26

I never really feel like it's officially the new year until January 5. I like things to be orderly and symmetrical and simple, so I'd rather just condense the new year for the world and the new year for me into one date, seeing as they're so close together.

An early January birthday is much like letting the air out of a balloon - the wind is cold and you're more stretched out and wrinkly than the year before. Everyone is decompressing from Christmas and still pretending like they will actually keep their New Year resolutions past Super Bowl Sunday. I didn't make any resolutions this year, because I'm already doing everything right, obvs.

So today I turn 26, which seems both utterly ridiculous (I've been driving for ten years, what?) and completely unexciting at the same time. Last year for my 25th birthday my insurance supposedly went down, but I'm still not yet old enough to run for president. I have no idea what the perks are of turning 26. So I asked Google. And it turned up bupkis. But I did find a stupid, generic, "Top 10 Things To Do Before You Turn 30 List." Here's how I measure up.

1. Drive a wickedly cool car, even if you have to rent it. When I was 16 I got a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. That's pretty much as wicked as I get. (In retrospect, this is depressing. My wickedness peaked at 16. Thanks, you douchebag list.)

2. Date against type. I started dating my first boyfriend a decade ago. Five years after that I married him. We are currently still married and plan to be so FOR-EH-VER. Moving on.

3. See the world. I've been to a pretty good number of US states and to France. I do really want to fulfill this list item and see more, but I also want to pay my mortgage and save some money to replace all of the stuff I'm inevitably going to break over the next 60 years (see number 7 below). But travel will happen. Belie'dat.

4. Live in a cool place. My town doesn't count as a cool place? C'mon! We've got Indiana's highest waterfall up in this beotch. And we recently acquired our first set of stoplights. It's happenin'.

5. If you're going to drink a lot, do it when you're young. Meh, I could take it or leave it. I'd rather fill my caloric load with mounds of macaroni and cheese.

6. Take risks with your job. I have a job, which, very unfortunately, is not something that a lot of people can say in this economy. I (usually) don't want to drive a metal stake into my temple while I'm doing my job. Yep, good enough for me.

7. Do something physically adventurous. In the last two weeks I've broken three glasses in a sudsy sink -- and fished them out risking arterial damage, nearly slipped and tumbled down our carpeted staircase, and walked into a door. Seriously. The door was open, and my left eyebrow made the initial contact, very, very forcefully. And the problem is, these things happening to me are not unusual. That's just a regular Tuesday. Do something physically adventurous? Are you serious? I'm lucky to still be alive.

8. Take your parents to dinner. What kind of asshole has never taken her parents to dinner by the time she's 30?

9. Do volunteer work. I used to do a lot of this. I now do some of this. I should do more. I acknowledge your commandment, List.

10. Use this decade to go to extremes. As a rule, I don't like extremes, probably for the very reason that this list recommends them -- because they're dangerous. I like to keep an even keel, avoid confrontation and complication, maintain stability. "Keep Calm and Carry On," and all that. But I suppose I have engaged in a few extremes by my mid-twenties. So far, I've gone from student to career woman. From dating to married. From renter to homeowner. I imagine the next few years will hold the transition from girl to mother. I'm ready for the good parts, and already I steel myself for the difficult parts. I'm sure there will be plenty of both.

23, 24, 25

Happy birthdays

August is a big month for birthdays 'round these parts. The month begins with Husband's birthday, and it ends with several friends' birthdays, as well as my dad's birthday. So happy to celebrate these milestones together with our closest friends and family.

Happy birthday to all!

Birthday celebration (cont'd)

And it is finished.

Birthday celebration

I submit to you the following exhibits, proof that I am a pretty darn good wife.

We celebrated Husband's birthday this past Thursday, and I finally got to give him the gifts I've been hiding and plotting about for a long time. I was very excited.

When we visited Katz's Deli during our vacation to New York this summer, I started to wonder if I could somehow order up some of that deliciousness back home in Indiana. By the magic of Fed-Ex, I could! A two-person meal included pastrami (you get a choice between pastrami or corned beef), 2 pickles, 8 slices of seedless rye bread, 2 square potato knishes, and a 1/2 pound of Katz's mustard. I ordered the deliciousness at 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning, and the package arrived by 3:30 p.m. the following day.

Husband was pretty happy (and extremely surprised). He's also now a pastrami convert; I don't think there's any possibility of a return to corned beef after this experience.

In addition, ever since the New York vacation (are you seeing a trend here?), when we visited the Lego Store, Husband has been coveting the Lego Death Star Kit. He kept talking about it, and talking about it, and talking about it, and I had to keep disparaging it so he wouldn't know that I'd already ordered it in mid-July. Or, rather, that I was extremely sneaky and asked sistercousin to order it so that the charge wouldn't appear on our credit card statement! I had the (giant, heavy) box shipped to my parents' house where I wrapped the monster and then snuck it over to my in-laws', where he finally opened it. My in-laws went in on it with me, which turned out to be a great gift from all of us.

He was shocked by the size of the manual.

He almost has it completed (in just five days). If he wasn't required to go to work and to sleep, I think it would have been finished a bit earlier.

I will post pictures of the final product soon.

Oh, and I also made him a pecan pie (perfect recipe here). Because I'm like that. (He said it was the best pecan pie yet, but I'm afraid he may be legally obligated to provide that compliment.)

I hope you had an amazing 28th birthday, my love! I have more fun planning for your birthday than I do mine! I'm so glad we got to spend it together!

Happy birthday to Husband

Happy birthday to my dearest love, my one and only, my darling; to the man with the best sense of humor, the best eyebrow raise, and the best derriere; to the guy who will let me use his computer from time to time, who steps up to take care of the household when I am buried beneath work, who always makes me feel special and pretty and worthwhile; to the person with whom I share my life. I love you!

A quarter century old

Once upon a time, in a land not so very far from here, a little girl was born. And she was named after a lake that she fished in every summer until she was almost grown.And she had blonde curls and looked just like her father and appeared in mischievous photographs, even though she really wasn't mischievous at all.And she loved animals and reading and crafts and Barbie dolls.And then she grew into an embarrassingly awkward adolescence, with some unfortunate haircuts and outfit choices, of which no photographs were ever recorded.And then she roped herself a boyfriend, whom she decided to never let go. And they went to her first prom.And then her second (by then, they were both out of braces, though you wouldn't know it by his smirk). And she graduated from high school.And then college three years later.And two months after that, they were married.
And, twenty-five years after the once upon a time, she wished herself a happy birthday and a happily ever after, with a jaunty tip of her top hat.

Ohaithere

Same old, same old. Except for a few belated birthday shout-outs from the end of August, particularly my beloved Lester and my Daddykins.Hope you had a fun birthday, Dad.So glad you are here and we could all celebrate together. Love.

Happy Birthday to Husband

Happy birthday to the man that always, always supports and helps and loves unfailingly.

As you slip into your mid-to-late twenties, I may joke about needing a new model, but frankly I like my old one just fine. It takes too long to get rid of that new man smell anyway.

24

Well, I feel a little less like death today, which is good, since it just happens to be the anniversary of the day I sauntered out of my mother and into the world. Want to hear something weird? Husband pointed this out recently: I (and he, and probably you, for that matter) have existed in four separate decades, '80s, '90s, '00s, and now '10s. Isn't that just nutty?

I don't have any interesting birthday facts or old, embarrassing pictures of baby me naked in a bathtub (though, the pictures do exist, let me forewarn you...but I want to know who doesn't have naked baby pictures?), so I will just offer a picture of what I would have looked like, had I been born a cat instead of a human. I think you will see the resemblance.

Photo from here.

Joyeux anniversaire à moi!

Today is my birthday! I am officially 23 years old! I'm already able to buy lottery tickets and drink alcohol, but I still can't rent a car or get a lower insurance rate, so 23 doesn't seem to really have any serious perks as far as I can tell. Actually, this birthday seemed to sneak up on me as I suspect most birthdays from here on out will. Here are 23 facts about my birth and birthday that will probably have no interest or consequence to you:

1. I was born at 5:13 a.m.
2. If you're not good at math, I was born in 1986.
3. I am the first and only child (read: spoiled).
4. I was supposed to be born around December 15 (poor Mommy).
5. My mother ate a pound of chocolate candy right before I was born (poor me).
6. Thanks to the candy, I was a chunky 8+ pound baby.
7. My father announced my name after I was born, which apparently came as a surprise to my mother.
8. My husband was born at the same hospital I was (3 years earlier) and we both have the same baby shirt from the hospital.
9. On the day I was born, my paternal grandfather opened an account for college at the bank under my name, which he misspelled.
10. I am the fourth grandchild on my maternal side, but the first girl.
11. My only female cousin was born just 6 weeks after me.
12. I've never had a surprise birthday party (and I'm okay with that, for the record).
13. No one terribly interesting (aside from me, of course) was born today, but here is a list anyway.
13. Wikipedia is a wealth of knowledge.
14. 360 days remain until 2010.
15. Because of the date, my birthday always seemed to be anticlimactic, like letting the air out of the balloon of Christmas and New Year's.
16. Sixteen was probably my favorite birthday, thus far, if only because of the excitement and promise the year held. That year I received a shiny new yellow Volkswagen beetle, an amazing gift (and probably my favorite, it's a little hard to compete with).
17. My favorite birthday dessert would probably have to be plain old chocolate cake with chocolate icing, because double chocolate is never a bad thing.
18. This is a much longer list than I anticipated...
19. A very dear girlfriend and I initially bonded over our shared birth month. We were in band together and also played the same instrument (read: nerds). Her birthday is in just eleven days.
20. I might get to see this dear girlfriend tomorrow for dinner!
21. It really has been a great day thus far, although I forgot my sweater and when I came in to work today I found the furnace had conked out in my office and it is about 50 degrees in here. Thank goodness for my little space heater!
22. Tonight I am having dinner with my parents, husband, and in-laws at one of my favorite hometown restaurants.
23. I am blessed to have so many friends and family members who love me and recognize my birthday. I hope I am always able to return the favor in kind and help make those I dearly treasure feel special, if only for one day.

The neverending cycle of birthdays

Happy birthday (uhm...yesterday...because I'm a bad person) to BabyBrotherInLaw! He can now legally go out and partake in alcoholic beverages.

But, really, after 21, it's all downhill. Sure, at 25 you can rent a car and ten years after that you can become President. The truly joyful parts of life don't come in the form of birthday milestones. They come in the middle of the summer when you get married or in the middle of the winter when your child is born or the middle of the spring when you see your first grandchild.

We're all getting too old, too fast. Wasn't I just a few days ago looking forward to summer vacation with my parents, my first birthday as a teenager, my high school graduation? Time marches on. And in just about three months I will be 23.

Ridiculous.

Another Happy Birthday...

Happy birthday to one of my faithful blog readers, one of my dearest friends, and the chick I would totally get with if I was not already happily married!

August is the month of birthdays

August seems to be the month of birthdays. It is certainly the month when a majority of important people in my and Husband's life celebrate this auspicious anniversary. Perhaps the icy hand of December made for intolerable cabin fever and heightened lust, coming to fruition nine months later in an overabundance of summer babies!

Husband celebrated his birthday at the beginning of this month and has been followed by three very special friends to both of us (happy birthdays to MandaSue, Diosthocles, and Lester).

And, last but certainly not least, today is my father's 70th birthday. Hooray!

As you can see from the photograph, even though I came into his life late (I'm 22, do the math), he still made a perfect horse for my cousin and I to ride (perhaps that's why his back is sore nowadays...) as well as a devoted fishing partner and easygoing companion. Tonight we're going out to break bread with my and Husband's family in celebration. Happy birthday, Daddy!

Happy Birthday!

A quarter of a century ago today my Husband was born! Happy birthday, Husband!