31

31. I turn 31 today.
30. So does Amber...happy birthday twin!
29. I knew one other girl who shared my birthday in college. So happy birthday to Jessica, where ever you are.
28. I celebrated my 28th birthday with Chrissy, Amy, and Melissa when they came to Denton to fiesta the Cinco de Mayo/Pegs way. One of the funnest birthdays ever...in part due to Duke, Chrissy's brother's dachsund/German shepherd eating everyone's underwear throughout the weekend.
27. My new co-worker is F-U-N-N-Y. That has little to do with birthdays, except that she already made me laugh today.
26. After contemplating getting a dog, I have decided to wait. It sounds more stressful than happy. I got Wilbert on my birthday in 2006. It was only slightly stressful because he was my first pet that was really all mine, no parents to help. Other than that, Wilbert was pure joy and sunshine.
25. Cookie called yesterday to ask me what my favorite color is. I fear the reason for this question, but I told her blue. I wonder what blue thing looms in my near future. A blue birthday cake? A blue shirt? A blue dog?
24. Jesse is 24 for another 5.? months. We are approximately 6.5 years apart. It sounds really weird now because I am 31 and he has yet to reach 25. Cougar on the loose!
23. I graduated from college on my 23rd birthday. It was weird. I forgot it was my birthday due to all the graduation festivities.
22. Maybe since I'm turning 31, I should gain 31 pounds in birthday celebration...Central Grill, Carino's, Mr. Chopsticks, Cookie's amazing birthday cakes...
21. I can't believe I've been 21 and able to drink legally for a decade. I had a huge margarita (and finished it) yesterday to celebrate 10 years of hardly ever drinking (and hardly ever finishing a drink).
20. Last year when I lived in Denton for a month, I received about $3,000 worth of Starbucks gift cards for my birthday, so I went to Starbucks every morning on the way to work. I did this the entire month and never once had to pay for it. This year, I haven't yet established a morning beverage routine in Denton. I get a diet Coke sometimes. I get a Starbucks sometimes. Sometimes I drink water. This is all wrong. I need a morning beverage routine as much as Mrs. Darling needs a breakfast, lunch, dinner routine.
19. I'm borrowing Uyen's wiener dog, Bella, for awhile. This simultaneously helps me keep my sanity in a lonely apartment and keeps my bank account from crashing & burning. It also gives Angie time to introduce the new Black lab she's adopting to Uyen's wiener dogs.
18. I move into my apartment on Saturday. Little Guy Movers are helping out for a very reasonable price. I will have a bed, 2 bookcases, some books, movies, and keepsakes, and...that's it.
17. Then my new red couch from Rooms-to-Go will be delivered. Note: the listed price says $499. Yours truly bought it for $388. Sale, sale, sale. This list became a moving list instead of a birthday list since #19. I now revert to the birthday list.
16. On my 16th birthday, Daddy gave me his old car (which took its final breath within a few months when it died on one of the busiest streets in Corpus Christi) and Grandma gave me $1,000. I was a spoiled, spoiled only child/grandchild.
15. May 4th is always the most depressing day of the year because I talk myself into thinking no one will remember and no one loves me. Woe is me. I feel better the next day when all my nightmares don't come true.
14. Despite living in Seattle for nearly 2 years, I managed to never be there for my birthday. I have managed, despite living in Denton for only 1 year and 2 months, to celebrate THREE birthdays here (and only missed four by moving to Denton the first time in late May). How did that happen?
13. I believe I celebrated becoming a teenager the one year I lived in Kingsville, TX. The year: 1991. The meal: Mama's crockpot spaghetti. The activity: pool party.
12. Last year, I started a new job at UNT on my birthday. I have already lasted longer here than I did there. I have purposely avoided any place that I think those former co-workers might be lurking, knowing that something very awkward awaits the first time I see one of them again.
11. I'm going to lunch at Central Grill with former co-workers, Icy & Nancy. They are former co-workers from Art, not the aforementioned co-workers in #12. At Central Grill, they have a delectable grilled chicken salad. It is so good, in fact, that when I order it, I don't even feel like I'm missing out by getting a salad.
10. Except that today, I may celebrate with a burger & fries.
9. I received my "planning guide" from my supervisor this morning. This detailed job description has five separate forms and divides my 85 duties into 15 categories. I haven't read it yet, but to have that many items listed, it must say, "1. Turn computer on. 2. Answer email. 3. Check voice mails. Etc."
8. Is voicemail one or two words? I get a red spell check line if I leave it as one.
7. This is no longer a birthday-related list.
6. Big birthday plans: I am watching the top 4 perform tonight on American Idol. I'm really grateful for my friend Sara who has been watching with me since I left Seattle.
5. If Kris or Allison or Danny is voted off tomorrow, I will declare a birthday do-over.
4. Every week after AI, I call Jesse and tell him what happened since it doesn't air in Seattle for another 2 hours...and let's face it, he only watched it b/c I did.
3. I have a picture on my nightstand of me w/my mom on what I believe is my 3rd birthday.
2. May is a really hard month for me. My mother's birthday and Mother's Day are in May, besides the fact that my own birthday wouldn't exist without Mama. I mean that in the way everyone does because who would be born w/o their mother, but also in the sense that it was life threatening for her to have a child and she did anyway.
1. I was on the phone with Jesse at midnight last night (Texas time). I was happy he was the first to tell me happy birthday.