Happy birthday to me! Reflecting on 39 years of accomplishments

Birthdays have always meant something special to me, from Little Mermaid birthday parties as a kid to celebrating with my husband in the Maldives. While I do think the day should be redirected to my ma for birthing me and raising me (successfully, I might add), I have always tried celebrating my birthday in style.

This year, however, as I celebrate my 39th birthday, I want to take a moment to reflect and think about all I've accomplished and what I hope to also achieve in this final year in my 30s.

Never getting caught (or so I think)

If we start at the very beginning of my life, I think my first accomplishment was never getting caught for my mischievousness. I was a creative, but also devious kid. The first ruse I ever remember getting away with was stealing $20 from my grandparents every time they visited and hiding the bill in the couch to later "find." If they knew it was me, no one ever told me.

Breaking into TV news

As many other millennials will attest to, college graduation was bittersweet. I graduated from college in August 2009, still deep in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, when employers were laying off people, not hiring them.

My dream was to land a gig as a "one-man-band" television reporter in a small market, and not only did I do that within months of graduating, I also got the job offer from a station in California, only a few hours away from where I grew up.

I lived all over the country chasing this dream. I started in Redding, California as a reporter, coming up with my own stories, chasing them down, shooting the video and the interviews, writing the stories, editing them, and presenting them on camera every day.

About a year later, I moved to Omaha, a mid-sized market, making my way from a reporter to weekend anchor. Omaha will always hold a very special place in my heart for how warmly I was embraced by the people. I hope to return soon for a Nebraska Husker game!

After three years in Omaha, I finally broke into a major market: Phoenix, Arizona as a weekend and weekday noon anchor.

I loved working. I worked seven days a week, proudly. I loved talking to people and telling their stories. It was fuel for my soul.

Solo-producing a documentary

Eventually, I made my way to the main anchor desk in Bakersfield, California, where I quickly realized I didn't like full-time anchoring and craved more. So because my boss told me if I wanted to do this, I was on my own, I solo-produced my first documentary that chronicled my experience with mental illness, as well as several others I met along the way.

I was juggling a lot during this time in my life. I was mentally unwell. I was diagnosed with a mental illness in 2015 and while I was put on medication, I made no improvements for years. I also met my husband in 2016 and was desperately trying to make it work despite being as sick as I was.

Despite all of this, I managed to finally meet a psychiatrist who could help me, attended outpatient therapy in group and individual, while working a full-time job, and solo-producing a documentary that went on to receive an Emmy nomination.

You can watch that documentary on YouTube now.

Switching careers

After solo-producing that documentary, I made the decision to finally leave television news. That boy I met in 2016 was someone that I wanted to pursue long term, and I knew that if I didn't move back to the Bay Area, where he was, that it would be much harder to get married one day. So, I left television news without a job lined up and moved back to the Bay Area.

One month later, I landed my first public relations gig. I had to start at the bottom, though. I was one rung up from an intern and making half as much as I did as a full-time anchor.

Overcoming mental illness

Life was not easy. 2018 was my worst year yet, as I ended up spending the night in the hospital after a terrible mental health episode. I had Kaiser insurance at the time and had spent months prior to this begging them for help. Finally, because of my hospital stay, they gave me the help I needed. I was given an effective medication regimen and put in outpatient therapy, again, both individual and group.

While maintaining a full-time job, attending intensive therapy, and also working very hard at my relationship with my boyfriend, at the end of 2019, I graduated from my outpatient therapy program and was on my way to recovery. With tears in my eyes, I can confidently say that I am completely happy and healthy now and have been for many years.

Marrying the love of my life

I don't know how many people would claim this as an accomplishment, but I certainly do and do so proudly. We got married on September 3, 2021 on a bluff overlooking the ocean with his sister officiating and only 12 of our closest friends and family in the audience. The vibe was moody and dramatic, like me, and it was the happiest day of my life.

Indulging in La Vida Loca

Since getting married, you could say that I've indulged a bit too much, 30 lbs worth, to be exact. My husband and I love to eat and travel. We've been to France multiple times, Italy multiple times, the Maldives twice, Mexico, Singapore, Japan three times, and so many more places. While it's been a blast, it has taught me an incredibly important lesson that I just shared with my sister-in-law recently: that I don't want to live my life restricting anything. Life is too short and I don't want to spend a second of it weighing myself every day or counting almonds for breakfast. I want to seize life. I want to spend too much money. Eat too many tacos. Indulge in every second, every bite, every embrace.

Here's to 39

So as I blow out my candles this year, or more likely, eat an obscene amount of margaritas, chips, and steak without any guilt, I'm raising a glass to the messy, beautiful, hard-won life I've built. To the girl who stole $20 from her grandparents and got away with it. To the one-woman-band reporter chasing stories across the country. To the woman who fought like hell for her own mind and won. I don't know exactly what 39 looks like yet, but if the last 38 years are any indication, it's going to be delicious. Here's to more tacos, more stamps in my passport, and more of this one wild, indulgent, extraordinary life.