holy crap.  26 doesn’t count as “late 20s” right??

right?

im pretty sure im still in my “mid 20s.” RIGHT?!

birthday sigh.

life is hard.

tomorrow i’ll officially be just 24 years away from 50.

plans include church and then lunch at olive garden with the family and then maybe some Mad Men after that. im telling you thisbecause it seems to be everyone’s favorite question when i tell them Sunday is my birthday. i say “ya, my birthday is sunday” and they say “oh. what are you doing for the big day?” and then i watch the look of disappointment come over their faces when they realize  i consider going to the olive garden to be exciting enough to do on my birthday.

have you people never tried their breadsticks?! i mean, for salad’s sake they’re FREE!

so anyway. ya. im not sure if i’ve turned into the 26-year-old i saw in my head back when i was picturing those sorts of things as though 26 was SO OLD.

i mean, i’ve got a job in the thing i (mostly) love, and it’s in the chicagoland area to boot – a dream that seemed impossible just a few short years ago.

on the other hand, im not like “financially stable” or anything.

i live in a great place with jill (who writes the nicest things about me that you can read here) and it comes with a garage, and a laundry room and a dog.

but, well, if for some reason jill ever decides to move, my butt would be living in a tent before i could say “black jack.”

i have an awesome phone and a (mostly) running car and even a fantastic blog (if i do say so myself).

but my mom pays my phone bill (thanks mom), my car sometimes sounds like a spaceship, and well. ya. actually my blog is pretty fantastic, isn’t  it? 🙂

over the last year ive lost a gall bladder, gained some earrings and learned how to be a youth group leader at my church. i’ve been blond, brunette and somewhere in between. i’ve stayed in the same house for almost 12 straight some months (you owe me $10 steve). and i’ve met my hero. (dooce).

i’ve managed to not get laid off in the worst recession EVER. (knock on wood). (no. seriously. please knock on some wood). (thanks). ive worked johnny depp into about 5,826 conversations. and ive created a pretty great vegan chocolate chip cookie recipie despite the fact that i’ve also decided i love cheese way too much to be vegan.

there was good and there was bad, but if you measure success by whether or not i made it to the other side, then id have to say year 25 was a success.

here’s looking to you 26. hope you don’t suck.