It's my birthday...and I'll do NOTHING if I want to!

Yes, world.  It is in fact my birthday.  But not just any birthday...it is my Golden Birthday!  Turning 26 on the 26th!  I know its not THAT big of a deal, but I take every chance I get to take a little celebration and make it GIGANTIC.  This is going to sound like a surprise to a lot of you, but I love when things are all about me...the irony in all of this, is that I was nervous as hell (tears even) on my wedding day because it was all about me.  Go figure.  Well anyways, I have successfully spent the last 5 days at work completely unmotivated to do any sort of work, and I didn't feel bad about it for one second.  I work really hard (most of the time) so I gave myself a little bit of a break this week.

It's funny because birthdays are kind of like vacations.  The anticipation of them coming is awesome.  You think about how much fun you are going to have celebrating with friends and family.  You look forward to it all week long.  Then your birthday comes, the day is amazing (or several days if you know how to milk it), and then its all over.  You are officially one year older, and you have to wait another 365 days until your birthday comes around again.  At this point, I am still embracing the birthday, but pretty soon I will stop keeping track and it will become just another day on the calendar.

So with each birthday, you can't help but ruminate on how much (or how little) has changed since the prior year.  Last year at this time, I was engaged...freaking out about the impending wedding.  We had only been in our house a few months.  We didn't have Finn yet.  I was driving an orange SUV (I miss that car, but not the paint job).  I was in a good place, but I was stressed.  Now thinking about this year, we still don't have art on our walls.  The bathroom has been painted (and repainted).  I still can't drive a manual car.  My hair is a lot longer.  My friendships are stronger.  And we are happily married. 

I am excited to see what this year will bring.  New ventures in our personal life.  New ventures in work.  I love getting a blank slate and getting to start over.  I have to deal with the fact that I am now a cougar for the next 4 months as Mike is, and will always be, younger than me; a reality that may take a life time to accept. 

But at any rate, bring on 26...this is going to be my best year yet!!  :)