I'll be right back...

Just ran across May's post...MAY?  As in 2 months ago?  POST as in singular?  This is getting pathetic.  But I'm still here!  Here are the top 5 streamofconsciousness things occupying my life right now.  (After which, I will end this post, but I'll be back for more very soon!)

1. I started a new biz to help pay my SAHMomma grocery bill.  It is fun, busy, and consumes a lot of time--good thing I love eating, talking, typing, and reading FOOD!  Check it out over here

2. I am searching for all sources of kid-friendly water.  This includes but is not limited to: sprinkler parks, kiddie pools, water slides, backyard sprinklers, zoo geysers, botanical garden simulated rain showers, and two and a half glorious weeks of a (free) trial gym membership with three pools.

3. We celebrated Mommy-Rhet day on July 5th--ONE YEAR since I scooped up this little busy bee and took her to the guest home with me to love on forever!

4. I had a birthday on Monday.  Woohoo!  I don't mind getting older.  But my joints and back do.  ;)

5. In additional to sources of water fun, I've also spent a lot of time basking in the frozen glory of summer's best treats: Jerry's Sno Cones, YoLo gelato (hubs prefers the yogurt, but I can't switch back now that I've crossed over), Mama D's Italian Ice (we get ours at the Botanic Garden Farmers' Market), flavor ice pops from the Camp Highland counselor's only freezer, Rhet's "blue-top pops," also known as Target-brand "blast-off pops" (red, white, & blue), and Rhet's personal favorite...simple...no-frills...ICE CUBES.  As a direct result of all of this frosty deliciousness (and the repercussions of turning 32), my running hobby is about to kick into high-gear soon.  I hope.  :)

Don't go anywhere...I'll be right back...

The Dirt on Thirty

Ok, here's the truth:
I made it to Year Thirty.
I just like to keep you in suspense....

Conveniently, the last five years are aaaaall recorded on this here blog.
(Happy Belated 5-Year Anniversary, Your Mom's Blog!)
It's been quite amusing to watch myself grow up in blog posts.
And that's what is different about being 30, I think. I maybe feel as close to feeling "grown up" as I'm going to get? It was a shock each year in my 20's to realize that being grown up feels like..."this." And yet, looking back, I was still growing up all along.

I still am! I just "get it" now, I think?

YEAR TWENTY-FIVE:
(Our engagement day, October 10, 2005!)

Oh, look at this little girl.
So cute, thin, and happy.
There's the man that brought technicolor to her life,
holding that newly engaged hand.

I got married near the end of Year Twenty-Five. And Nick has helped me become the best possible version of myself in the last five years. I thought I had grown up and solidified my identity before I met Nick. I moved to a city where I had no friends my age and lived by myself, I got my first dog, I discovered my love of running. I honed my cooking skillz. I took swimming lessons to overcome my fear of going underwater. I was a grown. up.

And then I met this man. I want to say he changed my life. But he didn't--he just helped me to get to know myself better. These last five years, God has used my husband to refine me into someone who is truly okay with who He made me to be.

Fat face. That is what I think when I see myself in pictures. It's not necessarily a matter of weight gain or weight loss (although, there's always room for discipline in this sweet tooth's life!)...it is just what my "grown up face" looks like. I don't look like I'm 25 anymore. I don't think I'll ever look like that again. Cest la vie. But that's the point. I still like my face. Even when it looks like fat face, it's still MY face. That's what being 30 looks like for me so far. There is a serenity and peace and knowledge of myself that wasn't there 15, 10, 5 years ago. If this is what getting old(er) is like...I like it.

YEAR THIRTY
(July 16, 2010 @ Trolley Stop Market)

We celebrated with friends, pizza, and Muddy's cupcakes.

I had also made chocolate brownie cupcakes,
and they ended up like this in the parking lot
as they made their arrival:

Oh, it was sad for sure.
But it was no big deal.
I might have freaked if I was 25, but good heavens, not at 30.
Come on, now, we're all grown ups!
(Good thing we had the Muddy's.)

Earlier that morning, Nick had left me some freshly brewed coffee
and these little gems around the house:

Time stands still, indeed.
(Adoption Update: Still waiting!) ;)

Countdown to Thirty: Year Ten-ish

Welcome back!
The past 24-hrs have been pure childhood nostalgia bliss.
Well, not exactly, but I did manage to:

• Make a purple popsicle for myself (black cherry grape juice frozen in a mold--yesss)
• Listen to The Sound of Music via Grooveshark (try it out, people--free awesomeness!)
• Watch The Parent Trap. One of my supreme childhood favorites! (I have been compared to young Haley Mills in appearance before. Do you see it?)

YEAR TEN-ISH
1988-1991
I say ten-ish, because I cannot find a picture of myself at age 10,
and all of the funny antidotes I have are from age not-10.

Coming first: Less than age 10.
Cambridge, Ohio.
My mother made our Halloween costumes.
We were the California Raisins (check out my pink high tops).
As you can tell, we LOVED it.
(Cody is particularly mad because Mom made
the costumes by dying sheets she already had,
and he got the one that was checkered
because she ran out of solid-colored sheets.)

Next, also less than 10.
Still Cambridge, Ohio I think.
1. I think this pictures is funny.
2. If you've ever wondered what it's like to live in the North,
check out all those snow coats in the right corner.
3. In case you're missing it, my bangs ONLY were permed.
Oh, sweet 1980's.

Lastly, I think a little over 10?
Trumansburg, New York.
My parents each took a picture with me on the doorstep
of our current house on each birthday.
Can't remember which birthday this was, though.
Look at our fabulous style that is finally back in fashion.
Those are stonewashed denim overalls (with one strap hanging down).
(Cuffs rolled up, of course.)
Patterned denim jacket.
Fisherman's hat with a fake rose attached.
Patterned denim jumpsuit on Mom.
(Don't miss those rolled up tshirt sleeves.)
Yessss.

I also feel the need to tell you:
I took my first job during this era of my life in NY.
I had a paper route.
Bicycle and everything.
True story.

Last story doesn't have a photo to go with it, but it's a good one.

July 16, 1993 = My 13th Birthday

We had just moved from New York to Atlanta during my 6th grade school year. I hated the South. I missed my friends. People made fun of my accent. I went home sick from school one spring afternoon because it was too hot. I didn't play soccer but I wore Adidas Sambas, and people thought that was weird. What's a girl to do? My parents sensed my newly forming teenage angst...

Shortly before my 13th birthday, Mom & Dad presented me ceremoniously with a homemade card that said "Welcome to Adolescence." But being the 12 & three-quarters child I was, I had never read that word. So I sounded it out, reading, "Welcome to uh-desolantes." My parents got a pretty big kick out of that.

When I opened the card, I read that for my birthday gift, they were renewing my Girl Scout membership for the next full year. Uh oh. My friends were in Girl Scouts up North because there was nothing better to do than go camping in our little small town. But what my parents apparently didn't realize was that NO ONE with an ounce of coolness was in Girl Scouts in my current Southern school.

What to do?

Well, I did what any rising 13-year-old would do. I threw a teenaged fit.

My parents were highly entertained as a wailed and threw myself dramatically across my bed, telling them I would be the most unpopular girl in school. I tearfully begged not to be made to attend the weekly Girl Scout Meetings. Please please please, if they had any goodness in their hearts, would they please pretend they did not give me that gift?

They then gave me a second envelope, suppressing their laughter. I dried my melodramatic tears and pulled out a plane ticket to New York. They were sending me up for a weekend to see my old friends for their last week of school. There was a school dance I would attend with them. Then, the girls were headed out camping on a Girl Scout outing. You had to be a Girl Scout to attend the trip, though.

Womp womp. The joke was on me. Welcome to uh-desolants.

To celebrate this era of my life today, I will be Instant Netflixing a television show my parents (and the rest of America) were thoroughly enjoying during my ten-ish years: (appropriately entitled) "thirtysomething." And you'd better believe I'm listening to the album on the right column--the first tape I purchased with my own money! Hold on for one more day!

Countdown to Thirty

That's right, everyone. It's...Birthday Week!

This Monday morning started off a little rough--thunderstorms in the AM that kept this sad looking little booger up all night...
But sometimes Monday mornings just need a little coaxing.
"It's all right Monday...don't worry...it's all going to be okay...here, have a little coffee, sweetheart."

Now the prospect of Birthday Week has us looking like this:
Did someone say..."treat?"
Well, you're in for a treat this week too, my friends. Get ready for a 5-day blogging blitz.
I'm covering 5 years of my life per day, and by golly, we're counting up to THIRTY!

You're getting a two-fer today, because we have to start at the beginning.
(It's a very good place to start.)

ZERO YEARS OLD:
July 16, 1980. Lafayette, Indiana. It was 107 degrees.
I believe that is still the record high for July in Indiana. Monumental day!
(Does that baby even look like me??)

FIVE YEARS OLD:
My mom used to tell me that when she got really mad at me as a teenager,
she'd just remember the way I looked at age 3 to calm herself down.
Yes, I was really THAT cute.
But we've skipped all that--we have a lot of years to cover!
By age five, I was living in my third city: Columbus, Ohio.
This is me with my bff, Lori Murphy.
We went to preschool together.

I thought this picture was appropriate for sharing,
considering my new approaching life era...
We played "Moms" a lot.
We also couldn't get enough pretend grocery shopping.
(I STILL like grocery shopping!)

Our supreme hobby was acting out parts to
"The Sound of Music" as it played on VHS.
I got to be Maria and Rolfe.
Lori was Leisl & the Captain.
We fought over who got to be Gretl.

I caught the chicken pox from Lori, and subsequently missed
the Purple Popsicle Parade at preschool.
(Say it out loud--you know you want to.)

I'll be celebrating the first five years of my life today by
having MY OWN Purple Popsicle Parade
while singing through one of the greatest musicals ever!
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo!