29.

I don't know if you know this, but I recently celebrated a birthday. And I promise I will stop talking about it. Soon. ish.

29. It's interesting being 29. I started freaking out when I turned 28. Not because it had anything to do with being 28, but because it made me think about 29. Why was I anxious about 29? Because next comes 30. 30 just seems so grown-up. And I don't always feel so grown-up.

Perhaps it's because of where I was when I turned 28. I had just moved into a new place. All. by. myself. And I didn't have a job, with very few options presenting themselves. I was driving a 10 year old car that was hanging on by a thread. The potential catastrophes that laid before me sat very heavy on my heart. Sometimes I could physically feel the pressure.

Luckily, I have amazing parents. Completely supportive and thoroughly convinced of my success in life. They handled my freak-outs and made me realize that while I was/am single, I am definitely not alone. That is comforting to even the most independent person. Because of them, I was able to keep it cool in front of everyone else. Otherwise I may not have been very fun to hang around all last summer and into the fall.

A job did come around. A job that I adore, with people that I respect. And there's so much to learn. And I'm learning. My car did die. It has been resurrected and is living a new life with my twin bro, but we had to part ways. I cried. And my new car just isn't the same, but I'm dealing. Living by myself hasn't been so scary. I've renewed my lease and will be hanging out with just the cats for at least another year. So, while I didn't begin 28 in the best of places, I'm content with where it ended.

That brings me back to 29. My last year before I'm a real grown-up at 30. I'm starting 29 in a comfortable place. I'm comfortable with my job, my home, my car, my friendships. Comfortable with my life. But we all know that comfortable can lead to complacent. And given that I'm such a creature of habit, comfortable can be a scary place for me. So, my goal for this year? Break out of my comfort zones.

With 30 around the corner, I have to get serious about what I really want in life as a grown-up. It's time to man-up and make plans. Otherwise, I'm going to be 40 living this exact same life, and while I think it's completely okay for a 29 year old, not so much for a 40 year old... Wish me luck!

Pre-Birthdays, Birthdays, and Birthday Do-Overs

Hands down, I have the best family and friends around. I am so incredibly blessed.

I turned 29 on July 12. Surprisingly, I am very okay with this. At this moment, I am actually looking forward to my 30s. I'm kind of *so over* my 20s. I do, however, reserve the right to change that opinion. Especially 6 months from now.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I like to celebrate my birthday. A lot. My goal in life? To have my birthday declared a National Holiday. National Jamie (and Jay) Day has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Each year another year of Jamie (and Jay) is rung in with much celebrating. First, there's the Annual Jamie and Marianne's Pre-Birthday Celebration in DC. This year was our 5th. My dear friend Marianne celebrates her birthday on July 16. We've been friends for 10 years now (crazy!), and have spent many of those years celebrating our birthdays together. Originally, this was done on C.A.R. Regional Tour. After our C.A.R. days had come to a close, Marianne moved to DC. I always find myself in DC around our birthday because of DAR, so what better reason for a bunch of our C.A.R. friends to get together than to celebrate us? These celebrations are usually nights of much shenanigans and debauchery, though this year was quite tame. Maybe we are finally maturing in our old age (29/26)? Ruth came up from Staunton, VA for the evening and we were joined by other TX former C.A.R. and some DAR friends. We hit up Iron Horse Tap Room, which was quite fun... even though Ruth broke my favorite flip flops and I had several bruises on the backs of my legs afterward. The pre-birthday was also celebrated with cupcakes on the 4th made by former intern Kaylee and being treated to dinner by Anne and Shannon at M&S grille.

Next, was my actual birthday. I had originally planned to celebrate in Austin with a happy hour with some friends, but that plan obviously changed once my mom went into the hospital. For the first time in years, I spent my birthday with my twin brother... even though there were no presents or even birthday cake on our actual birthday. My dad had left our presents at the lake house and no one had thought about a cake. I ended up going to dinner with Emily, which was very much what I needed. Afterwards, there ended up being quite the impromptu party at our casa, which turned around an otherwise abyssmal day.

My mom did get out of the hospital that day, and I got my birthday present when I went to visit the lake the next day. My great birthday present from the folks? A blender. That's right, a blender. Oh, and some cash. The reason why I was upset about the blender? I wanted a crock pot! No lie. I really thought that's what I was going to get after we had discussed the usefulness of a crock pot when Lindsey received 3 at a wedding shower this spring. But I do appreciate the thoughtfulness of my parents when they thought I could use a really nice blender to make fruity, frozen drinks.... something they thought I did often, but didn't realize it was only ever done at the lake. Oh well, they try.

I finally made my return to Austin that Thursday and was greeted at Trudy's by some friends, all planned by my cousin Bunker who was visiting Austin for the weekend. Andrea brought me a yummy Hey, Cupcake! and Bunker got me a Mexican Martini, definitely making up for a lackluster birthday. I have also been treated to birthday lunches by cousin Becky and Great Aunt Catherine, and have future dinners/lunches to look forward to with some of my favorite former co-workers, Sarah and Travis.

Last night I celebrated an official Birthday Do-Over with a happy hour at 219 West with some friends, and it was quite a success. It was fun to see many of my worlds collide: high school, Lufkin, DAR, Capitol, and political. Elizabeth brought yummy Delish cupcakes and I was treated to the very yummy treats they serve at 219 West (mini bugers and mini corn dogs... MMMM). Afterwards, Andrea and I decided to end the evening with a little champagne and a peaches and creme dessert at Cru. Absolute perfection.

So, I think it's safe to say that year 29 has been fully celebrated. I'm so grateful for everyone that has helped me embrace my last year of my 20s whether in person or spirit. It's been fun! And it's helped me forget about some of the more not-so-fun things that have been happening in my life.... so thanks!

While I was away...

Madelyn turned 3! I can't believe how big my precious niece is getting!

It was great to spend a few days with her last week in Lufkin. She has started sleeping in a big girl, so I have gained a new roomie when I'm in town. There are now two twin beds in my room at my parents' house, so we figured that's the best room for Mady to sleep in so someone else is in the room with her and she doesn't try to wander downstairs in the middle of the night. Well, Mady is a snuggler, which I love, but I don't love sleeping in a twin bed with a 3 year old who loves to toss and turn. So, I start out the night snuggled with her and just as soon as she falls asleep, I get in the other bed. This confuses her when she wakes up in the morning and asks why I'm not in bed with her... but she'll learn to deal.

She has also become quite the swimmer. She feels pretty comfortable with her floaties on, and LOVES to jump off the diving board. I am completely amazed with how fearless she is! We had a little scary incident when leaving the pool one night and I was worried that it would effect her love for swimming, but she immediately asked if she could go swimming when she woke up the next morning so I think she's going to be fine.

So Happy (very belated) Birthday, Mady Marie! Love my niece to pieces!

Recovery

I'm recovering.

It's been quite a two weeks.

10 days in DC for DAR Continental Congress. Paging at the Shoppe from 8 am - 4 pm every. day. Quality time with my biffles/biffcars/biffdars... including a visit with every Royal Roomie (minus one Becca Grawl).

Then the bottom fell out. Mom went into the hospital on Thursday 7/8 with fluid in her lungs. She lost 15 lbs in 24 hours. It's congestive heart failure. They also discovered that a valve in her heart is functioning at 20%. She'll probably need surgery. We will know more after her check-up today. They have to get her meds regulated correctly for the congestive heart failure before they can proceed further.

Flew back to Texas on my birthday (7/12), went straight to Lufkin. Mom was released from the hospital that night. Celebrated my 29th with hospital visits, car break downs, and emotional break downs. Luckily, we have some pretty great friends who helped turn the day around. They even baked Jay and I cake (out of mix and ingredients that had been in our pantry for at least 10 years. I didn't eat the cake, but it's the thought that counts).

Car. My "new" car. Thought the transmission was going, but it turned out to be the spark plugs. Then I took it to the shop to get the alignment done, and that went from costing $59 to $1400 and took a full day of labor.

Then there was the fraudulent, accidental $1300 charge to my debit card. I love that it takes only a day to deduct a charge but 5 business days to put it back.

Thought about declaring another birthday and skipping my 29th year all together, but things have started to settle down. At least for now.

A Month of Mocktails

I can't believe July is already here! Where did June go? It will be fall before we know it, and after that it will be Session. Time continues to move faster and faster.

So I decided sometime in May that I wasn't going to drink the month of June. My body needed me to dry out a bit after the many, many social functions I attended from February-May where alcohol was involved. It actually was really easy, and I only succumbed twice, but both were very special occasions.

I rarely have alcohol in my apartment, so I didn't miss drinking on a day to day basis. I thought I would miss drinking when I was out and about being social, but that turned out to not be the case at all... in fact, I was even able to manage an evening at Jim Ann's in Lufkin with only drinking club soda and lime. If you're going to be tempted to have a cocktail, it's definitely going to be in your home town when you run into several old acquaintances. I also survived an evening of drinking games at Phillip's last weekend while sipping on my cranberry and sprite. It was quite entertaining to watch everyone else get tipsy, I'm pretty sure I've never laughed so hard.

I also saw a few health benefits of not drinking this month. I lost 6 pounds! This probably doesn't seem like a lot to most people, but I can not even begin to tell you how hard it is for me to lose any kind of weight. Of course, this wasn't strictly from not drinking alcohol, it was from the healthier life choices that came with not drinking... eating healthy and being more consistent with exercise. So the month of no drinking was a definite success.

This morning started off with a nice little surprise... a bomb threat to the Capitol. This is our second threat in 3 weeks. I can't really complain because I didn't have to come into work until 10 and was able to finish packing and getting everything together for my trip to DC. Speaking of DC, I leave this evening for Houston and fly to DC tomorrow morning (for DAR) and will be there until my birthday (July 12)... so there will definitely be no blogs posted for awhile. Sorry guys!

I have gotten completely sucked into the World Cup. Very sad that Brazil just lost, that was Carolyn's team and today is her birthday. Looking forward to seeing Uruguay and the three hot Diegos play this afternoon. Have I mentioned my favorite part of the game is at the end when they take off their shirts? Ha ha.

Enjoy your 4th of July weekend! Kind of cool that I'm going to be spending the holiday in our Nation's Capitol, it's so patriotic of me.