#34

So I didn't think there was a song, or any other pop culture reference, for my 34th birthday. But I was wrong. I should've just gone back in time a decade or so ago, to my Dave Matthews groupie days. Say what you want to about the DMB, they had me in a trance for my entire college/grad school existence. And they do put on a damn good show. And I still can't believe LeRoi (the sax player) is dead. Surreal.



Sometimes I want to go back to those days, where my only responsibility was an abnormal psychology exam and a phone bill or something. Some days I can't believe that was 10+ years ago, it seems like I should be cramming for something right now. Or shoving my books under my bed and heading to The Dock with the girls for ladies' night. Dock Rockers all the way!!

Trivia: I had never flown on an aeroplane ever before in my life, and I was 23 years old. The first time I flew anywhere was in April of 2001, 10 years ago, to meet up with a bunch of strangers I met on the interwebs, to attend a DMB "reunion" show of sorts in Charlottesville, VA. I didn't even tell my parents I was going. It was so much fun, and Neil Young opened, which was a total bonus. I don't even listen to DMB much anymore, but back then it was kinda like following the Dead around. I saw them 4 more times in the span of a year or so after that. I also caught the travel bug, and have tried to take at least one fun out-of-state trip every year since then.

God, was that really 10 years ago? It's weird to be this age, and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it doesn't matter. It's here to stay, at least for a year (then you have to re-adjust all over again). I don't feel young and spry anymore, but I'm not an old lady yet, either. I still think that there's a lot I have yet to experience, and I am excited to find out just what those things are. At the same time, there's still that little something gnawing at me, saying, "Ok, you're really an adult now, and there's no going back."

Scary!

Anyway, I've had a wonderful day filled with friends, food and laughter. That's all a person can ask for, whether they are 21, 34 or 94. I talked to my 83 year old grandmother tonight, who can't even dial the phone to call me anymore, but she can still sing "Happy Birthday" to me. I'm gonna make "drunk chicken" for her next weekend, and we're going to stuff ourselves silly and have a good time. And that's what it's all about, really. Having a good time while you're here, with the ones you love (and enjoying some good snacks along the way).

Just another year...

That is my favorite version of this song, but I must give props to Ani DiFranco who wrote the song, and who is one of my all-time favorite singer/songwriters.

So yes, I am 32 now, and I am owning it so far. When I was about to turn 30, the BF, who is 12 years older than me, assured me that "Your thirties are your best years." At 29, my immediate thought was, "Yeah right, what could be more fun than your 20s? 30 is the time to get serious. 30 is when you have to really start thinking about wrinkles and retirement funds."

But you know what? He was right. So far, my thirties have rocked. Now, of course it has not been all wine and roses, but overall, I have felt more confident, self-assured, and free to do whatever I really want since I turned 30. So 32 is just a little more kick-assy than 31.

I tend to celebrate my birthday all month long, a practice I put into place years ago. But this year I found myself surrounded by many other Taureans who also enjoy celebrating their entrance into the world for an entire month. This all culminated in a party at Hal and Mal's last weekend. While some of us were unsure as to how the evening would turn out, I have to say I think it was pretty fun. There was dancing, there was karaoke, there was random guests and a special surprise guest for me - one of my dear friends just happened to be in town from Nashville and showed up unannounced. It was great! So nice to have such a formidable group of ladies to grow older with.

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Reason #569240 that I love Mimi Smartypants:

Her diatribe on the meaning behind Wheat Thins marketing

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So the economy is in the crapper, we all know that. My job has recently been affected, because starting next week, I get a half-day unpaid every week until late September. This will hopefully save us enough money to keep us operating in FY10, but naturally there is the worry that it won't. I am not happy about this of course, but I am thankful beyond words that I still have a job. And hopefully the economy will turn around soon. But coming off of this past holiday weekend, I have to admit: I am kind of looking forward to having the extra time at home! That is something I never get anymore, really, is time to do things around the house. Since I won't have any money with which to go out and have a good time on my days off, I really think I will enjoy having time to clean out my closets, or start on a collage project I'm thinking of doing, or talk to my plants. Seriously! They may have a hard time getting me to go back to work on Fridays once this is all said and done.

Finally, I have to say, being a former show choir nerd, I am loving the new Fox show "Glee." I watched the pilot on Hulu today and was laughing my ass off. "There is nothing ironic about Show Choir!" Oh but yes, my dear, there really is!!

Here's the trailer:

BOO!

Doubt that I scared ya. Nonetheless, I am back, at least for a few minutes! My one reader told me I needed to update, so here you go -- lo siento, senorita! I have been extremely busy.

I have always been of the mind that work is just an 8-5, pay-the-bills kind of thing. Not something to take home with me. But in the last month or two, I have really been living and breathing my job. I think the difference is that I really love my job, where in the past it really was just something to help me pay the bills.

In the last month, we had two big fundraisers (a fancy schmancy dinner and a bike tour that almost killed me) and I have had 4 or 5 big programs. Not to mention all the other stuff I do that takes up all my time. And then there's church, and ARF (go vote for them on this site pretty please), and xBF who is doing really awesome right now and therefore I want to spend a lot of time with him, and my friends, and my niece who knows my name now and is my favorite person on earth!

Seriously, I don't want kids of my own right now, but I would keep my niece for quite some time if necessary. She is the best kid. She knows who I am now and is talking so much more. I get to see her this weekend and I cannot wait! She always asks where Sally is, so she associates me with my dog. Which is either a good or a bad thing.

I am dieting now, as best as I can without succumbing to the Weight Watchers meetings. I've been doing okay with the diet, but I need to exercise more. Since I've been so busy and the weather and sunlight has changed, Sally and I have not been getting up to run in the mornings. I need to reevaluate my schedule and figure out when I can fit in physical activity along with everydamnthing else. I wouldn't care as much if I am a few pounds overweight if I could still fit into my pants. But the fact is, I can't. The sad thing is, I've only put on a little over 10 pounds. But those 10 pounds are all hanging out around my mid-section, laughing at me as I try to squeeze into last winter's dress pants.

My friend R. is working on this 101 goals in 1001 days thing. I am planning to do the same, but I haven't finished the list yet. I'm such a slacker! Next post I will have it done, I promise.

I leave you with this video (prepare to laugh your ass off)

Yeah Yeah Yeah

I know, it's been too long. I bet nobody even bothers to check this blog anymore, but I need a space for my thoughts, so here goes!

A lot has happened since last time I guess. I turned the great 3-1, as in the number of flavors Baskin-Robbins boasts. I wasted the actual day of my birthday trying to get to a wedding in Lafayette that I still to this day do not know whether it actually went on or not. That day I learned my first valuable lesson of being 31: Don't do anything you don't really want to do. Don't do things out of obligation anymore.

Now of course, that doesn't apply in every situation -- there are things I may not want to do for work that I have to/am obligated to do or else I lose the job. And I may have family obligations that are unavoidable. But in situations like this one, where I was really going out of my way for someone who would never go so far out of her way for me, I should have sat that one out. And I will from now on!

My new job is going swimmingly. I'm headed to Vegas in a week or so for our annual retreat, and it will be nice to get away and finally put some faces with the voices I've been hearing on conference calls for the past two months.

I did another adult thing this past month and got preapproved for a mortgage loan. Scary!! It was a lengthy, pain-in-the-ass application process, and at the end of it all I still don't know if I can really afford to buy a house. The fact that I chose a social services field coupled with the fact that I have a reasonable amount of debt means that I am not worth all that much, financially speaking. It sucks that one person (in my situation) can't afford to buy a decent house all on her own. Not that I could count the BF's income anyway, because right now there isn't any, but even if he did have some I wouldn't want to include that. I want to do this all on my own or not at all. I guess I should have gone to law school or something, but then I'd have a buttload of student loan debt. It's a no-win situation. Anyway, I am going to try my luck with a different mortgage broker, but I have a feeling I may be a renter for at least another year.

On the flip side of that, though, I keep thinking about all the other things I'd rather spend money on than a mortgage, property taxes, and maintenance and repairs on a home. I want to travel. I want new clothes. I want to eat really well. I want to get my sewing machine fixed and start making a lot of stuff. I want to upgrade my cable subscription so I can get HBO. I want to take tap dance classes.

I'm not sure I could do all of those things if I were spending all my money on a home and the things that go with it.

For now, I'm just going with the flow. I'm calling a realtor who also knows a mortgage broker this week and I will see what he says.

The BF and I have been spending a lot of time at his P's pool. We are quickly becoming brown berries, and also getting into shape. I usually just float like a lazy manatee when I "go swimming," but this year I'm trying to actually exert some energy in between sunning sessions. I have decided to really bite the bullet and do whatever it takes to get my butt in shape this year. I've even *GASP* started getting up EARLY on most weekdays to work out. SHOCK! AWE! SURPRISE! It actually isn't so bad. I get up at 6am and turn on the Exercise on Demand channel, pick out a workout or two, and I'm done in 30 min. or so. And since I now don't have to be at work until 8:30, I still have like an entire hour to do stuff in the morning. I have absolutely NEVER been a morning person, but for some reason lately I really have enjoyed having all that time in the morning to lounge, eat cereal, watch the History Channel or make fun of the inane stories on the morning talk shows, and read. Good Lord, I'm becoming an adult.

I think I'll go for now, but I will make just one more comment. The Netflix fairy delivered The Kids in the Hall this past week and I was watching it last night. I used to watch this in high school all the time, and watching it on DVD made me realize 1) they must have shown a crapload of commercials during the show, because each episode is about 15 min. long, and 2) the skits themselves are really really short. And maybe 3) A lot of their skits are not so much funny as they are performance art. I guess performance art is lost on a 15 year old, because I don't remember the show being that way at all. I need to re-watch The State now too and see what else I was missing.