Happy Birthday to me!

I do this every year. Make a post for myself on my birthday. This year I didn't really feel like it but hey, a tradition is a tradition. But I mean, I'm turning 29. It's kind of weird. It's the last year I have in my 20's. EVER. Unless I live to be 120, heaven forbid. And while I have some plans to make the year special, I still feel weird about it. But whatever, I hear that your 30's are a great decade. And whether or not I like it, I'm going to soon find out. So here's to one more year of "my youth!"

To commemorate I thought I'd do a good old fashioned list. (It could be as painful as adding 29 candles to a cake and lighting them all.)

-29 Things about me from the past 29 years-

1. I think about Armenia at least once a day, sometimes more.

2. I'm making plans to go back to Armenia in September 2015, God willing.

3. My natural hair color is blonde. Well, like a gold blonde. But I get highlights so I can feel beachy.

4. I only have 6 more states to visit: North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Alabama.

5. When I was 17 I went on a pioneer hand cart trek that lasted a week. We had to dress like pioneers, pull hand carts like pioneers, sleep and eat like them, cry and pray. This week changed my life.

6. I've kissed or been kissed by 16 guys. Not all of those were my fault! ;)

7. I had to sit here for a while and think about that and count it out.

8. I have several journals and I keep up on them all. One personal journal I've had since I was 17, a journal of on going letters for June and one fro Hazel, a journal where I write down things I love about Buck and then of course this blog, which feels like a family journal that I MUST get printing into books one day...

9. I collect plates and use them. When people visit for dinner, everyone has a different plate.

10. I used to have two pet ferrets named Mr. Hobbs and Jazz.

11. Now that I've had a pet dog for a couple years I have found out that I am primarily a cat person. Although I do love our dog, I just like cats the most.

12. I worked at a lodge at the north rim of the Grand Canyon for a season when I was 19 years old.

13. At which time I got to hike the entire Grand Canyon, rim to rim, in ONE DAY!

14. My first major in college was photography. It made me hate photography so I quit in the middle of the semester and picked up some pointless "career exploration" classes for credits.

15. I didn't really pick my camera back up until a few months after June was born. So it took six years to get over the trauma of hard college classes. ;)

16. I got my Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.

17. I got to test out of an Armenian language test to get the "of Arts" part. 

18. I've been to four continents: North America, South American, Europe, and Asia.

19. That's because I went to Brazil for a month after I graduated college. And I went to England and France with a school group when I was seventeen. And Armenia is technically on Asia. And because I live in North America. So there you have it!

20. I wanted to go on after college and work for Non Profits and travel the world helping people and all that stuff. I'm sure I would have worn TOMS shoes and poetic scarfs and constantly smelled like curry or something.

21. But alas I've had a lot of really lame and pointless jobs like dressing up as a cow and standing with a sign in the cold snow. Or selling Doritos to corn maze goers. Or making milk shakes for turkey hunters. There were a couple cool ones too like my internship at the Juvenile Corrections center and a girls residential treatment center. And waitress-ing. I actually liked that too.

22. I went to BYU- Hawaii for a summer term one time during college. I probably should have stayed there. I mean, I left Hawaii to go back to the frozen tundra of Rexburg Idaho...!!!

23. I lived in a pink house for ten years growing up. A pink house that my grandpa Dabel painted himself! It was the neighborhood land mark. I mean, it was PINK.

24. I HATE celery and onions. And really I don't like cooked peas. Or nuts in anything except a snickers bar. Honestly I'm not too crazy about bell peppers or cucumbers either. I guess I'm kind of a picky eater? Because I mean, why put sweet pineapples on a savory pizza? It's okay though because I'm excellent at picking things off and out that I don't want.

25. But I love flavor. If it's salty I want it salty. If it's sweet, pour on the sugar! If it requires sauce then cover my eggs in hollandaise and my noodles in marinara! My morning cream of wheat tastes like tapioca pudding and I have no shame.

26. I've completely given up on wearing high heels. I just can't walk in them and be all slinky and sultry like I'm suppose to.

27. Because I guess I'm a spaz. All those years of ballet were a waste. I hit my head on something at least four times a day and every time I eat I leave crumbs on my face like a toddler. Preeeetty classy stuff.

28. Speaking of ballet, I took dance classes for 13 years. I also took ice skating lessons, voice lessons, piano lessons, went to drama summer camp and a writers summer camp at a cabin. I was a passionate child who needed to explore her options, okay? Except the option of sports. I just can't get myself to care... sorry dad!

29. I won the "most sarcastic girl" award my senior year of high school. Which, if you knew me back then you would understand. I've calmed down a lot since then. :)

AND BONUS! Within four short years of marriage we have had two girls, bought a house, husband got his masters degree and a real job and .... yeah. We became, like, real adults. For the first time in my life I actually feel the age that I'm turning. Not that those things define age but it's more than that. I have some lines on my face now. I've done a lot in one decade. I'm pretty content most of the time. I just don't feel younger than I am right now. I really am just.... 29. WEIRD.

So anyway, Happy Birthday to me? Thanks to those of you who actually read this lame list. :) I hope you have a good day today too! Do it for me as a birthday gift. :)