Monthly Archives: November 2011

Happy Birthday!

My blog is officially one year old!

In the last year, I’ve written over 130 posts.

This site has been visited almost 21,000 times.

Visitors left almost 500 comments.

My most popular post received 7,200 hits and 116 comments and was Freshly Pressed.

I covered a wealth of life moments worth remembering.

All in all, I would call this little project of mine a success.

Since it’s my blog’s birthday, it must also be my 25th birthday.

My 25th birthday started with home-cooked breakfast.

Then, a collection of Firehook tarts greeted me when I arrived at work.

Then cards from friends at work, one of which meows “Happy Birthday” (the song).

Then flowers from my NYC BFF.

Then chocolates from my boss. And a card from my colleagues. And countless birthday wishes from friends and family via all manner of social contact.

I am one lucky gal.

Now that I’m 25 and the blog is 1, there’s a question I have yet to answer.

I thought I had decided, but now I’m not so sure.

To continue blogging, or not to continue blogging?

 

The Celebrations Begin

Last night my mom cooked dinner for my first birthday celebration of the week. She basically made Thanksgiving dinner. Seriously, here’s the table before the second half of the food was done:

We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, roasted butternut squash, rolls, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

It was actually Thanksgiving #2 of 4 for Hugh and me, since we had our annual Friends Thanksgiving Saturday night. Unfortunately, my crock pot met an untimely death mere feet from its destination and only the sidewalk got to enjoy my mashed potatoes.

Tonight the celebration continues with drinks-and-tapas with some wonderful friends whose dedication to happy hour is admirable.

I will likely spend my actual birthday (tomorrow) doing laundry, cooking for Thanksgiving #3 (aka actual Thanksgiving) and packing for Thanksgiving #4 (in Chicago on Saturday).

It’s a busy week, but it’s good to be reminded of how fortunate I am to have so many people to celebrate with. What a wonderful week to have a birthday.

How Things Change

A year ago I was planning this blog.

I sat down and thought about all the good reasons I had to chronicle the twentyfifth year of my life so that when I hit that dreaded quarter-century mark I would have less reason to freak out.

I thought it would be fun to look back in many years at what I was doing at age 24 — what I thought was important, who I spent my time with, what defined fun.

Turns out it’s been fun to look back only one year later, and it turns out that quite a bit has changed.

In the last year, I’ve captured some major life events

  • the celebration of my 24th birthday
  • my maid of honor duties for the BFF
  • thundersnow 2k11
  • my first — and so far only — photography class
  • Hugh’s 25th birthday superhero bash
  • a catastrophe in Japan and an ensuing paper crane craze
  • trips to San Francisco, Charleston, Blacksburg, Chicago, Tulsa, Florida, Rhode Island, and the beaches of North Carolina of course
  • an impulse decision and commitment to run a 10K
  • a new job
  • a new apartment
  • a big question and a new adventure.

All of those things have happened since November 22, 2010. How things can change in a year…

I used to crawl out of bed sometime on Saturday morning, ask Rebecca to make me coffee, then sit on the couch in my PJs as long as there was something entertaining on TV.

Now I wake up early on Saturday mornings, clean the kitchen, do laundry, have my coffee and work on (what else) wedding stuff. During the week, I stop for one drink after work and head directly home to bed. I grocery shop with a boy and for a boy’s appetite. I play Bunco with a bunch of girls once a month.

At one point I loved this blog so much that I never wanted it to end. I wanted to write every day and take pictures and post them every day. I’m realizing (since my last post was a month ago) that I just don’t have time anymore. But that’s a good thing, because this blog has served its purpose. I got to write about being 24, making hard decisions like what to have for lunch, spending time with my family while it’s still just the four of us and galavanting around with as little responsibility as I’ll ever have.

This is what life is like as I face turning 25 in just a few days and I just really couldn’t be happier.