Adventures of Nate and Bella

I am a young professional working at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an Admissions Counselor. Here are the adventures of me and Bella, my dog, as we take on being an adult! Let's do it big!

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A Welcome Back

So it has been some time since I last wrote anything. Me and Bella have been on all sorts of adventures. We at one point thought we had found our forever family and a mom. Turns out that just when you think you have figured something out, life happens and it takes another turn. 

Me and Bella are once again out on the hunt for a woman for me and a mom for her. BUt this doesn’t mean that I have slow down at all. I have finally welcomed myself to Nebraska with a full on welcome. In throwing my very first house warming party I realized something. You always know who your friends are when you throw a party and who shows up at your party. I was actually kind of surprised at who didn’t show up. They say that you always make your life long friends in college, but for some reason my mid 20s friends are the ones I think are going to stick around longer. This is something that has intrigued me. 

(From Bellas view) Life is changed for me. Now my daddy lives with another man but he lives in another room. Our house has two floors now which means I get to go up and down stairs. I also have a yard which I enjoy running around in when daddy comes home. I want my friend Polly to come over so we can play around the yard for hours while daddy and Pollys daddy and mommy drink their beverages that always make me gassy. I wish that daddy would find a mom for me and stick with her. He has had several opportunities but seems to always mess it up. He tells me about some of the things he does wrong when we go to bed at night. I also though have a better view to the windows and sometimes take naps on all the pillows on the bed and then look outside. Daddy last night slept with the windows open so i slept with my nose toward the windows so I could smell everything. I kept the house safe from the squirrel squad. 

(Back to my point of view) Life continues to go and continues to move. At 25 I have a whole lot of life left to go. Lots of adventures to have. Today I started marking down countries I want to visit in parts of the world I haven’t been to yet. I marked down where I want to go and see before it is too late. Fingers crossed that things with the new girl work out but as always you just never know. 

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My Life as Ted

As I watch How I Met Your Mother, I see myself as Ted looking for the one. The one that i want to be with for the rest of my life and the one who I want to tell stories about our younger years together with. Someone to bring home to my mother.

How do you ever know if you met the one. There is the long lost love that you had and let go and regret every day. But then there is the new one who you see yourself with but not sure if things will work out with the old one. This is something that is hard to think of and also shouldnt be thinking about. Being in your mid 20s is the time to find yourself and look for fun and explore the entire world. Instead you lock yourself in but I am here to tell you the one will come when you least expect it. You will have to just be patient. Don't be like Ted and worrying about it each and every day. This is your day to go and be yourself. The one will come along and things will work out.

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Fields of Fun

(from the point of view of Bella)

Hello world, my name is Bella and I wanted to tell you of the weekend that i have had with my human. He has taken me on long walks and has even opened up the patio door for me to hang out outside. Me and Pollie, the neighbor dog both sit on our balconies and talk about our humans. She tells me of her cool family and I tell her about my human and how he is still looking for a mom.

He also took me two days in a row to the dog park. It was great because we walked around forever and I got to run around. My human is great because he lets me run around and make new friends. He also saved me when a dog was getting to frisky with me.

Also during the long weekend we have cuddled on the couch watching movies. I love movies and love lovsies. During the week he leaves a lot and says "its to get the bacon" but I am not seeing all of this bacon yet. But when he is home, we hang out and play. This weekend we watched so many movies and it was great! Another week and hopefully more bacon!

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New Year, New Slate

As each year ends you take time to look at what happened in the past. I look at my past and realize all of the things that have happened. I finished one job and left Georgia thinking that i would never be able to be as happy as I was because I was leaving some amazing students. As I packed up and moved back to Nebraska and started a new life again at my new job, a new set of doors were opened.

The new job opened up new experiences, new friends, and a whole new life. It was something that I was not aware I was going to like as much. Being back in Nebraska I thought it was going to be one way, but instead it has been a completely different experience.

The biggest change has been that coming to Nebraska I thought I would be an outcast because I wasn't in a serious relationship and Bella would be the dog of a single parent because I thought everyone my age was in something serious. Instead i found out that is only a Concordia thing and that there are other mid 20 year olds who are just like me. Going through life with fun, dating problems, dogs, and just trying to find out way in this crazy world.

2015 is already starting off great! I can only imagine all of the stories I will get to make this year. Maybe this year I will find the one, but who knows! I might even buy a house! The year is just starting and I am excited to welcome it in as well as take a moment to remember everything from 2014.

Happy New Year!!!!

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Travel Pains

So on my way to the south to enjoy the Christmas season with my family I had several road blocks due to Expedia.

Upon checking in, I found out that Expedia had canceled my trip without notifying me but also sending me a reminder e-mail the night before about my upcoming trip. I was very frustrated and thought a quick call would fix everything. To my surprise, 3 hours later I was finally given a change of my flight and told I would arrive much later then what I anticipated. All I got was a "Sorry for having to wait so long" and nothing else. Expedia...I am not going to be using you anytime soon if at all!

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Merry Christmas

Every season when you enter the work force there is always the mundane Holiday Parties you go to with your co workers. To continue in the process though, me and a buddy decided to mix things up and throw a little Christmas Party for all of those in our department of the office.

It turned out to be one of the craziest parties we have ever had together and one of the most epic. So much was going on that you just had to sit back and smile and realize yes, I work with these people but most importantly...we are friends and family. We have been with each other through the hard times and though we are about to go through some more changes we are excited to be with each other.

Again this moment of realizing that I believe I am in the right place at the right time doesn't seem more perfect. Next Christmas we don't know if we will be together, but for a moment we just everything behind us and take in the moment and enjoy the company.

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Happy Hanukkah!

As another season is coming in full swing of Holiday parties, christmas parties, and other such things, I decided to take a chance to light the menora to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. 

Though I am not Jewish and have no Jewish relatives, it was still exciting to get together with a group of friends and drink wine. Also new fun fact...goat cheese is my new form of fun cheese that I will buy! It was delicious...and also Jewish!!! #Winning!

But at this time I also think about my friends and also how last year I celebrated Hanukkah with my friend in North Carolina after Thanksgiving and how so much has changed. I have a new job, a new apartment, live in a new city and I am ok with all of these changes! As the candle on the menora flickers, i think of all of the past memories of the past year and how as each night the menora will have another new candle lit, I will also be lighting my own inner menora each day with new adventures and new memories! Happy Hanukkah! 

[gbdbro89-blog]

Girls come like a cup of coffee..

The other day I went to meet a girl at her job at the local coffee shop. I realized that girls come like a cup of coffee. When you start dating you start trying different kinds...blondes, brunettes, red heads, shorter girls, athletic, flooshy...what ever it may be you try it all, just like when you are looking for your favorite coffee drink.

The thing though is that when you go steady with someone its like when you find that one drink that you don't mind getting every single time! But, when you want something different you start to wonder what else is there. Point is though when you find the right drink no matter what, you always come back to it, just like finding the right girl. You may look around, but once you get the right one it always goes down smooth.

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Life is what you make it. Don't let it pass you by and have you scratching your head wondering what happened. Take it and breathe it in and take every experience you ever can!

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So...are we dating or what?

Being that I attended a small liberal arts university that is also private means that at graduation many of your friends are either married, engaged, or in a very serious relationship that will soon result in an engagement. Some how I slipped through the cracks and didn't end up in any of those categories. I did graduate with a very serious girl friend, but we broke up a few months later. This means one thing...I am in the dating world trying to find a mom for my dear sweet little Bella (the dog).

One nice thing about my job is that all of us are rather young. about 80% of our office is under 30 and so that means that there are a lot of hormones. One nice thing is though in the other world of my friends I am the small percent not in a relationship, with this new group I am in the majority of people who are in the dating pool or not even thinking about engagement. Please not this is not a rant on how you shouldn't get engaged early that will come later. What this means is that we are all trying to date and find someone we can connect with. 

Some people turn to Tindr, a common app where you swipe right to accept someone you like in hopes that they too will like you too. Others try the bar scene or coffee scene and others like me chose old school with meeting through friends. So then after you met someone you generally like the big question is "would you like to go on a date?". Now it is where to go and what to do that is always hard to decide but you have to get through that first step to even see if you like the person enough to keep dating and turn it into a relationship. Still I have been dating the same girl for some time now, but we haven't had the big talk of are we going to take it to the next level. We go out, buy drinks, and tonight she even met Bella! Now it is back to..."So...are we dating?" The question will forever taunt young men of becoming official and finally being pulled off the market. I am not sure if this girl is the right one for me, nor do I want to rush things either. We are both having a good time and also just seeing what is going on. People sometimes rush into a relationship and let life pass them by. At 25 I can move where ever I want, do what ever I want, and also just go on crazy adventures. I just want to find a woman who also shares those same ambitions. Though it is taking longer then my liberal arts friends path, it is actually very normal to not rush into something before actually being able to buy a house and also have enough memories to say "Well, I will never do that again!". 

Life is too good to miss. Life is sometimes to fast to take a moment to experience it. Dating will continue to make us scratch our heads, but hey for every good or bad date, there is tomorrow and also another really good story to share with your buddies over beers the next bro sesh you decide to have! 

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Holiday party 1 of the season!

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25 Never Looked So Good

If you would of asked me a few years ago about what I would be doing with my life, It would of been along the lines of possibly being a school teacher or working in a church with youth. I probably would have settled down with a lady friend and we would be most likely be thinking that Bella needs a new brother or sister.

Now to reality, I am 25, single and dating, adopted Bella (the dog)working for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an admissions counselor, and having some of the best friends who I just met 6 months ago and making memories with on almost an every day basis. It is not what I thought at all I would be doing but at the same time it doesn't bother me at all. I have this amazing life that doesn't seem to be slowing down.

(Pictured above some of my coworkers at the first Holiday Party of the season)

I have nothing but to be thankful for all of the craziness that has happened in my life because it has brought me to where I am now.

This blog is made in dedication to my family, my friends, and all of the memories that we are making as young professionals just trying to find out way here into adulthood!