Friday, February 20, 2009

My Next Thirty Years

Well, I've been 30 for over a week and it's been great so far. As I've said, I love my birthday, so I stretched out the celebration for a handful of days. Here are some of the highlights:

On the morning of my birthday, my mom and I met at a restaurant for breakfast and she presented me with a birthday sash and tiara. Personally, I think it may be a good idea to wear this combo more often; it scored me a slice of chocolate mousse cake (which was a little odd after my omelet, but who am I to turn down free food?!?) and a coupon for a complimentary appetizer on my next visit. Then, we went to the office, where I had two birthday cakes, a VERY decorated desk, and lots of birthday wishes/gifts/cards.

That evening, Jersey and I headed over to happy hour at a convenient chain restaurant with an awesome bartender. Oh, and Jersey gave me a different sash and tiara to wear ("Birthday Bitch").


We were joined by my mom


And about 10 friends/coworkers. It was a lot of fun and I behaved rather well. One of my friends got a little too tipsy and got dragged out by her hubby. I don't think I was really drunk til toward the end of the night when one of my friends offered to buy us a couple of drinks...we had already closed out our tab, but I went ahead and had those last two cocktails. Honestly, I don't get drunk very often, so I won't apologize for being goofy on my 30th birthday. Plus, we had planned ahead and Jersey was driving. I'm not exactly sure how Max felt when I got home and scooped him up...


Ah, love the glassy eyes.

On Friday, my mom, Jersey, and I drove to California to spend the weekend at Disneyland. And, as if that wasn't enough, my sister flew down from the Bay Area, Jersey's sister flew in from Albany (where she's attending college), and Jersey's best friend drove down from LA. The six of us exhausted ourselves, but we all had a blast!


One of my favorite parts of the weekend was when we went to dinner on Sunday night. I had decided to pick a restaurant outside of Disneyland so that my best friend and her husband would be able to meet up with us. With her there, we had our wedding party intact:


Her sister (second from left) is her maid of honor; my sister (second from right) is mine. Her best friend (far left) is her bridesmaid; my best friend (far right) is mine. It was great to have everyone meet at least once before all the actual wedding stuff.

My entire birthday celebration was terrific and I look forward to rocking the next ten years! Whooooo hooooooo!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Ten Things Tuesday

Ten Random Things (because too many things are jumping around in my head for me to be more specific)

1. Facebook has been freaky, but fun. I've found lots of people from middle school and high school (12-15 years ago!); it's interesting to see who is married and who has kids. I think my best connection so far has been with a former friend who moved away when we were 10. It was just so random and there's a chance he will be visiting Vegas next month, so we may be able to see each other after 20 years.

2. I am dragging my ass right now because I'm sick with a cold that totally caught me by surprise on Sunday night/Monday morning. I refuse to let it ruin my big day tomorrow...in fact, if it attempts to ruin my day, I will drown it in Captain Morgan.

3. What is my big day tomorrow? My 30th birthday! I love my birthday in the most boring of years, so I am super excited about this one. I plan to enter my 30s happy and confident, and I look forward to all that will come my way in the next decade (a wife, babies, a new home, etc.). Tomorrow I will enjoy breakfast with my mom, some work and birthday cake at the office and at home, and a happy hour celebration with Jersey, my mom, friends, and coworkers. Oh, and I may be wearing a tiara or something all day. I'm goofy like that.

4. I have been exceptionally lazy about working out for a few months now, and it shows. There is no excuse and I know I need to take control of my body. So, last week, Jersey and I returned to the gym. On Saturday, my mom and I resumed our yoga practice (though we went back to the beginning class to get a refresher). I'm glad I'm getting back to exercising and I will be eating better as well. Here's to being bikini ready by June 1st!

5. Seriously, I want to stop sneezing now.

6. Warning: Rant Ahead. Ok, this is actually a short rant, given how many things I could say about this situation, but I think most of it has been said by now. The father of the octuplet mom (the grandfather of the babies) is defending the situation by saying that "it's God's wish". Um, no. It's not. I'm not knocking fertility treatments; hell, Jersey and I will need help to have babies of our own. But that's science, not God.

7. Does anyone have any hints for making sushi at home? I mean, I have Sushi for Dummies and the basic equipment. Are there any hints that I might be missing? I'll be attempting this in about 2 weeks and I'm a little nervous about messing it up, though I figure we can order pizza if things go terribly wrong. That's the nice thing about experimenting with a laid-back crowd.

8. If there are any Paula Poundstone fans reading this, just remember one thing if you ever go see her live...don't draw attention to yourself or you run the risk of her teasing you. Jersey and I went to see her perform on Friday night (we've seen her before, too). A few people, including Jersey, got up in the middle of the show to use the restroom, but she left them alone. Usually, I have a SUPER bladder, but damn if those beers didn't go right through me at the wrong time! I got up and, sure enough, Paula decided to notice. I became part of her show for a few minutes and it was surreal. Admittedly, it was all harmless and fun, but I'm not really the spotlight type of girl.

9. Jersey and I think our kitten, Max, may be deaf. He just doesn't respond properly to noise. There are times when he seems to jump at a sudden sound, but just as often, he looks around like he's totally lost. Hell, our glass coffee table came crashing down a few weeks ago and he didn't budge. I guess we should ask the vet to check that out. Of course, I'm sure the fact that he runs into walls all the time doesn't help. He sure is adorable, though!


10. I love Dunkin Donuts, but I want to know what is holding up construction on the new location right down the street from me. They've had the "Coming Soon" sign up for months and keep saying that it will be open in about two weeks. That would be great, except that Jersey and I stopped by and looked in the window; there is absolutely nothing happening in there. In the meantime, I have to drive in the opposite direction of my office to get my caffeine fix. Come on! Open this one up!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Not Under a Rock Anymore

I'm not a big "people person", despite what most people might think. I get along with others and enjoy spending time with friends/family/coworkers, but I don't usually get super close to many people. And as I move through schools, jobs, etc., I just don't tend to keep in touch with anyone. It's not that I have a falling out with these people, I just move on and they become part of my past. There are a few exceptions, but not many.

This tendency has been obvious to me for years, and I'm not sure if I would necessarily consider it a fault. I do, however, recognize that there is something pretty cool about long-lasting relationships and I admire people who have friends they've known forever. I also do think a lot about the people who have come and gone in my life, and I wonder what they are doing now. So, after all this time, I've finally decided to join Facebook. In all fairness, I should credit Jersey with pushing me over the edge; she joined and I figured I might as well take the same leap.

In the few days I've been on Facebook, I've had a blast looking though the list of people who have joined my middle school and high school groups (I am having trouble locating a general group for my university). It's so strange that we're all grown up now! I've become "friends" with a a few coworkers and family members, and I've reached out to a couple of people from very different times in my life. It's all a little strange, but I'm having fun with it.

I can also sense lots of my own insecurities as I find names of people I haven't seen in 15-20 years. There are a ton of people I would love to contact, but I worry that I'll be "that person" that causes them to roll their eyes and click "ignore". Or maybe they won't remember me (though I have an unusual name and it probably stands out). Plus, some of them were the popular, pretty ones and I always felt like a bit of an imposter growing up along side them. Still, I am genuinely interested in where their lives have taken them and I may take the chance of sending out these goofy friend invites.

Oh, and then there's the guy I had a crush on when I was 8 and he was 14. He was always super sweet to me, considering that I had to be one hell of an annoyance to a high school kid. Saying hi to him could be hilarious!

For those of you on Facebook, has it been a generally positive experience? Any cool stories about connecting with old friends? If you're not on Facebook, what's stopping you?