from elitedaily - TARYN BROOKE

27 Honest Realities About Life You Must Accept Before Turning 27

Your early-to-mid 20s have been a time of both tremendous personal growth and stagnant career improvement. You are cruising along (or stumbling) into your late 20s and are now closer to 30 than you are to 20, which is almost too unbelievable to admit.

Despite the weirdness, there is more than enough cause to celebrate: You are slowly moving past the clouds of confusion and are finally beginning to figure out your life, your purpose and where it is that you belong in this world.

You are now learning how to deal with the constant chaos of life and grow from it.

Now is your chance to enjoy the wonderful time between not acknowledging that you know better and knowing better before you plummet into sh*t-is-real adulthood. Here are 27 things you must accept by age 27:

1. Credit cards are not another way to say “Free Money!”

You have probably already charged a lot and made some huge mistakes in your early 20s. Stop it now.

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2. However, now you may be less broke!

Yes, the joy of having a career and adult responsibilities!

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3. Confidence will get you everywhere.

AKA Fake it until you make it.

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4. You are getting further into your career.

Hopefully, this is a good thing, but if you’re not happy with where your career is going, now is the time to make a change.

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5. Your parents are the best people in your life.

And don’t forget to tell them that you love them. Every day.

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6. Your mother is always right… about everything… even if you choose not to listen.

Trust me on this.

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7. Dying your hair any color not found in nature is completely unacceptable.

Remember Manic Panic? Forget it.

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8. The New York Times is your best friend.

It is no longer cute not to keep up with what is happening in the world.

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9. It’s time to become politically aware.

Perhaps Bill Maher or Jon Stewart can help.

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10. You will lose friends, but in the process, you will discover who your real friends are.

This is a good thing. You are growing as a person and forward movement is more positive than it is painful.

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11. Your siblings (if you’re lucky enough to have them) are actually your best friends.

“Sister, sister” is so much more than a TV show and hashtag.

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12. Negativity will hinder you in every way and it will affect you professionally.

Changing your attitude and taking stock of all of the good things in your life (and not just focusing on what you don’t have) is the only way to live.

13. Maturity will not stifle your emotions.

You’ll still freak out, but remember that logic is key. Breathe, take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

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14. Your friends are starting to get married.

So what? Proceed at your own pace and enjoy the open bar.

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15. And they’re getting pregnant… on purpose.

Eventually, you’ll get used to this reality.

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16. The marriages and pregnancies will get you thinking about your future and where exactly it’s going.

When will you propose to me?

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17. You have to do things that you don’t want to do.

This is one of the inevitabilities of getting older and of life. You now have responsibilities and you won’t want to do them all — just accept this fact and move forward.

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18. That extra drink or shot (if you can still even do those) may kill you.

And, I promise that you will still be paying for it on Monday morning. You will not be able to recover as quickly as you used to. Just drink less — it’ll save you money, too.

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19. Also, don’t expect to be able to go to bed at 6 am and magically be able to function the next day.

You’re now a real person. Get as much sleep as a real person needs. Now is the time to start paying attention to Dr. Oz.

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20. If you eat like sh*t, you will feel like sh*t.

It is time to start being much more conscious about the food you eat and how much of you eat. Take care of yourself! Your internist, wardrobe and full-length mirror will thank me later.

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21. Make time to be active.

Schedule time to exercise or be generally active into your day the same way you remember and make time to brush your teeth. Also, you don’t want a flat butt by the time you turn 35 or a hunched back by the time you’re 45, this is mandatory.

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22. You’re a better lover and have better lovers.

Need I say more?

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23. Sunscreen.

Wear it. Every day. You’re welcome.

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24. Time inexplicably goes by faster.

Didn’t I just turn 21 and graduate from college? Yeah… like two presidential campaigns ago.

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25. You graduated high school a decade ago.

Think about it.

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26. You become more aware of your own mortality.

It sounds depressing, but it is true. This means you should really be living every day to the fullest and be grateful for each day you have. Stop putting things off until tomorrow if you can do them today.

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27. This is an awesome age and life will only get better from here.

For the most part, you are much more stable and wise and, for the most part, you have already made the majority of your stupid mistakes and you’re awesome to hang out with because you take stances on issues and are a citizen of the world.

You’re only going to get more interesting as time continues.

one day i'm going to make

my half filipino hopefully half white husband very happy w/ my filipino cooking haha. he doesn't even have to be half filipino he can be half or quarter or sixteenth anything else. just mixed lol is that too specific and picky? whatever.

ugh why do i keep

forgetting to look for my food and wine magazines!? i know i have it around somewhere. i just want to flip through all of them. i know i've already bookmarked a bunch of different recipes. i haven't cooked in a couple days and i'm starting to feel a void. ok that's a lie, i cooked a steak on monday, but that isn't enough! all i did was season and grill it. literally took less than 20 mins. although it did come out pretty amazing. i loveeeeeeeeee meat. i wish i could eat beef all zee time w/o having to worry about it making me fat or ruining my health lol. it's ok. there are healthier options out there that i still enjoy. ohhhh i need to rmr to pick up fish from 99 ranch market today. i rmr i bought fish a couple years ago when i first started cooking and i had no idea that you had to get fish cleaned by the butcher before taking it home. what a surprise when i cooked it. i was like WHAT THE FFFFF, what's all this shit inside my fish hahaha. safe to say, it did not turn out well. i had to throw the entire thing away. but at least i learned my lesson. always get your fish gutted and descaled haha. idiot. 

look what i made!

Arroz Caldo w/ Fried Chicken Skin

so now that i've been on this cooking craze for the last couple weeks now, i thought i'd check out what other blogs are cookin up. this one blog i found, i am food blog had this amazing recipe for Congee w/ Crispy Chicken Skin. I tweaked it up a bit and made it my own. First off, i didn't follow her congee recipe, i found a similar one on allrecipes.com and altered it to my preference. i wanted it to taste like as if my mom had made it. the best part about arroz caldo is that it's comfort food and it's good anytime of day. whether it be breakfast lunch or dinner. i had my friends over and luckily they loved it. they practically finished the entire pot. i can't wait to go home and go through my food & wine magazines to find new recipe ideas. 

so a gf of mine...

who has an amazing blog of her own (http://hellokaesi.blogspot.com/) went to visit the White Sands National Monument a few months ago. it has inspired me to go on a similar roadtrip! i believe she made it all the way to texas w/ her boyfriend. i have zero interest in visiting texas again so i think i'll stop at new mexico then head back. so it'll be from CA -> AZ -> NM. i have no idea who i will be going w/ or when, but it's going to happen! here are some pics i "borrowed" from google.

ugh i just wanna go home

already so i can start cooking! i'm so impatient. i've already bought all the ingredients i need to make arroz caldo and chicken adobo, well except the bay leaves. it's nice having friends that i can cook for so i can play housewife haha. all i need now is a man to add to this equation. for the first time in my life i'm dating absolutely no one. it's quite liberating actually. ok that's a lie. it sucks ahaha. i miss having someone to cuddle w/ at night and just doing nothing with. dating in LA is a bitch. especially when you're as picky as i am. i have pre reqs before i'll even go out w/ a guy. i guess that's what's preventing me from finding "the one." i actually don't even believe in "the one," i believe in the maybe 3, 4 , 5, or 6 hahaha. i was having a conversation w/ a friend the other day about marriage and he's convinced that he's going to get married at least 3 times. the first one will be the big lavish wedding w/ 500+ guests, the 2nd one will be super intimate, close friends and family only. the 3rd one will be a civil union. i only want one big wedding and have that shit last a lifetime. so i better be careful who i choose to marry. and it's not like they're lining up waiting for my hand in marriage. i've got sometime to get this shit together. i think...

so i was in Santa Cruz this weekend

and let me tell you, this city is GORGEOUS. i typically hate long drives, but this is one i wouldn't mind doing every few months. the views are just absolutely breathtaking. here a few photos we took along the way.

Bubblegum Alley in San Luis Obispo! 

 

McWay Falls, Big Sur

Nepenthe Restaurant, Big Sur

     

    

Our view from where we were sitting and eating.

 

Their house favorite Shrimp BLT, did not disappoint! 

Santa Cruz Boardwalk 

Mystery Spot, Santa Cruz

so i've come to

the realization that i am terrible at blogging. i pretty much just write about whatever's on my mind, only to look back it years from now. as i peruse through old blog posts, i see that not much has really changed in my habits. i'm still terrible w/ money and a gluttonous piece of shit. i spend my money on useless things that i tire of very quickly. i've also come to accept that i will never be a size 2 and i'm ok w/ that. 

i missss edc!

I want to do it all over again!

so last night

I took a stab at making chimichurri from scratch! At first it was a little frustrating because my food processor was being a little shit and wouldn't work. Luckily the blender worked just fine. I also made garlic mashed potatoes, ribeyes and asparagus! Here's what dinner looked like...

it's been over a year

since my last blog post! I figured it was about time to update this thing. Well let's see, not much has really changed since a year ago. I do have a new job at Red Bull which is pretty cool. Who would have thought I would be working for an energy drink company. Although they are much more than that. The department I work in is actually called Media House. They handle mostly production and culture events. I've only been here less than a year but I absolutely love it. Such a great company to work for. Even though it's corporate, it's super casual. Now that I think about it, a lot has changed since last year. I've reconnected with so many people. I've gotten much better at maintaining my current relationships. I've also started cooking again. Surprisingly I'm pretty decent at it. I also really enjoy it. I think it's safe to say it's my new favorite hobby. Here's a few of the dishes I've made recently. 

just ordered this bad boy

Find it here!

pretty much speaks for itself

i need more hours in the day!

There's so much i want to do each day but I'm always running out of time! Ever since I started making an effort to work out and be active I've had less time to do other things like cook and organize my apartment. I almost never come straight home from work, I'm always off somewhere doing something productive. I need to learn how to manage my time better. I also need to start working on a vision board. I also want to start looking for townhouses again. That should help motivate me to start saving again. WHY DO I LOVE SHOPPING SO MUCH?! With all the shit I've bought in the last few months I'm sure that would have been enough for a hefty down payment for a townhouse in Sherman oaks. Maybe even a house w/ the way I've been spending. Sometimes I feel like I totally have my shit together and other days I feel like I'm really losing it haha. I really need to learn how to budget and buy only necessities. I want to learn how to be frugal. I have so much on my mind, I feel like I'm going crazy...I think it's this coffee candy I'm eating...

beyond excited

for the Plate by Plate even on August 3rd. I went to the Vibiana yesterday for the vendor walk thru and the space is gorgeous. Just everything about it is so beautiful. I was looking at photos from previous Plate by Plate's and it looks like such an amazing time. You should definitely check it out if you're into amazing food, open bar and great company.

https://platebyplate2013.eventbrite.com/

http://www.platebyplate.org/la/

maybe it's becauase i'm single now

that I’ve been noticing a lot of the articles I’ve been reading online have to do with girls in their 20s casually hooking up instead of forming committed relationships. As much as I’m loving the single life, I don't see myself going back to just "hooking up". I’ve learned to be so much more selective and conservative.  Before I would go out w/ guys I wasn't even too fond of just for the sake of going out and not being home on a Friday or Saturday night. Now that I’m older, I have a better sense of who I am as an individual and what I’m looking for in a partner. Being in a 4 yr. relationship will do that to you. And honestly, I learned so much about myself from it. I know what my major flaws are and what I need to work on. And I also have a better sense of what type of guy I’m more compatible with. John was a great guy but it's obvious to us both now that we're better off as friends.

Ugh I'm the worst!

So after I wrote that entire blog about not being materialist and blah blah blah I ended up basically buying a new wardrobe at Nordstroms. I had an appointment with a personal shopper for the half yearly sale that I was too lazy to cancel but not lazy enough to not show up to. So I ended up going and buying basically the entire store. Obviously I'm exaggerating but that's honestly what it felt like. My bags were so heavy when I left that the person who helped me with my shopping had to carry them out for me. I honestly don't know if I can change my shopping habits. It's such a big part of my life that I can't just quit cold turkey. I need professional help haha. I'm half serious when I say that because I'm such a compulsive shopper.

Here's a few things I left with...

Breakfast!

Woke up early today to use my griddle to make pancakes for Kim and myself! I was so excited to eat it that I forgot to take a photo of it after it finished cooking haha

i want to be better

After going through previous blog posts, I've really come to the realization that I am wayyy too materialistic. Yeah it's great to have nice things and all, but I can't have that control who I am as an individual. as much as i love shopping and buying new shit, i really need to relax. i know i've said it million times before (probably literally) but I really need to make a better effort this time around. instead of spending all my money on pointless things that i'm going to end up replacing anyway, i want to invest my money in something more worthwhile like traveling. Now that I'm only working one job, it's so much easier for me to take time off. Especially since they're pretty lenient about it when it comes to traveling. I obviously can't abuse that but I definitely want to take advantage of that while I still can. Once John and I broke up, I really thought that I would be so limited in the things I could do because I hated doing things alone. One of the biggest challenges I thought would be being able to sleep in my bed alone. After the initial break-up I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep at night that I would exhaust myself during the day with yoga and the gym. By the time I got home I was so tired that I would just fall asleep. I didn't even think twice that I was there alone. Once I made that a habit, it was a piece of cake. Another thing I was worried about was being able to travel. It's always nice to go to new places with your significant other but if you don't have one in your life, the next best thing are your friends. I just recently came back from a trip to Cabo with some co-workers and I had so much fun. It was such a relaxing trip. And it makes me look forward to future trips with my other friends. Another thing i really need to work on is being less judgmental and more humble. I need to stop thinking I'm better than people. I know it's healthy to have self confidence, but honestly I have too much of it. It probably has to do with my financial stability but I have to realize that could be gone in an instant. And plus who am I to think I'm better than anyone anyway. I have just as much flaws as the next person if not more. Now that I'm 26 pushing 27, I really need to get my act together so that I can continue growing to be a better person, not worse.

do yourself a favor

and pick up some Halloumi cheese! The first time I ever had it was at a friend's birthday dinner and it's absolutely amazing. I haven't tried the Trader Joe's brand yet but I'm honestly looking forward to it. I love cheese, especially the ones you grill! When Jay made these he cooked it in lemon juice and it was honestly phenomenal.