accomplishing everything. 

Bookmarking: bachelorette party games. 

Giggling: at our family group text, always. 

Feeling: excited and giddy and a little apprehensive and a lot hopeful.

Life Lessons at 27

Twenty-seven! Twenty-flipping-seven. For me, twenty-seven officially sounds adult. I'm far away from college, even further away from high school, even far enough away from those rambunctious, transitional years right after college to look back with a bit of nostalgia and a lot of hindsight. 

With that in mind, I started thinking back on all the things, big and small, that I've learned thus far in life. And with THAT, a list...because lists are among my favorite things, and every birthday girl deserves to indulge in as many of her favorite things as possible: 

27 Lessons for Myself at 27

1. Say thank you, always. Even better, send thank-you notes for everything. It's such a little thing and it makes such a difference.

2. Always, always wash your face at night. Waking up the next day feels so much better. 

3. It's okay to hold grudges privately deep inside. That's just how you are. Don't let those grudges affect how you live your life or treat people in it, though.

4. You will never be the kind of girl who can casually wear red lipstick. Points for effort, but save it for the fancy days.

5. By now, you really should know better than to read scary books late at night. Just don't do it.

6. Take ten seconds before reacting in anger. Your temper gets the best of you more often than it should, even now. Rational reactions are always better. 

7. Sometimes, ice cream actually does fix the problem.

8. Notre Dame football will always, ALWAYS at some point in every season make your blood pressure skyrocket. It will always, ALWAYS at some point let you down. You're going to love it forever anyway. 

9. You're never going to like working out while you're doing it, but you always like it afterward. Remember that...and do it.

10. The following things are almost always worth it: travel, theater, happy hour, going home to see your parents, and throwing parties. Keep that in mind next time you're feeling antisocial (or poor, or tired, or cranky). 

11. Know when to stick to your guns. Set minimum acceptable standards for yourself and the people in your life, and hold those as non-negotiable. You know what you deserve. 

12. Quality over quantity, in everything. Friends, clothes, commitments...sometimes it's better to have fewer, but better. Sometimes, less is more. (Except striped shirts. You can never have too many striped shirts.)

13. Gin in large quantities always ends poorly. In the same vein...NEVER drink more than one Backer Long Island. Bad things happen. 

14. The people you have surrounded yourself with are worthy of your love for a reason. Don't be afraid to tell them that you care about them (and why!). Similarly, the people who aren't worth it will make it apparent. Friendship and love are both two-way streets.  

15. You're pretty much never going to win the lottery or strike it rich off a best-selling series of novels about a teenage wizard. With that in mind, keep making smart money decisions, but remember to have fun along the way.

16. At work, show up, speak up, but also know when to shut up. By the age of 27, you know a fair amount, but you don't know everything. 

17. Appreciate the little things. Let inside jokes and babies and perfume and fireworks and crushes and flowers make you happy without feeling insipid. It's worth it.

18. Don't be afraid of the next steps life holds for you. As Mom always says, "Everything happens for a reason."

19. As little as you want to do it, cleaning and cooking on Sundays starts the entire week off on the right note. Don't skip the floors. 

20. In that vein, make your damn bed. You like it that way.

21. It's okay to accept a compliment without immediately deflecting it. Yeah, maybe your hair DOES look really good today. Just take it for what it is.

22. Seek out opportunities to advance yourself and to bring people together. You've got a great network and you need to put it to work more often. 

23. Value family above all else. It's okay that your dad is your favorite man in the entire world, your mom is your idol, and your siblings are two of the people you admire most. 

24. A lot of your natural lack of coordination can be mitigated if you just slow. down. Look before you leap...or before you walk on a flat surface  in heels, you know, the usual.

25. Remember to be grateful for what you have...for what you've earned and what you've given. Gratitude tends to re-frame things in a much more positive light. 

26. Your enthusiasm for your life and the people in it is not a bad thing. It's okay to be "hyperbolic" and to be excited about everyday existence. 

27. Laugh at as much as humanly possible. To quote your Grandma Lo, "If I wasn't laughing, I'd be crying." Seek silver linings and laugh at the rainclouds, and don't let life steal your sunshine. 

Cheers to you, 27-year old Liz, and here's to the next 27 and all the lessons still to come. 

Resolutionizing: 2016

In keeping with last year, I’m going to set some super-measurable, achievable mini-goals and one bigger, overall theme for the year. Last year’s, to remember to give and receive love, was a smashing success and really contributed to making 2015 my best adult year yet. Here’s how I’m hoping to make 2016 top even that:

--Actually meal-plan every Sunday. I try so hard to be good about this but I am the laziest of lazy bums in the kitchen and tend to put things off, telling myself “Oh, I’ll do it on Monday.” Um, nope, never happens. I need to get up, grocery-shop (ideally before church) and actually take the couple hours to get things prepped and ready to go.

--Check in with people more often. I tend to drop off the face of the planet every so often when I’m feeling anti-social, which happens more often than I admit. In 2016, I hope to send more chatty emails, call friends (or call friends back), and maybe even brush up on my snail mail game. It’s such an easy and important way to affirm and strengthen friendships.

--Break up with “designer” coffee. No more, I tell you! I went over my spending for 2015 a few days ago and almost cried when I saw that I had spent the equivalent of a (full-price) Kate Spade purse or a round-trip domestic flight on Caribou, Starbucks and Dunn Brothers last year. I can get by just fine with my Keurig (and maybe the 99 cent coffee at the work cafeteria) in 2016.

--Step back from the cell phone. I know this seems to go directly opposite the resolution to stay in better touch with people, but I am noticing (and not liking) that I have a serious iPhone addiction. I don't know if it's a security blanket or a genuine desire to feel connected, but I need to make an effort to keep it put away when I'm with others and to maybe not constantly Snapchat and Instagram. It's easier to make memories that last when I'm not worried about making ones that will add giggles to my Snap story or be perfectly 'grammable. 

And this year’s big goal…

Say yes.

2015 was such a fun year. It was busy and hectic and exhausting and at times a little bit overwhelming, but even in the thick of it, I loved every minute of it. It was the first year I really embraced everything, and in doing so, I found myself saying yes to so much and loving the outcome. Spontaneous trip to Columbus? Yes, sure, why not. Sneaking away on a Sunday to drink poolside and be ridiculous with friends instead of cleaning? Definitely. Throwing surprise parties, waking up at the crack of dawn to go see hot-air balloons, buying orchestra season tickets, cabin weekends…some of my favorite 2015 memories come from being open to experiences and jumping in without hesitation.

I’m at a place in life where I’m generally happy with everything. I have great people around me, I like my job and am good at it, and my family continues to be the best. There’s something inherently positive about the trajectory I’ve put myself on, and about the act of saying yes, that I want to keep in 2016 for myself. So here’s to embracing all that 2016 has to offer with open arms. I can’t wait to run (jog-shuffle) into the year, Keurig coffee in hand, and see what it holds for me. Best year ever? Yes.