I Love My Friends – SALLY♡THINGS

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy turkey day! Happy gobble gobble day!
Thanksgiving is a day to give gratitude. I wanted to give my gratitude before spending the day with my family.

To SALLY♡THINGS readers & supporters: I wanted to thank all of the SALLY♡THINGS readers & supporters. I’m very thankful to have this group of support and love. It means more than you know. I’m very blessed to have supporters who inspire me, supporters who help me, supporters who listen and read my content, supporters who motivate me. It has not been a content filled year, but you’re all still here waiting for the next post. Thank you for being there for me, when I am not. ♡

To my friends: To my closet friends all the way to just regular friends, old friends and new. I could thank you over and over and over for the next million years. I have the most supportive friends. The love from my friends has saved me from many, many hopeless days. You help ground me, but also help me live more. You stop me from doing stupids things, but also help me do those stupid (but good) things. This year, I’ve gotten many random messages, tags, phone calls from lots of people that included check ins, random compliments, silly jokes, serious conversations, motivational quotes, memes, etc. They all helped me more than you will ever know. Thank you for taking time out of your life to be apart of mine.

To my family: Thank you for loving me the way you do. I am nothing without the love of my family. The times spent together is always the best. I promise that I will do better with being more present.

To love: Thank you for the time spent together. Thank you for the love, I will hold on to it. Our time spent together as a small unit is all I ever want out of life. I’m thankful to be able to grow with love.

To my work: Read the friends portion as well because it also applies. I’m at work almost 24/7, so I spend most of my days with all of you. I’m thankful for that, I have made new friends and reconnected with old ones, I have made real connections and had so many laughs, work is never boring. My position can be very stressful, but knowing that I have a great team really helps with that. We’ll get through it all together.

To me: I’m thankful for being able to feel, to be able to sit with myself, to be alive. I’m thankful for my life and I will always strive to live my best life. There’s many days where I hold love and pain in the same place and I still come out soft, understanding and loving. There’s so much more, but I can’t find the right words. I’m just thankful that I still have room to grow, heal, and love.

I will now stop being so mushy and start my last minute grocery shopping. I am making deviled eggs for the first time today, so let me get focused on that. Again, I’m very thankful for those in my life. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Will You Be My Galentine’s?

Happy Galentine’s Day! ♡

I’m a big lover of Valentine’s Day, so it’s no different for Galentine’s Day. If you didn’t know, Galentine’s Day is a day to celebrate women’s friendships and lands on February 13 every year. I have been so lucky to have been able to celebrate Galentine’s with friends for the last few years now. It’s the one event that I look forward to every year! I think it’s so fun to decorate the house, get cute, and spend quality time with your girls.

Every year, my friends and I plan a girls only party. We have food, drinks, themed outfits, photoshoots, crafts, gift exchange, etc. We’re always going all out and it’s always a great time. I just had my Wisconsin’s Galentine’s 2025 last weekend! I love love, I love being a girl and I love my friends ♡

Now let me take you through the years of Galentine’s events. You know, just SALLYTHINGS♡

2020

The very first Galentine’s party and outing was in 2020 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I remember I had to rush after work to the party and even though most of the girls left, I was still able to get some photos and food in. It was the first time I’ve taken any lingerie photos and those came out so good. There’s something empowering about having little polaroids of yourself looking hot! Lingerie polaroids are now a must every year. They are my favorite photos and everyone else’s too. ♡

The outing was with two other friends and that’s a story of it’s own. We went to a rooftop bar in Grand Rapids called IDC Bar. Yes, a rooftop bar in the middle of February and we weren’t freezing! It’s still one of my favorite rooftop bars to go to in Grand Rapids. The IDC Bar is so cute on the inside and the vibes are so fun. The IDC Bar had just opened in 2019/2020 and they served hotdogs and chili bowls. My friends and I will never forget how we were eating chili dog with our drinks that were 3x more expensive. We loved it though! There was a big insurance convention that happened in the same hotel right before, so we met a lot of new friends during our outing. We went all out with our new friends and got the huge IDC disco ball punch. Someone also ended up paying for our whole tabs as well. Definitely a night to remember ♡

2021

Galentine’s 2021 had a black and white theme. Celebrated in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ♡ Sometimes you have to be wild in this life and we made sure of that. Not only was it Galentine’s, but we were celebrating a 21st birthday! This outing started out with a nice dinner that quickly turned to a drink fest. I remember taking the whole margarita pitcher in a to-go soup bowl container and us drinking from that bowl. Next, we stopped by The Woods for some more drinks. It was completely empty there, but we had such a fun time. That’s where most of our photos and videos came from. If you have the best people with you, you’ll never be bored! We also made friends with whoever came in randomly. Free shots after shots. We couldn’t end the night there, the night was still young. We went to the Gun Lake Casino since they would be open. Lost a little money, but at least we had our drinks and more girl time. I specifically remember sitting at the cafe at 2 am or 3 am and drunk eating before our rides came. I’m pretty sure we all went to work hungover the next day. Nothing like a Galentine’s! ♡

2022

2022 was the first year and start of Wisconsin Galentine’s ♡ I was living in Madison, Wisconsin this year. Wisconsin Galentine’s has been happening ever since and the event I always look forward to every year. It’s always a girls only party and we tend to throw our secret santa exchange with it. This year was also a birthday celebration as well. Like all the other Galentine’s we plan all the decor, snacks, drinks, photo backdrop, outfits, etc. It’s always a good time! Of course we need the spicy polaroids. These are probably still my favorite ones. ♡

2023

2023 Wisconsin Galentine’s was a two day event. First day was the all girls party with another birthday celebration. The second day was our friend group including the guys and we all went out to a club/bar. For photos this year, we had our dress up ones, then the topless flower photos. We tried our best to recreate it and they turned out super cute. The second day, after the bar outing we stayed up until 6-8 am still hanging out. I have the funniest videos of us all at 7 am still partying, some sleeping and some just so tired but staying alive. Like I said before when you have a good group, you’ll never be bored or in the case sleep! ♡

My second Galentine’s outing was back home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. My best friend and I were on a mission to take some good photos for her Valentine’s and after that was completed, we had a nice lunch at Tupelo Honey. I wish I could post the photos we took because they turned out so good, but those are for certain eyes only! Being a girl and having girl best friends means no limits to what we do for each other and those friendships are so emotionally mature, deep and meaningful. It’s great to be girl ♡

2024

2024 was another Grand Rapids and Wisconsin Galentine’s celebration. For Grand Rapids, Michigan it was a little get together with my besties after work. Nothing like a comfy girls night in with some wine and pizza. Also, one of my friend’s mom made us these cute paint dripped wine glasses. It was super cute and so sweet! ♡

Wisconsin Galentine’s this year had a bigger group, but also was a potluck! We had really good food. We all dressed up for photos and then had our spicy polaroids. We had time to play card games and did gift exchanges. The floating flower backdrop this year is my favorite back drop of all! It’s so beautiful and simple. ♡

2025

I don’t know what happened this year, but Wisconsin Galentine’s 2025 stepped it up. The aesthetics were in the room with us. We did not come to play this year! Our outfit theme was cute pajamas and of course spicy outfits if you wanted those photos. We also had a cajun seafood boil. It was *chefs kiss* Although it took us longer to start and we didn’t to do any activities that we had planned, it was still a fun Galentine’s. Look I’m looking forward too and I’ll be back next year for Wisconsin Galentine’s 2026 ♡

A Grand Rapids Galentine’s is still in the works, but coming soon. We’re just waiting on the snow to stop doing what it does best, snow. So hopefully that will be very soon. A girls day is always needed! ♡

UPDATE (added 02.19.2025)

Grand Rapids Galentine’s! This Galentine’s was a packed one. My best friend Maddie made us some spicy vodka pasta and pickle pasta salad. We had a snack bar with fruits, charcuterie board, cookies, etc. A galentine’s is nothing without cute cocktails, so of course we had those. I’m not sure how we did it, but we were able to record a hot ones challenge with 5 different hot sauces, decorate the room and took our spicy polaroid photoshoot, shopped for charm bracelets, iron-on sweat outfits and our food, cooked, made custom matching charm bracelets and opened up our Galentine’s goodie bags. We finished our bestie iron-on sweat outfits another day. They came out so cute and perfect and it was a lot easier than we thought! It was an amazing Galentine’s filled with laughter. It’s always the best time with Maddie ♡

I am super lucky to have the girl friends that I have and I am very lucky to be able to travel to see them. I am very lucky to have all these women in my life. They are all strong, sweet, kind, beautiful, confident, funny, loving and so much more. They are the reason why Galentine’s was created. I hope every girl finds their girls, their gals! ♡

So will you be my Galentine’s? ♡

2024: October to December Photo Dump

Usually I write a summary of the months here, but for this one I’ll just say this: you were wrong, but you had the right to be wrong. Ended 2024 strong. Literal definition of trying to live your best life.

October

November

December

2024: July to September Photo Dump

These summer months were filled with travels for me. Remember how I said I was going to live it up this summer? I definitely did! Having a life outside of work has been a long time coming and well deserved. I’ve been able to romanticize my life again and mentally I’ve been so much better. I turned 29, I ate good food, I danced, I added to my plushie collections when I literally have no space in my room, I loved and was loved back, celebrated my friend getting married, saw old friends and made ones. It was the best. I would love to thank the summer sun for all it provided, you’ll be very missed soon. Hopefully the winter blues will be kind this year.
Loving every little thing in the world ♡

July

August

September

2024: April to June Photo Dump

I become a better person when the weather starts to heat up. I don’t know what to say, I just LOVE the sun. As you may have read or heard, I switched jobs and positions which has allowed me to have more time to have a personal life and more time to focus on my health and make improvements to it. I promised myself that I would live more this year in experiences and not live at work like how I have in the past. April to June has been a blessing and I have done just that ♡ I’ve done so many things in these few months, so I’m excited to see how this will continue for the rest of summer and after. I’m happy that I can feel like a normal person and be more with the people I love. Living my best life ♡

April

May

June

2024: January to March Photo Dump

A little late here, oopsie! Winter felt like it lasted forever and I’m so happy we started to finally get warmer weather even if it lasted for just a day. I’m not a cold weather person AT ALL. I question all the time why I live in the midwest, I’m not built for the cold. I started my second semester of college, so that school and social life balance has been a hard one. The beginning of 2024 has been an interesting one to say the least. I will say I am pushing myself to be a better version and opening up more. I want more out of life than what I have been comfortable with. Here’s to living more and loving life ♡

January

February

March

Let’s Check In.

⋆˚✿˖° SPRING IS COMING, Happy March! ⋆˚✿˖°
Let’s take a second and do a check in with ourselves. We’re three months into 2024 and time isn’t going to go by any slower. It’s not too late yet to chase what you dreamt this year will be for you. If you follow me on instagram you might have already seen and done this check in, if not then take some time to answer and reflect.

Let’s get into it:
♡ How are you feeling?
♡ How are mentally overall?
♡ Are you positively taking care of yourself?
♡ Have you come up with your yearly goals and intentions yet? If not, get started even if it’s just a weekly goal for now!
♡ Have you started on your goals and intentions yet? If so, how far along are you?
♡ What has made you happy so far? How can you do more of it?
♡ What has made you sad or mad so far? What can you do to make things better for yourself?
♡ Any new goals you can add?
♡ Reflect on your growth in the last two months and celebrate it.
♡ Reflect on your lack of growth and give yourself a safe space for grieving and acceptance. After, leave it behind and start over. It’s not too late!
♡ Do something you love.
♡ Soak in some sun when you can.
♡ Take a walk, even if it’s a little chilly. Find your green space, be outside for a little.

Remember it’s never a bad thing to do a little reset if needed. Let’s make the best of this year. Happy March, may it bring you lots of love and happiness ♡

MY UPDATE

I am currently sitting in an airport by a huge window and soaking in the sun rays. Even though I’ve been up and traveling since 3 AM, today life is good ♡ I also can’t wait to write a food blog after the trip! It’s been a while since I last wrote one, but I promise this one will be worth the wait. New foods to try for your next trip!

Some people will say I’ve gone quiet, but really I’ve just been very occupied with my life, wellbeing and focused on other goals/have other priorities. I’m at a good place now where I feel like I’m rested and decently caught up with life. I feel more like myself than I have in a while. I can feel SALLY THAT GIRL again. She’ll be in full effect by the end of this year. I calmed down my lifestyle to prioritize school and it’s really my main focus. That’s really the main reason why I disappeared. Michigan has this wonderful program where they’ll pay for your semesters as long as you keep up with their requirements and I’m NOT going to lose that. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of and I’m doing exactly that.

For those that haven’t really worked on your goals for the year, it’s fine cause I haven’t really either. I’ve touched the surface, but haven’t done enough yet to say there was any visible progress overall. Some I goals are in the works, some none at all. SO that’s why we can do this check in together, not feel bad and start working on them NOW! We’re human, life and other things get in the way, we don’t feel motivated, fighting the winter blues are hard, I GET IT. I’m there with you. Two weeks ago was when I finally found my motivation to really get up and be active and make sure I use my time to do things that I love and that help me. I just got out of my funk two weeks ago. I wasn’t even able to get out of it myself, my friends in Wisconsin were the ones who really got me over it and that’s okay. It’s absolutely fine to get help from those close to you that you love and trust. Sometimes what you need is love, attention and support. I will admit that I’m definitely one of those people. After all, we are just human.

I am going to go enjoy this love filled vacation now, (my friends are getting married this weekend!). Enjoy your day, your weekend, your week. And to remember to show up for yourself the best you can. ♡

2023 Lessons Learned.

2023. What a year this was for me, it just kept going and never stopped. A rollercoaster of events. I like to always take some time to do a self reflection of the year. Think about the things that I’ve accomplished, think about things I still need to work or focus on, ways I could have been better and many other things. All I’ve been thinking of lately is what lessons did I actually learn this year. What did 2023 try to teach me?

Love.
Self love was a huge part this year. Learning to love myself in present day, present time. Could I love all the different parts of me? Could I love myself on good and bad days? Could I still love myself when I felt like I could not love at all? When I was at my worst could I show myself and give myself love? I also learned more of the meaning of love. The boundaries, the respect, the kindness, the caring, understanding and being patient. Everything that makes the meaning of love, but also what it stands for or the means to love someone or something. Love.

Balance.
I learned that I was lacking a lot in balancing the different parts of my life. School life, work life, relationships, personal life, etc. They were always dripping into each other and affecting one one. I had to try to balance everything or I would be in a huge mush pile of emotions. I had a time and place for certain things and I needed to know how balance those out. Something that I need to continue to work on going into 2024. Balance.

Rest.
I learned the hard way this year that I needed to rest. With how busy I got in the fall, I overworked myself. I would try to stay up late to get things done, but at a cost. Sleep was something I wanted, but had no time for. Even just laying down and doing nothing was something I had to get use to. I was so up, up, up, go, go, go all the time. I was doing too much. It’s absolutely okay to rest. Rest.

Boundaries.
This was a huge one. Boundaries were probably my biggest lesson this year and honestly will be worked on still in 2024. Saying no to things that I don’t want or need to deal with. Saying no to things and people that hurt me or not serve me. Making boundaries clear so I get respected in the way that I should. Being in a manager position at my work, where half the staff is in the same age group was a big one. Removing myself from situations that overstepped my boundaries. Even holding myself back from crossing other people’s boundaries. Learning to accept that my boundaries are different from others and if it’s judged then let them judge. Went through it all this year. Boundaries.

Change.
Any thing can happen and change at any time. Life happens fast. You lose people, you gain people. People get sick, people move, people switch up on you both good and bad. It’s not only about people either. My environment changed, my life path changed, my goals changed. Both good and bad change happened this year. You have to really roll with it and keep going, adapt. Change.

I will always find a way.
This will be the last one, even though there’s many more. I will always find a way through, I will always find my way. I’ve pulled myself out of a lot of dark days this year. Not many people or anyone really know much of this, but I did it. I’m still coming out of it, but very much on a brighter path. No matter what situation I was put through this year, I still found a way through. I took a quiet moment to remember all the things I had to deal with this year and wow, that shit was crazy. I’m glad I can leave all of that back and behind me. Don’t follow me please! I don’t need it, I’m begging. I’m proud of myself and where I’m at now. I will always find a way.

Some of my highlights of 2023:

ꕥ I started working with GR Model Management as an assistant. The opportunity really solidified what I wanted to do for my career path.
ꕥ I went back to school after a long 9 year break and completed my first semester. It felt good to be back!
ꕥ My nephew was diagnosed with leukemia this year, BUT his treatments have been going super well and he’s been looking and feeling better every day. The doctors gave us a date of when his last chemo therapy session will be in a few years, which is one of the best news! He’s been fighting it hard. #TeamMateo
ꕥ Lost Lands 2023 was on another level this year. So much love! TABS ♡
ꕥ I was lucky enough to be able to see my friends from Wisconsin and Minnesota multiple times this year! The love I have for them is so big. Distance does not matter.
ꕥ I found my creative side again this year. More blogs were written and mini notes. It’ll continue and there will be more content next year.
ꕥ I’m coming out of 2023 and into 2024 with love.

This year was not about big wins or big goals for me, it was about building my foundation with little things so I could start doing the bigger next year. Finding my way through and through. This year was about letting things come and go and flowing along with it instead of fighting every second. This year was about accepting everything, good and bad. Yes, 2023 felt crazy, but what my old manager use to say, “To survive this crazy life, you have to be a little crazy too.“

Happy New Years to all of SALLY♡THINGS readers. Be safe tonight and have a blessed 2024. ♡

With love ♡

2023: July to September Photo Dump

Memories from mid summer to the end. Summer goes by way too fast. I would love it if we could get a little extension, maybe an extra month or two please? Birthdays to Breakaway Music Festival to starting school and to Lost Lands. So many memories ♡ Keep living life. Keep loving life.

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

2023: April to June Photo Dump

Some of my favorite moments from April, May and June. This year is going by so quickly. We’re already have way through, insane. Slow down, so I can have more time this year please!

APRIL