Twenty Six

Today is my 26th birthday

I totally dig my age.  Because my husband is younger and I am a cougar.  DONT YOU DARE BURST MY BUBBLE; IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

I would also like to note that at 26, I look much younger than my younger husband.  Translation= I get carded way more often than he does and sometimes he has to buy this cougar a beer. 

But seriously, I like where I am.  I like what I have become , even in the last year, but with a long way to go.  I feel like I finally found things that make me feel alive.  Like my husband.

My husband who brought this in the bathroom this morning while I was doing my hair

I must have requested powdered donuts for my birthday months ago when we were at Buc-ee’s.  Mostly because today is the only day I can justify eating them…or eating as many of them as I plan to eat.

Husband remembered.  Husband rules.

To celebrate today, I thought I would catch you up on my list 

As of today, I have a year to complete the rest when I turn 27 on the 27th next year (run on much?).  What’s that called?  Golden year or something?  I never really planned it out that way, I just knew I couldn't finish the list by today, so I gave myself an extra year which works out fine since I make the rules here.

#1: I did some botch re-designing of the blog by myself because I was sick of the old hubbub.  It was so busy and I could never pick something that was completely me; everything was fabricated and I don’t know html and all of that rubbish.  So, I stripped it down to some plain colors.  But I really like it.  And! I am happy to report that Frett Farnell and I have been working on a new design and it should be up…um…before my 27th birthday.  I’m also working on a new / different direction for this blog; just sort of thinking about the content; not writing what I think you want to read, but writing for what I will want to read in days/weeks/years to come.

#2:  We don’t get the newspaper, so I often miss out on the cross-word puzzle attempts.  I got going on one last night that I snatched from the Sunday paper last week, but then I set it down while I did dishes and got it soaking wet.  Probably better that way.  I like to do them on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays, because they just get harder as the week goes on.  I gotta start easy. 

My grandmother, Goggle, is a crossword prodigy.  Can you be a prodigy at 86? 

I shout out a clue, she knows the answer without hesitation…tsars, authors, who invented the oboe, song titles, missing lyrics…all of it.   So, this thing on my list was inspired by her.  She swears that a cup of coffee and a crossword a day has made her into the sharp 86 year old woman she is.  I adore her and I’m glad I have picked up her habits.  I’m due for a coffee refill as we speak.  And speaking of coffee, maybe you should get some too, because I think this post could get way too long.

#3:  Ok, I didn’t just join a book club.  I started one with some of my girlfriends and their friends and it is going to be the best night of my month.  This month we are reading The Help.  If you’re into reading and wine and friends and laughing and making fun of Twilight, you belong with us.  Email me if you’re interested in joining.  We would LOVE to have you, even if you read Twilight.

#4: Waiting for summer, for perfect weather, for the perfect day to go sailing. 

#5: I have my application in for Lifehouse; I am just waiting to hear when they need me.  I am really excited to be a part of their ministry; to build relationships with the girls who live there.  To help them know they are loved and will be taken care of.  And then to teach them things they need to know to care for a baby (halt.  No babies in 2010 (or 2011 or 2012 OR 2013…and then maybe MAYBE we’ll talk about it).  That’s the motto around our place.  I do not have baby on the brain) like cooking/baking, cleaning, life skills …and I can teach them a lot of that, but I am more interested in what they’ll teach me.

#6: I’m not saying a word.

#7: DC and I decided it is hopeless slash not worth our time to fix my laptop. We are stripping it clean so we can get rid of it.  Do you know someone that needs a computer?  It works perfectly, I just lost all of my stuff on it, got it fixed, and decided instead of starting anew, I would hop on DC’s computer when needed.  If you know someone (a legit someone, not like you need another laptop in your house because the other 3 are always occupied.  Go outside.) who needs it, email me and we’ll get it to you.

#8: I have been working on running so much that I haven’t been to the gym (Houston seems to think it is Spring currently with a high of 75ish), but, I have an itch to get back there.  I have looked into the testing for the personal training license and talked to some friends who have theirs.  Once I spend enough time in the gym and do some reading and feel like I could be a competent/credible/legit (I don’t know what word I am looking for) trainer, I will look into signing up to take the test

#9: We are going on a trip in February to somewhere I have never been, and it will be a very new/exciting/patience-testing experience for me.  Not so much for the others going, but mostly for me.  I am excited to go, to experience it, to learn, to grow as a person thinking I can do something instead of thinking I can’t.  I wish I could say this is going to be a trip with great benefit, like going to help in Haiti, but it’s not.  Regardless, I have never been and I know I will learn a lot.  By the way, have you given to Haiti yet?  They found a survivor in the rubble yesterday!

#10.  See yesterday’s post.  I think I am a better painter than I thought.  Not that I’m good, but you can at least tell what my painting is.  The thing about painting is I actually really really like to do it, even if it doesn’t turn out very well.  We hung one of my pieces in the bathroom.  I consider that a very honorable spot for a painting; somewhere where people sit and contemplate.  Enough of that.

#11: My mom has recently turned into a free spirit jet setter.  She drives to random places with her friends.  My dad takes her on the best trips.  I called her one Saturday night and she told me she was packing to drive from Houston to Washington, D.C. with my brother the next day.  So, it’s not like I have to talk her into it.  I just need to pick a time and a place!

#12: New job.  This is a hard one.  I have applied for a couple and not gotten them since making this list.  It’s a scary thing putting yourself out there like that; making it known that you are interested in something and that yes, indeed, you will be upset if you are not chosen. 

But here is what I know.  Maybe, 3 years ago, when I started this job, I was made for it.  I was made for listening to the yelling and screaming all day and doing something about it.  Trying anything to make the person happy again.  But, I am not made for this anymore.  I have gotten married and tried TONS of new things, and I have transformed, and what I was 3 years ago is not what I am today.  I am glad I’ve changed, but the job isn’t going to change with me, and it’s just not a fit anymore. 

So, ask me the inevitable, “What do you want to do?” 

Devin asks me that probably 3 times a week.  And this is what I think…I want to keep helping people.  There is no doubt that it is what my heart is passionate for.  I want to do something unique.  I want to have the freedom to do what I do outside or inside, at morning or night, and revolve my job around my life as opposed to revolving my life around my job. 

I love having my blog.  I love running, biking, being active.  I love to read.  I love to cook and bake.  I love to talk to people / meet new people (I LOVE your emails and comments), I am really enjoying trying new things…I just feel like there is so much I could do if I would figure out what some of that “so much” is.

And what about that advice people always tell you?  The stay away from toxic people advice?  What if you work with that sort of people?  What if you’re exposed to that every day, and work is the majority of your day, and you end up spending the majority of your life surrounded by people who just aren’t good for you?  Then what?  How does that help me become the best person I can be?

I’m hoping to figure something out in the next year.  I am praying for something to come up that I cannot turn down that I just have to go for and risk it to do it. 

#13: I have decided to change this one too, but I don’t know what I will change it to either.  Here’s the thing.  I can’t hang with Devin on a bike.  He has sequoia legs made of muscle and I have twigs.  He rides about 30 times faster than me.  If we find a casual ride to do, maybe we’ll get around to doing this.  Yes, so I won’t change it yet.

#14: This may be the last thing I do on this list.  I don’t have a clue as to what I could possibly make that someone would actually want to buy on etsy.  Maybe something will come up, but don’t look for me to cross this off any time soon.

#15: If I have to get a puppy by my 27th birthday, it’s not going to happen.  Are you crying your eyes out like I am?  I have never had a dog in my life.  I graciously say that and leave out the fact that I found a dog in college and was strongly encouraged to give her away by two people who will remain nameless who were still paying for my college and my apartment and my car and everything else..  I cried all the way from San Marcos to Houston with her asleep on my lap before I had to give her to an obese family and I just hope that dog is happy.  Little Berkley.  I guess I didn’t graciously leave that story out, did I?  But, Devin and I will still be in our apartment by January 2011, and it is just not appropriate for a dog to get enough exercise, so, I won’t be getting one until at least March of 2011 if not later.  However, if we have any more break-ins in the apartment complex, I may get DC to reconsider.  I am going to change this goal to something else, but I haven’t figured out what yet.

#16: Remember when I said I wrote something for my favorite patient’s book?  The publisher emailed saying my excerpt will be published within the book.  I thought it was just some promo thing or something.  I don’t know what I thought it was.  It’s just a few short paragraphs, but I count it.  I never thought I would actually cross this off of my list.  Ever.

#17: It seems like Devin and I have our good and bad days with waking up early.  When we do it, we love the extra time, but there are days when we just have to get the extra half hour.  I do know that I am pretty much not a morning worker-outer.  Every time I do something active in the mornings before work, I am a) hungrier than any hippo and b) nauseous.  For whatever reason it makes me sick.  So, I stick to evening runs, afternoon bike rides.  I am looking forward to summer when we have hours and hours after work to be outside.  Anyway, I am drawn to spend time reading and being with God, but there is a lack of effort to do that to start my day, and I need to fix.

#18: Tons.  So cool.  We have lots of these.  2 of them are going on our trip in February.  I am so excited for that.  I am so excited to have girlfriends.

#19: I still haven’t been able to do this.  It’s pretty much impossible to make myself do this.  Something is wrong with me.  I just cannot walk into a store, see a dress that I love and fits perfectly, and pay $180 for it.  Or even $90.  For a daily wear dress.  I cannot do it.   Maybe I learned it from my mother.  Every time I go shopping with her, she says she is going to buy something extravagant.  She never does. I never do. 

I have to say, I don’t mind this part of me.  The part that stops and thinks and really weighs the option before I buy more STUFF.  I like that part of me.  I think it is so important in marriage to be able to do that; to decide you just don’t need it; to know it’s not just your money.  Here’s something profound- rethinking your purchases while you walk around the store will majorly help your credit card debt.  And the amount of junk in your house.  Just sayin’. 

I like that part of me.  But, I still want to cross this off of my list.  I said I would do it, so…Lu, let’s go buy something extravagant!

#20: For Christmas, my brother Alex got me a class at the Houston Center for Photography (don’t even talk to me about his photography…it is beautiful and brilliant and he is so talented.  I did not get such talent).  I am finally learning how to work our camera properly instead of just pushing buttons to see what happens, and I am trying to use it all the time.  Plus, I shot Avery and Benny and Addison so this is crossed off, my friends.

#21: I have run? ran? two 5Ks since making my list!  I have a 10K on March 13th, and I went ahead and crossed out that I am not a runner, because I run 3-5 times a week and I love it.  So, I think I am a runner.  This is another one I never would have dreamed I would cross off.  I never thought I would run the way I do now.

#22: I think DC is doing better with this than I am.  I taught him the alphabet, and he’s getting really good.  I’m not sure how I plan to approach this one, but it may just require some classes or videos or something.  I just think sign language is the coolest language in the world.  Random story- I was in NYC with my brother and his old roommate, Collin…we were at McSorley’s and Collin goes to sit with this table of random people and all of the sudden, he is talking fluently in sign language.  Alex and Collin had lived together for a couple of years and Alex never knew Collin was taking sign language lessons every Monday.  We couldn’t get over it.  I’d like there to be some mystery about me like that.  But I guess it can’t be sign language since I just told you.

#23: Maybe I learned it from my dad, but there is nothing I love more than when we pull up to a railroad crossing with a train coming.  I roll all of the windows down and close my eyes and listen to the sound of the cars fly by.  I never have a camera when a train comes.  Never.  Why?!

When I was little, we would go see Goggle in Pagosa Springs, CO and we would take the Durango to Silverton train.  I just remember how I couldn’t stop looking out the window at the mountains and waterfalls.  When we got back, we would put pennies on the railroad for the next trains coming.  Those trains plain ole flatten those pennies.  It’s so cool.  I want to do that again, but, with as much travel as we have planned already, any train ride will suffice.  AND!  I want an engineer hat to wear during the ride, but that’s a minor request.

#24.  Way. Behind. But here is one I use pretty much daily:

“A man’s wisdom gives him patience.  It is to his glory to overlook an offense” Proverbs 19:11

I love that.  It reminds you to just overlook what that woman just said about you to your face.  Surely she didn’t mean you were fat when she said it.  Right?

#25: DC is so happy every time I put mushrooms into something.  I only eat them half the time.  I find that I really like them raw in a salad, but something about cooked mushrooms makes me dry heave.   However, I love raw oysters.  Go figure.

#26:  June 4-6, 2010  Party in the city where the heat is on.  Wait, we’re not going to Miami.  Is there a song for where we’re going???  Maybe I could just say [insert fist pump]

#27: With everything I have, and everything else that goes on in the world, and everything I have become, and everything I get to see and do, I refuse to let a day pass  without thanking the good Lord for my life and for deciding to bless me with the things he has.  I don’t deserve it.

And with that, I am thankful for another year of LIFE.