Growing Into My Cut

I cut my hair. Now let me back up. It had been entirely too long since my last hair cut/highlight....my hair had gotten long. Too long. People like my hair long. So they say. I don't really know what my preference is in all honesty. I don't like it really short but I also don't know the magic length. I just know it hits a certain point and it's like my hair won't do anything anymore. Let me back up for a second time. My hair barely does anything as it is....it is straight. So again in all honestly I do not know what my perfect hair length, hair style is....I have been alive 30 years and my hair has nothing to show for it. I feel so defeated.

But Saturday while we were in Dallas I visited my hair stylist and we were chatting. I told her I wanted to try my hair darker for winter....which I did. Then I told her I wanted some length off. Which we did. Then she did a new layered hair style. And before I knew it...my hair was cut and styled and inside I was freaking out and quasi-mourning the loss of the long hair I had just a few hours before and hated. What is wrong with me.

Regardless....here are the results....

Thursday evening- en route to Dallas/McKinney/the rehearsal dinner. Oh yes, did I mention we had a wedding this weekend?  That's all we do- attend weddings, wedding events or wedding planning events these days. I also throw in a baby shower or two also.

Hair cut time

The aftermath- please note my hair won't look this styled with this cut for awhile. This is also a bad pic of Gregg but good of my hair (minus the awkward one strand) so it stays. 

Gregg the groomsman for his best friend and our best man.  It's pretty amusing to go to a rehearsal dinner with long hair and show up the next day with a new do- Be advised that it really confuses people. 

So there we go. I don't know. I am still undecided. Kristina keeps saying your hair is not short. She is right. I think it's confusing me because it's thin on bottom and lots of layers on top. In two weeks I will like it more but I have to get used to the layers. I need to figure this thing out.

I need to "grow into my cut"

Chloe Discovers A Ladder

Here is where we stand on my list of outstanding stories for those of you who care/who are keeping track/or who are like me and just like crossing things off lists:

• Easter
• Washington DC with LC and JC (not the JC in the sky)
• Culture Thursdays with S
• My 30th Birthday weekend with Kristina in town 
• Friends and Fundraisers 
• Virginia weekend wedding vacation
• Baby Shower-ing
• Mother's Day Snippets
• Chloe discovers a ladder
• College besties reunion weekend 
• Las Vegas

This brings us to a lovely afternoon of ridiculousness entitled Chloe discovers a ladder.

About a month ago we had about 4 things that needed to be fixed by maintenance in our apartment….

Sidenote: We have realized that in lieu of a house anytime in our near future, we are going to focus on this little gem that is the beauty of an apartment- they fix things for you. 

Now these various requests did not all accumulate on the same date. It was a process….

• first one light when out in the kitchen…
• then two, then four out of six, then we were practically in the dark making cereal (because that is all we cook in that kitchen)…
• then the cosmetic holder piece of the blinds fell down (not the actual blinds)…
• then the shower needed to be drained and was getting much worse...
•  then the fire alarm started chirping….you get the picture. Typically a fire alarm chirping will send the maintenance request over the edge for us. We spent one too many nights almost resorting to this:

This is not a joke. Gregg had to get out the step ladder and take the fire alarm off the ceiling in the middle of the night to hit the button to reset it, which in fact sets it off loudly as if there is an actual fire. This leads to mass midnight chaos- Chloe flying off the bed; Me sprinting out that we are going to wake up the entire building; And then after pressing it enough times it stops. And so this goes on all weekend since this also always happens on a weekend when maintenance is not working….

The real reason it takes longer to submit these is because maintenance requests are now a bigger ordeal because we have to stick Chloe in our bedroom all day, and I feel like she is traumatized and going to hate me when I return home. Gregg on the other hand could care less since Chloe spends all day in our bedroom anyways. Someday I am going to be the worst mother because of this..I am already very aware. 

So Thursday afternoon after calling in this laundry list of requests, I came home on my lunch hour to see if maintenance was done and I could let Chloe out. What did I find instead of anything fixed? I found a ladder in the middle of my kitchen and no maintenance worker in sight. Okay. So I called the leasing office and they told me they were at lunch and probably just brought the ladder up to fix everything after lunch. Okay that makes loads of sense. So now I have a cat locked in the bedroom and a ladder in the middle of the kitchen. 

What did I do? What any other normal cat mother would do….I opened the door, let Chloe out and she proceeded to have the adventure of a lifetime…and I proceeded to document it…. 

Checking out this new giant contraption in the kitchen.

Having a paint splattered ladder in my kitchen is the most DIY I've ever been in my life

Hello. 

I am never moving. Or I am not moving until you walk over here and carry me back into the bedroom because maintenance is coming back after lunch. Then I guess I am going to have to move.

And that my friends is fondly remembered as the day Chloe discovered a ladder. This is also why my Mom rolls her eyes at me and tells me I need a kid. 

The Small World of Weddings

Gregg was in a wedding the first weekend in May for his friend R who seriously looks like his brother from another mother. Please note the resemblance even though there is zero relation:

So Friday morning we woke up at 4am to get on our 7:30am direct flight to Washington Dulles. The kicker is that my dear husband got home at 3am from work and went to bed approximately 3:15am. So as soon as we had some breakfast at the airport and were at a sitting point, this happened while we waited to board our plane…

We bought those sleep pillows that morning on sale at the airport and I must say they were worth every penny. 

We arrived in DC and drove two hours to Charlottesville, Virginia where the wedding was being held. I love that on the East Coast you can drive two hours and be in another state and here I drive two hours and I am only in Austin.

I must say though the two hour trip was lovely because Gregg had been working crazily and it was like a mini date for us. When we got to Charlottesville we had lunch at Panera Bread and we saw a Pet Smart across the strip mall where I wanted to buy a souvenir for Chloe. Gregg said no. He told me that the same toy we could buy at a Pet Smart in Virginia which was the same toy we could buy at a Pet Smart in Houston did not count as a souvenir for Chloe. Fine. But I still disagree.

The wedding was not only beautiful with the location, the food amazing from beginning to end, but it was also a small world reunion central. The best man married one of my best friends from dance team in high school. One of the Matron of Honor's was another member of dance team in high school and coincidentally in the same sorority as the bride. One of my good friends from Student Senate was there as a guest. The list went on and on….it was a fun weekend full of flashbacks with old friends.

Rehearsal Dinnering in downtown Charlottesville with husband on the left. And former Apache Silver Dancers on the right. 

The next day while the husbands and boyfriends did wedding things, the girls ventured out to lunch and wandering around the quaint little town center.

Wish we had longer to explore this place!

It's kind of fun when you are the one not in the wedding because you can go do touristy things with other new non-wedding friends. 

Gregg walking down the side aisle. I seriously for a half second thought the groom was Gregg. When Gregg walked down the girl next to me goes, that one is Gregg, he is your husband. Ridiculous. 

The wedding was held at an outdoor vineyard and it was a horrible view as you can see.

Instead of a grooms cake you could go to the donut trailer and get a bag of warm sugary donuts.  It had been a long time since I had a donut and that splurge was totally worth it. I still dream of those donuts. 

Like I said we had a bit of a dance team reunion that evening too.  Once a Silver Dancer, always a Silver Dancer. 

And I reunited with one of my favorite Student Senate pals. Did you know I was a Student Senator? More importantly if you didn't, are you surprised???

Then came Sunday and our flight that departed at 12:30pm. I had been talking to LC about the fact that I was going to be in the same state as her for the weekend but not seeing her. We brainstormed all types of plans to see each other- some involved massive detours to DC, others involved using helicopters- in the end we decided LC and JC would meet us at the rental car place, we would all go for breakfast early and then they would drop us off at the airport.  

The bottom line is we cannot be in the same state and not see each other. It is not humanly possible. This ranks up there with the infamous December 26 drive by in Dallas to drop off LC's shampoo and conditioner she had left during her visit here. Yes, we are that crazy and I love her that much. 

Gregg and I decided to have a mini date on the plane since we knew he'd be returning to work quickly after we arrived back home. His schedule may be crazy but it has taught me to enjoy the small moments we have together and appreciate them when they are happening. I know so cheesy but just go with it. 

Yes we are looking rough. This is the sign of a TOP wedding weekend. 

Large bottled water for me (a running joke/issue between Gregg and me) . Wedding snacks. Goldfish. And Johnny Manziel. The gang's all here. 

It was a fun weekend and it made me miss college. It made me appreciative of the time I got to spend with Gregg. It also made me realize how wise Disney was when he said "it's a small world after all." 

Congrats R & M! 

Nonstop 30th Weekend of Fun

Here I am still playing catch up on my list of moments worthy of a story in your fanciest local hotel lobby. And now I am even adding some to it…namely my family's recent trip to Las Vegas. But being the particular person that I am, I feel I must go in order: 

• Easter
• Washington DC with LC and JC (not the JC in the sky)
• Culture Thursdays with S
• My 30th Birthday weekend with Kristina in town 
• Friends and Fundraisers 
• Virginia weekend wedding vacation
• Baby Shower-ing
• Mother's Day Snippets
• Chloe discovers a ladder
• College besties reunion weekend 
• Las Vegas 

Kristina was in town for the big #AnalisasBurning30 party but you should know that Kristina never just comes into town. It is never a low-key weekend. It is hit the ground running, go go go nonstop, party 'til you drop and then she leaves. It is not for the weak. She is also like a Hurricane in our apartment. Gregg is still trying to understand all of this. 

Gregg surprisingly didn't have to work the morning after my birthday party so we went to brunch just the two of us while Kristina went to watch her friends in a charity flag football game, Blondes vs. Brunettes. Afterwards we were killing some time and wandered around Hermann Park. It was simple and lame and fun all at the same time. You only have a window of time to wander around a park in Texas and we were flirting with the end of that window. 

Then we met Kristina and her friends at this random bar I have never been to and most likely will never go to again. I walked in and felt like I was straight up at a frat party. Outside it was broad daylight and inside there was music bumping, kegs being floated and absolute frat party madness. It was hilarious for this newly turned 30 year old. 

Sisters with Sister SS who we have adopted as honorary twin sister to Kristina. You may recognize her from Culture Thursdays…this was a LONG way from Culture Thursdays. 

Then we went to a bar in Midtown to spend the rest of the day outside at a picnic table. We went to a bar where you can control the music from your iPhone and purchase songs. Kristina got way too into this excitement purchasing everything from Frozen's "Let it Go" to the Aggie War Hymn. 

Sing it Sister. 

Boyfriend J was busy trying not to die from the spicy crawfish. Disgusting crawfish in my eyes. 

You can notice Sister C singing along next to her. That is our honorary middle sister. 

There is truly only one Kristina. 

And on a rare Saturday off for him, I have to say there is only one guy who could put up with this weekend of insanity- this guy right here. 

Needless to say when Kristina departed on Sunday, we needed a nap. 

A Letter of Complaint To Emergency Alerts

Since we moved here a year ago, I guess you could say this is our first "rainy season" in Houston. Whoa. This place does not mess around. Considering I am from San Antonio home of the odd/even water ration days; lived in Dallas which was so hot my last summer there it gave my mover heat stroke (not a joke); and Austin thrown in there with nonstop discussion of drying up lakes and rivers....you could say rain, flooding and water confuse me.

Fast forward to this week which has been torrential downpour central.... 

Last night at approximately 3:57am, Gregg and I are all of a sudden awakened to the sound of blazing sirens. Like I thought the sirens were coming from the sky and the Earth was about to say: This has been a test of the emergency broadcast system. I repeat this is only a test.

Instead I heard expletives, feet being stubbed as Gregg tried to haul to the other side of the room to get his iPhone and blackberry, Chloe jumped off my feet like she was being attacked, I rolled over to shut off my iPhone and just as I thought we were in the clear, it's time for my blackberry charging in the kitchen to wail. Meanwhile, because of the insane lightning, our entire apartment looks like we are at a club with strobe lights flicking on and off. We might as well have been in a hotel room overlooking the Las Vegas Strip.

And what was all that chaos supposed to inform us?

That we need to grab Chloe and evacuate? No.
That we need to grab Chloe and take cover? No.
That the world is literally ending? No.
That we need to somehow avoid the area, which is coincidentally where we live and are currently sleeping, until 6:45am? Yes. 

I am honestly still speechless. And tired. And speechless. But not speechless enough to write a letter of complaint to the Emergency Alert Headquarters because in case you didn't know, I love a good letter of complaint:  

Dear Emergency Alert,

I live here and I am currently trying to sleep through the disco strobe light-lightning show that has taken up residence outside every window in our apartment. So first of all I cannot avoid this area until 6:45am. I literally have nowhere else to go. I also promise I won't be going anywhere because it looks like the apocalypse outside. Not to mention that it is 3:45am on a Wednesday night and I am not in college anymore which means you can guarantee I am asleep. Finally, I planned to wake up at 6:45am at which time it seems the apocalypse will have ended. 

You have now scared my cat, Gregg nearly broke his toe and I am wide awake in confusion trying to figure out if I am supposed to go back to sleep or supposed to stay awake and vigilant through the storm. Unless Noah is around with an ark I am supposed to board ASAP, let's try to not be so dramatic next time. 

Sincerely,
Me

Wishing everyone a less dramatic and more peaceful night's sleep tonight!

Friday 5

It has been a million trillion years since I did a Friday 5 and had 5 things noteworthy to share that I thought you would even enjoy. I also promise to refrain from anymore DWTS even though I could seriously do five links to DWTS videos and post-win scoop:

Watch and laugh- Jimmy Kimmel: Celebrities read mean tweets about themselves

Is It Better To Rent or Buy? 

• Gregg and I are buying a house zero time soon but I thought this interactive chart was kind of fun to play around with to justify why we will not be doing that anytime soon.

Spring Cleaning Your Closet Tips from Elle 

• I desperately need to get motivated to clean out my closet. It is out of control trying to transition from winter/spring and now it's summer. 
• Most noteworthy tips- Put on some great music and have some wine. I had never thought of that combo before. I might actually feel motivated to do it now.  

Hero cat throws 1st pitch at baseball game

• It should be noted that Chloe would never be caught dead in the middle of a cheering crowd in dirt.  

I mean does this look like the face of a baseball player by any means? No. 

@summerinboston

• Every year around this time I get very wanderlusty and want to go (and or move) to Boston. Gregg and I had fun vacay there four years ago while he was looking at MBA schools and it has always had a special place in my heart. 
• Do I follow them on twitter pretending I am a local? Absolutely. 

We somehow stumbled upon an outdoor concert with The Pointer Sisters, the real life Pointer Sisters, singing "I'm so excited" and you could say I was major excited. 

Cheers at Cheers. We have fun traveling together even though we don't get to do it nearly enough!

Happy Long Weekend! I really never thought Friday was going to arrive. 

Throwback Thursday: Easter

I am very, very behind on a lot of really important moments I want to remember and I know you want to read- it seems that if work gets crazy then so does life until your head is spinning out of control. Feast or famine all the time with that stuff. That being said, I plan to spend the next couple of weeks slowly catching up and in true Analisa fashion I have even made a list to keep myself on track:

• Easter
• Washington DC with LC and JC (not the JC in the sky)
• Culture Thursdays with S
• My 30th Birthday weekend with Kristina in town 
• Friends and Fundraisers 
• Virginia weekend wedding vacation
• Baby Shower-ing
• Mother's Day Snippets
• Chloe discovers a ladder
• College besties reunion weekend   

Easter weekend April 18-20, 2014

Easter is like the mother ship of Catholicism. It's a 4 night/day event. If you are Catholic you go big or go home at Easter. But here's the thing, contrary to what you may believe...
 
Good Friday is not a Holy Day of Obligation I am not exactly the best at holy days of obligation but this fact kind of blows my mind because I really always thought it was on the list.

Regardless though, Kristina nor I made it to church Friday. What were we doing all day?

• We were dealing with a dog crisis.
• And we were eating pizza. We somehow managed to eat pizza for every meal and not on purpose:

Friday Reason: No meat and when you hate fish that leaves limited options every Good Friday.

Saturday: We pretty much stayed in our PJs all day and did a lot of nothing. Gregg did arrive around 2pm, he and Dad made their usual trek to have Manhattans and see some action movie and when they returned, Kristina, Gregg and I headed to the mall for one VERY intense hour because I had to find a dress for our upcoming luncheon. I am talking the kind of trip where you walk in, zero in on only the dresses, get cutthroat in the dressing room and get out....

When you are too busy doing this and not thinking about food until 9:30pm which is SERIOUS danger zone for feeding Kristina...

That leaves pizza pick up round 2.

Easter Sunday: Kristina, Gregg and I all met Papa at church, looking very dapper and saving us some seats in his pew. After church we dropped Papa off, headed to pick up our "Easter to go food" at Maggiano's and then went back to pick up Papa and take him to our house.

Well we sort of arrived at Maggiano's around 10:30 because we had all been to church way earlier than normal since we were going with Papa. Maggiano's doesn't open until 11 and said our food wouldn't be ready until 11:30. So what is there really to do to occupy the time except...

Easter Sunday Mimosas and Bloody Marys at Stonewerks

We came...

 We saw....

We left...

We were, are and continue to be people on a mission at all times when we are home. The bar staff was actually sad to see us go and honestly we were sad to leave too.

As always though, it just goes to show that the most unexpected moments in an otherwise planned out day can be the most fun. It's a lesson I am constantly learning and constantly trying to remember as I get nervous about plans and things falling into place. Embrace the unexpected.

But one thing that is not unexpected- my favorite Easter candies that are on my list every year. I take great joy in knowing every Easter, this is happening:

Hershey's candy coated eggs and Peeps....you either love them or hate them.

Cheers to learning to embrace the little surprises and unexpected moments with the people we love!

#AnalisasBurning30

In case you are new to my blog (in which case welcome) or are living under a rock (in which case welcome back to reality) you would know that I turned 30 a couple weeks ago. 30. Yet I still got carded at HEB for buying a bottle of wine Mother's Day weekend. Sigh.

With my big monumental birthday came the great decision of whether or not to have a birthday party. Personally I was not that into the idea. Not because I don't like birthday parties but because I just moved here less than a year ago and it's not like I know a ton of people or even have favorite places I would want to go. All decent reasons and excuses except to one person…

My sister Kristina. 

Kristina loves other people's birthdays nearly more than her own. She is the ultimate celebrator. She lives to celebrate life events no matter if it's a wedding, a birthday party or even just a Wednesday. Because of this, it actually makes perfect sense that she started an Etsy shop where the motto is "because life's too short to not have party favors"

So what started as my simple "wine and cheese night" of an idea evolved into this:

Glow headbands, glow bracelets, glow sticks galore,
Analisa’s turning 30 – need we say more?

'Under the Volcano' is where it will be,
8:30 pm, please RSVP! 

Leave your dog, your Chloe, and Debbie Downer at home,
Help her turn 30, she can't do this alone! 

Laughing, dancing, and singing she might, 
So click on the 'yes, I'll help light up the night'! 

NOTE: When referring to this event on any major social media outlet, please use the he hashtag: #AnalisasBurning30

My sister is kind of a party planning genius. Kristina turned my descent into 30 into an over the top party with koozies, glow sticks and my signature cookie cake from Great American cookie company. Yes, there is a story behind that but it's another story for another time. 

Official #AnalisasBurning30 koozies with glowsticks 

30 candles. That will definitely make you feel old really quick. Sidenote- I have been known to pitch a fit over my cookie cakes. This one was definitely up to my standards. Again, another story for another time.

Light up Lei. With my fancy drink courtesy of my DC bestie and former roomie LC. There are not many people that would call the bar where your party is scheduled to pre-order a special drink and bottle of champagne for your 30th birthday. LC is one of them. I am kind of really luck to know her. 

Old Pi Phi friends turned new Houston friends. Getting together with them feels like we are back in college. Also a bonus that they all know Kristina too as the little Pi Phi who I introduced during rush week 2005 by saying "she sits at the cool table during lunch" as one of her positive qualities. Kristina also wreaked havoc on her head pledge trainer who is 4th from the left yet still somehow loves her today.  

My Bachelor watching Monday night wine and cheese pal S was in town and celebrated with me too! Sidenote- my head looks like it's on fire.

Of course no party planned by Kristina is complete without Husband-Wife duo shots. Pictures captured by one of Kristina's friends as she watched this insanity. 

We are kind of a mess.
And captured in real life is my official bossing Gregg around face in photos 5 & 6. 

Since he never reads my blog I am putting this photo on here of him.  Love you husband!
Thanks for turning 30 first. 

Such a good sport to put up with his sister-in-laws antics in honor of his wife. And to not kill her for the photo collage she compiled of him partaking in the fun!

For some reason I have zero pictures of all Kristina's wonderful friends who not only came out to celebrate with me but even helped Kristina with some party planning assistance. They are the best! 

I turned 30 and I survived. It was a wonderful evening full of friends both new and old and I felt so loved! Thank you to everyone who came by for sharing this evening with me. On a big birthday where I didn't think it would be very eventful, my sister pulled through and made it oh so special. 

Cheers to sisters!  Love you Kristina!
(Also thinking this may need to be one of our Christmas card pics this year…I mean how many times can you really see us posed in front of the Christmas tree?)

Time for my shameless sister plug: There is truly no one who loves celebrating the big moments in other people's lives more than Kristina. It is so fitting she created an etsy shop to share that joy and help others to celebrate their big moments too. If you need something crafty no matter how big or how small, check our KraftinK. 

Thank you Kristina for a wonderful 30th birthday party! You are the best and you are my best! 

I Have Turned 30 and I am Losing My Mind

In case you missed it, last week, one week ago tonight I turned 30. I also discovered that it was the 10 Year Anniversary of Mean Girls (I really cannot believe such an iconic movie came out on my birthday but then again I was in college turning 20 so you can imagine what I was doing at the time).

Regardless I celebrated the weekend before with a wonderfully fun party my sister threw me that deserves a post on its own and as soon as I have a spare moment I will get to that- but on my actual birthday I knew I would want to do something besides sit at home with Chloe.

No offense Chloe. I do love you and you're still my best evening pal.

However, since Gregg is working some crazy hours lately I took matters into my own hands and planned a Happy Hour with some of my favorite people who were also Pi Phis with me in college. Here's the catch….it was a Wednesday and in honor of the Mean Girls Anniversary I made them all wear pink. Because….

And so we did….

My Pink Wearing Turning 30 Birthday Happy Hour!  

Pi Phi for life. 

Then I came home and Gregg was home so we went and had some late night drinks and snacks too.

He has pink polka dots on his tie so that is the only reason he is even allowed to sit with me. 

My birthday was great and I felt so loved. Here's the problem now though…ever since I turned 30 I am LOSING MY MIND. I have become absent minded, I am messing up schedules, I am messing up plans, MY LIFE IS FALLING APART AND WE ARE ONE WEEK IN!!!!!!

Here is an example of the ridiculousness of this:

Last weekend one of my best friends and our favorite couples got engaged. They have appeared here before but here they are again to refresh everyone's memories:

This is us in Las Vegas last December meeting A&J for drinks. 

Naturally I told A that I had to hear the story immediately and congratulate her in person so we planned a Happy Hour for Monday night. I was all set to leave and at 4:45 I get a call that a local news station is running a story on us that is not "negative" however I believe it has some negative tones. So I got to spend the next 30 minutes tracking people down, getting a crash course in one of our adoption programs and trying to intercept some misinformation. It-was-neat. Especially since at 5:00 it is very hard to track people down.

Fast forward to 5:45 when I was supposed to meet A at 5:30 and I am walking out the door and I text her to say "on my way." And that my friends was the last time I saw my phone until about 9:30. I was en route and digging for my phone in my purse and realized very quickly I didn't have it. I pulled over to search my car because I didn't see it anywhere around me.

Then- here is Example 1 of my newfound 30 insanity- I call my mom from my work blackberry to ask her to call my cell phone because I can't find it in my car and I need it to ring. That is right, I am HOLDING A PHONE I could've used to call my actual cell phone but instead I call my mom to do it. Regardless, it is of no use because it is on silent.

So I decide to drive back to work because as I was getting into my car I heard a noise and didn't think much of it and now I am paranoid I have dropped my phone in the parking lot. But, please see above…A thinks I am on my way because the last time I saw my phone was when I texted her.

What does one do in this situation? Well I respond like a 50 year old woman and call "INFORMATION" and ask them for the number to "J Blacks." And the woman on the other end of the phone is asking me to spell "J Blacks" and I am saying "It is a J and then Blacks" "J-Blacks" You can imagine the OMG FRUSTRATION going off in my head! Then they connect me and then I have to get the hostess to go write a note for A (like it is 1990) to call me on my work blackberry because I literally have zero way to get in touch with her.

At this point I finally get in touch with A and I don't even know what to do and I am thinking oh well, it may be lost but I sorta think it is somewhere in my car but I really just need to continue on with life…and that means heading to Happy Hour. Which was so much fun even though I showed up like a crazy spazz! I am thrilled for A& J and so excited to hear the cute story, see the beautiful ring and be part of the excitement!! 

After I get home that evening I take a flashlight out to my car because I am thinking, okay this phone is in here, I know it.  I search and I search. I am trying not to judge myself by the junk in my car. I nearly admit defeat. I start to walk inside and then a voice tells me to give it one more try. So I do and guess what happens…just as I begin to text Kristina, Mom and Gregg to tell them the insanity and that they would need to use my blackberry…I find my phone. <Insert Hallelujah bells>

Where did I find it? Lodged in some MAPS that are in a little holder thing in the passenger side door of my car. That's right. MAPS. Do people seriously own maps anymore? How long have these maps been in my car?

The truth…because this is a no judgment zone except you can judge me all you want…I am pretty sure these maps are still in my car from when I moved to and from Denver in 2006 and 2008 for grad school and we had to road trip through Texas.

I didn't have much time to process this because I was just thrilled I found my phone. Not that I can't go get a new one and yes in the grand scheme of life, I could've lost something worse, but I do not have time right now to deal with the annoyance of getting a new phone. I am already at quota for dealing with annoying things right now and I don't need a phone to add to the list.

Here's my point though- if this is less than a week after turning 30 I am really worried for the next year. I apologize now if somehow I drop the ball or lose my mind. 

I am officially scared of being 30.