I have been in my new condo for about six months and my neighbors and I joke that it is kind of like living in a dorm. We are often in the hallway talking and in and out of each others places providing advice on who to use for electrical work or admiring our latest home improvement project. We run errands, chat over tea, laugh over cocktails, and invite each other to dinner parties and barbeques. Now it is not like this throughout the whole building (though everyone is amazingly nice for the most part) or even our whole floor, but in our little corner of the world we might as well all be undergrads.

Last night was one of those times when one of our chats a few days earlier turned into an invite to a weekend dinner party. As I sat in my neighbors home the difference in my life here immediately hit me. I sipped on the mojito my neighbor had mastered a few weeks before after I shared my secret recipe and methods for making what is my ultimate favorite drink. I helped a friend that was attending the party practice her English as I practiced my Spanish.  The friends husband sang songs in Spanish and English to entertain the small group with his guitar. We laughed, ate and joked with this multicultural mix of people from all different ethnic groups. In DC I didn’t often do things like this because I had so little time at home last minute plans just didn’t happen. And besides hi, I never spoke to the people I lived next to when I actually was in town. This hopefully is a sign that the scales of life are becoming more even and that I truly made the right decision. One thing is for certain, it is great to live in the moment…

So for this month’s celebrating life I decided to take it back to a time before I lived in this area. For the last 3 or 4 years every labor day my sister and I would come to New York to shop, eat at our favorite restaurants, and hang out with our friends. We always would try some place new and fun, laugh and reminsce over a great meal with our friends that lived in the NYC area. So for my celebrating life I invited my friends and we celebrated another month for me in true fashion just like we have every year before. It was the perfect finale to the summer, to this phase in my career and the perfect toast into whatever the future holds. Here’s to Celebrating Life!

This time last year, I was planning for my first Half Birthday Celebration. Tired of never having anyone to celebrate with because of the Christmas holiday, I decided to celebrate in June instead. See the post here This is now going to be an annual girls night tradition. This year I plan to head into Manhattan to my  new favorite restaurant for some Caribbean food and then to catch the off Broadway play Platanos and Collard Greens. This years celebration is very different from last years but goes in line with what my typical monthly Celebration of Life activities have been like. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes…

As far as the first 30 weeks of being 30 lets see how I did with my list:

Things that happened pretty regularly:

• Celebrating Life on the 28th- It has pretty much become routine that I do something on the 28th every month. It  may just be dinner or drinks with my roommate/sister but I celebrate it every month.
• Find a new site, restaurant etc. - Since I moved shortly after starting my list and I travel every month for work this was pretty easy to accomplish. I think it will be a little harder to maintain once I settle into my town and things stop being so new.
• Call a friend or family member that I haven’t talked to once a week - I am planning a huge family reunion so I have talked to people I have never talked to in my life recently.

Big Changes, Plans etc.

• Well as you know from a previous post I purchased a home so I have already accomplished something on my list and I am now living in a city and state that I never thought, even up to 12 months ago, that I would live in. Our lives can take us in such interesting directions! I also applied to a graduate program and will be entering graduate school in the fall. My main goal for my 30s was to achieve balance in my life. To that end, I will become a full time student and leave the organization where I have worked the last five years when I start graduate school. This means a decrease in my travel and hopefully I will be able to focus more time on my studies and personal life. Besides my friends, my job was the last tie to my life in DC and the last bit of my “pre-beginning at 30 list” past life. I am basically starting all over which is a little scary and exciting all at the same time….

So 30 weeks have flown by. The list is working even if I haven’t accomplished everything consistently I feel like they will get done eventually. I have accomplished way more than I could have even thought or planned in 30 weeks. Imagine what I can do with 30 months!

As I reflect on this year since my Half Birthday Party the amount of change is unbelievable. I am excited to start this completely new phase of my life: a new decade, a new city, a new home, a new phase of education, a new career. If I finally started that easy to follow exercise routine on my list maybe I would even have a “new body” to go with all this newness :-) 

It’s great to know that I have a friend that will drop everything and go to great lengths to be a friend’s side in their time of need.

Thenera flew from Portland to New Jersey to Dallas and was willing to fly from Dallas to Los Angeles and take the red-eye back to New Jersey (thankfully, she didn’t have to make that fast trip).

Again, it was great to be together again - to fuss about everything, to blame each other for getting lost, to say “why are you eating that” and then ask if you can have a piece, and then to laugh until it hurts and tears are rolling down your cheeks.

Nothing beats a good buddy!

Hopefully we will get to see each other again in a couple of weeks - if everything works out I’ll be in New York next weekend.

I’m sure there will be plenty of smack-talking, fussing, blaming and laughing - I can’t wait!!!

I called a customer service number and the operator was having trouble hearing me because my phone kept cutting in and out. I guess she got frustrated and thought she was dealing with a child - so she said “put your mother on the phone!”

I said “I’m not a child, I’m 30 YEARS OLD!”

That’s the first time that I’ve used my age as a badge of honor.

Yep, I said it loud and proud “I’m 30 YEARS OLD!”

And you know what, it felt good. Maybe I’m turning a corner…

We’ll see.

From lost luggage, trains breaking down to canceled flights it always happens to me. And some of it I am sure I bring on myself because I don’t have enough time in the day to do all the things I need to accomplish. Like tonight as I sit in this hotel I am wondering if it is Karma or just God trying to tell me to STOP TRAVELING SO MUCH and work on my work/life balance!

I am in Arizona and I can not get on Pacific time to save my life. So since I arrived on Monday, I wake up at 5 am and can’t get back to sleep. But then at night I end up flipping channels because I can’t fall asleep. But up to this point I had not been tired during the day so it seemed to not matter. I even began to rationalize that it was good because I was able to work with my colleagues out East in the morning and still have a full day out West. When did I turn into this crazy workaholic that would even consider this to be a reasonable explanation for not getting enough sleep?

So today once again I awoke bright and early and finally a few hours later made the two hour drive to Tucson from Phoenix for a lunch meeting. When making my arrangements it seemed like a good idea to just drive back from Tucson in the afternoon rather than stay the night and drive in the morning. I am not usually a morning person and I have an early meeting in the morning in the Phoenix area. But of course as soon as I arrive in Tucson I am EXHAUSTED!!!! Through lunch and every conversation I can barely stop from yawning. What is wrong with me! So not professional…

And after what I thought would be a quick phone call with my office in DC before heading back to Phoenix (but what turned out to be a painful and draining experience) the thought of getting back on the road at 5pm Pacific (8 pm Eastern) seems like the last thing I want to do.

But I do it. I drink a Venti coffee from Starbucks and sing at the top of my lungs to keep my eyes open during the drive. Finally, I arrive at my new hotel for the night. Only to learn that I made the reservation for July!!!! Are you kidding me! Side Note: My job is having a meeting in AZ on these same dates in July. Since I have planning that meeting on the brain I chose July instead of April when making my reservation…Can I go home now?

Luckily they had a room for the night but they are sold out for tomorrow. So after searching online I was able to make a reservation for tomorrow at another hotel. Which would be my third hotel this trip. I have got to do better.

I set a goal to achieve more work/life balance in my 30s and so far I am not doing good at all. I thought working from home would help with that but I seem to be working more and harder than I ever did when I went into the office everyday. People who are also telecommuters have told me it takes awhile to adjust. When this trip is over I plan to start over with the balance thing. And to make sure I look more closely at my hotel confirmations!

His mother and I were cleaning up my apartment for my final walk-thru the next day when he shouts…”What a beautiful picture! Can I have it?” Thinking this was similar to the keychain or pennies he found earlier, I turned to see what was his newest treasure. Taken from a pile of papers, he found a picture of me smiling at the camera. Nothing special, just me cheesing.

“Can I have it Godmommy?” (Yes he calls me that…he refuses to call me anything else)

“It is such a beautiful picture.” He stated looking down at my smiling face.

For all the times my heart has been broken or my self-esteem shattered, his simple and unconditional love made up for it. I can’t wait to tell him about this when he is older and too cool to show how much he loves his Godmommy!

I laughed and said of course. His smile nearly took over his face, his huge dimples in full exposure.  He ran to tell his mother to place it in her purse so he could make sure it went home with him…Did I mention how great I think he is?

1. Kidd Kraddick - from Kidd Kraddick in the Morning a local morning radio show.

2. Danity Kane - from P. Diddy’s Making the Band

Rarely in life do you get to see your two favorite things come together at one time.

Yes, tomorrow morning at 8:30 am, Danity Kane will be in the Kidd Kraddick in the Morning studios! The best part about it is that the Kidd Kraddick studios have huge picture windows where the audience can watch!!!

I can’t wait - I’m going to get to see Danity Kane up close and personal.

I’m so, so excited!

Hopefully I will be able to get “One Shot” with the girls. Oh joy!

Why does this make me so happy? I don’t know, but it does!!!