thirty!

whelp, it's official.  i'm old.  i turned 30 on  sunday, and i was a little sad to leave my 20s behind.  it was a pretty good decade.  i graduated college and grad school, met charlie, got married, moved to colorado, and had a baby.  a pretty good 10 years.  BUT these next 10 years have a lot of potential.  i'm looking forward to more stability and more time with the people i love. 

i didn't have any huge plans for my birthday.  mostly i just wanted to spend the day with charlie and avery without doing any house projects, cleaning, working, or errand running.  i was lucky that my birthday fell on a sunday so neither charlie or i had to work.  

don't say that henry looks old.  he's middle aged.  

we went for a short hike in the morning.  we did the flatirons vista trail, although we only did part of it because we were all hungry and avery was getting tired.  we actually haven't had her back in the backpack since last fall.  i cannot believe that we haven't done any hiking this summer, especially with the amazing weather that we've had all season.  she did great in the backpack and really seemed to enjoy it this time.  we hiked for a bit (really more of a walk) and then let her get out and wander around for a little bit before heading back.  as much as i miss my snuggly baby from last summer it was nice to have a happy, toddler who was into everything, pointing at the mountains and purple flowers and calling henry when he ran too far ahead.  we brought henry with us on the hike and left dunkin back at home.  he's getting so old these days and is limping around a lot.  :(  but we did play a little ball with him in the backyard when we got back home, so don't worry he still gets plenty of love.  

we wanted to eat lunch at centro but we had henry with us and couldn't get a table right outside where we could sit next to him so we ended up at pasta jays.  lunch was pretty good although i swear it gets harder and harder to eat out with avery these days.  

we came back home and hung out, watched charlie cut the grass, played with dunkin and then ate some cake.





and, in the words of tim mcgraw, here's to the next 30 years.

my next thirty years will be the best years of my life, 
raise a little family and hang out with my [hubs]
spend precious moments with the ones that i hold dear
make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years

"i still find each day too short for all the thoughts i want to think, all the walks i want to take, all the books i want to read, and all the friends i want to see."

i bet you didn't know that ...

... i am obsessed with doing laundry. there may not always be home cooked meals in my house, the shower might not get scrubbed every week (or two), we may run out of milk and bananas every now and then, but dammit, we will always have clean clothes.

... charlie and i watch couples retreat about every other month. and i realize that it's supposed to just be some funny movie. but for some reason it makes me love him just a little bit more.

... i love jeans, and boots, and scarves.

... i grew up thinking i wanted to be a career girl. now, well, not as much.

... the more classes i take the less i think i know about the world. however, i do love me some school. usually.

... the past few pottery barn catalogs have had some seriously over-the-top halloween decorations in them. i had no idea pottery barn sold things i could buy at party city.

... i like watching the broncos on sundays.

... i love the fact that we are renters for so many reasons. we don't have to mow the lawn, we can pick up at move anywhere at any time, i can entertain the idea of living in the mountains and the city simultaneously, when things break i don't have to fix them, but mostly it's the flexibility thing.

... i love to read. really, really love it.

... and i love books.

... although he can drive me crazy, i love my husband more than anyone else on the planet and i miss him like crazy when he travels.

... i've always wanted to be one of those families that has really weird traditions. one of those slightly nutty families that look a little crazy from the outside but secretly you wish you were a part of.

... i am a procrastinator at heart. as much as i try to fight it, it's still there.

... i have conflicting thoughts about many things such as kids, homes, cars, lifestyles, etc.

... i always go for a walk during the first snowstorm of the year.

... i watch when harry met sally and love actually every holiday season.

family photo.

we don't often get pictures of charlie and i together when one of us isn't holding the camera out in front of us. so when we went hiking with some friends we were excited to just get a picture of the two of us where you could see more than our faces smushed together.

i was also excited because our friend behind the camera is a photographer.

good background.

good photographer.

good light.

and then henry happened ...

now that is LOVE.

i still think this would make a pretty good christmas card.

... i am a terrible, terrible grader.

ok, i'm not a mean grader. i just don't like doing it.

there is nothing i hate more than grading papers. specifically research papers. they put me to sleep. correcting grammar errors? boring.

the worst: correcting citation formating. ugh!

... i'm not so good at riding a bike.

i think i mentioned that charlie got a free bike. (that i promptly stole from him.)

my mission was to 1) make henry not scared of bikes and 2) use it for exercise for both me and the dogs.

the bike is a hybrid. i've only ever ridden mountain bikes. much heavier, much sturdier.

i fell off in about 30 seconds. right behind our garage.

must get a helmet.

... i love lofts.

the real ones. converted from old industrial buildings, with no rooms and exposed brick.

... we have wine glasses with starfish on them.

i suppose it's a little tacky, but i like them.

maybe i just like them because they were a wedding present.

guests look at them funny.

... i divide my life into semesters.

still.

it makes for a lot of beginnings and ends.

maybe one day this will end. maybe not.

photo source

... i cannot fold a fitted sheet. and i have no desire to learn how.

... i have no idea what "seasoning a pan" means.

... walking the dogs is my therapy.

... sometimes i want to drink a bottle of champagne just so i can keep the cork.

... i really, really hate scary movies.

... when charlie and i moved in together i was adamant about not having a tv in our bedroom. now i wish we had one.

... i hate running errands. except for target.

... i think the new iPad is the stupidest thing ever. isn't it just a giant iPod touch?

... i am insanely jealous of people who work from home.

... sales would be the worst career for me ever to work in. when i worked in a mexican restaurant i couldn't even sell guacamole to people. i lost every single sales contest that we had. every night i worked.

... i also dumped an entire bowl of bean soup on a customer once. they didn't leave me a tip.

... i generally make bad decisions when tequila is involved.

... i change my mind a lot.

... movies longer than 2 hours bore me. i usually end up leaving the theater.

... i hate china.

... i like to watch movies over and over. ditto with books i like.

... i can be really, really stubborn.

... i miss the beach. a lot.

all about me, honestly

1. i'm so not a morning person. in fact i'm ridiculously grumpy in the morning.

2. i do not understand the giant "savory savory mushrooms" can on federal. it's in the middle of a neighborhood. why?

3. i am 26 and cannot figure out what i want to "be". ugh. in all honesty, i just want to find something that i can stand doing.

4. i used to talk about how people shouldn't be defined by their careers. and then i gave mine up, and i sort of got why it's so important to have one.

5. kids scare me. in the sense that they're expensive and permanent, and at some point they are going to grow up and make bad decisions.

6. i hate the harry potter movies.

7. when i have a bad day, sometimes i come home and yell at charlie for something so stupid, like not filling the dog's water. that usually makes my day even worse.

8. i'm a huge introvert and could go for days without talking to another person.

9. i like henry just a little bit better than dunkin. i tell myself it's because even though both of the dogs are ours. dunkin was charlie's before we were dating and i bought henry when we moved in together. i'd feel guilty about this but i know that charlie loves dunkin just a little but more than henry. it all evens out.

10. i hate big houses. i never want to live in one. i'm also not a fan of houses with formal dining rooms and living rooms. this goes along with never wanting to host a huge thanksgiving dinner.

11. i'm not a good driver. i don't pay attention to stop signs or what color the light is.

12. my car is really, really dirty. i hate cleaning it.

13. i don't have a lot of patience.

14. sometimes i'll eat a bag of chips for dinner. like i'm in college. even though i know it's bad for me.

15. i hate that charlie doesn't want me to do his laundry. so i do it anyway.

16. i love bubble baths. charlie says i'm wasting water. i don't care.

17. i bought a ski pass this season and i sort of wish i didn't. waking up at 5 am on a saturday to drive to the mountains is so not what i want to do on my weekends.

18. i drink a lot of tea.

also ... i still want to read wedding magazines. but don't worry, i haven't bought any. :)

this was exactly what i needed

i have a confession to make, i've been an emotional mess lately.

on sunday night i had a total meltdown about everything. my job, school, our dirty house, everything.

luckily, i married someone who has the ability to calm me down when i'm completely freaking out.

hawaii was wonderful. seriously. but i also had a lot of free, alone time, and used that to freak out about everything that i needed to get done but couldn't because i was in the middle of the pacific ocean. i couldn't get my book for school before leaving (even though i went to the bookstore twice and charlie went once) and so i couldn't do any of the work for my class. totally frustrating. i also was thinking about work. i did get some papers graded on the beach, which helped a lot, but still ...

monday was rough. i haven't been sleeping and after traveling all night and then trying to get ready for the week ahead i was so, so tired. the thing is, i'm usually not this much of a head case. i've never had problems sleeping, ever. i've slept through a thunderstorm, in a tent, with my sleeping bag in 3 inches of water.

last night charlie and i climbed into bed early, with tea, and books, and henry snuggled between us. it was perfect. must do that more often. have i mentioned i love our quilt?

tuesday was better than monday and wednesday's looking even better. i've calmed down a bit, gotten a ton of work done and charlie's picking my book up for my at the bookstore today. (5th trip. a little ridiculous, no?) he's awesome. really, really awesome. i should bake him a cake or something. or cook him a steak. dudes, like meat.

I believe ...

... that what really matters is not where you are but who you're with.

... in starting every day with a hot cup of coffee. ... in saying "I love you" every chance you get.
... in doing everything outside.
... that everyone should have a dog at some point in their life. Hello, unconditional love.
... that it really is the little things that make life so amazing.
... in spending time alone.
... that relationships are hard and you have to work hard to keep them special.
... in dessert.
... that everyone has more than one soul-mate and that sometimes that soul-mate is a friend.
... that kisses from my dogs and hugs from my dude can make anything better.
... that sometimes you have to "leap before you look".
... that dinners in are much better than dinners out.
... in taking pictures, all the time, of everything.
... in reading fiction.
... in happy hours with my husband. Sometimes 5 o'clock is just too long to wait.
... that sunsets over the Rocky Mountains are the best.
... in beach days that start with a cup of coffee and end with a bonfire.
... in driving with the windows down.
... in tan lines.
... that you're never too old to play in the snow, or read a picture book, or eat cookie batter.
... in weekday hikes.
... that sometimes it's good to be scared shitless.
... in drinking champagne for no reason.
... that you have to believe in yourself.
... in living in the moment.
... that my dogs have taught be more about how to live life than most people I know.
... that Valentine's Day should be celebrated. Without flowers.
... that a part of me will always be 8 years old.
... in colored Christmas lights.
... in being happy with where you are right now.