Finally! I'm Thirty!!!

I turned thirty on Saturday, and I must say, I'm glad to finally be here. There's so much pressure to be this or that in your 20's, and then everyone is freaking out about turning 30 - for which honestly, I've never been afraid of. Every cool person I know (over 40 or 50) says that their 30's were the best, or the beginning of the best years of their lives. And there's no way I'm going to start sinking into oblivion now, like so many others do, when I'm just getting started! =)

The Day
My actual birthday was great, and kinda reflects the way I want the rest of my life to be. After we got up, we did bike maintenance, to get the bikes ready for a good long ride. Then we did our weekly trip to the farmer's market for groceries. Then we got cleaned up, and biked over to The Daily Grind in Ballston (our latest coffee shop find!) We had a little brunch, and then hit the trail - literally - and biked out to Vienna, Va to do a little shopping.

It was a wonderful ride! From Ballston, it's around 10 miles (give or take 1 or 2). I'm not fit enough to do it without stopping, but it was still pretty fast - we got there in less than an hour and a half, which is about what it would have been to drive it, given the backup on 66 we passed. The W&OD Trail is beautiful, and aside from some air pollution, the weather was perfect for it. We saw bunnies, birdies - even a deer! Most folks were very nice, and the trail wasn't as clogged as I was anticipating, which was a blessing!

In Vienna, we stopped in our favorite (chuckle) lingerie store, and I got a couple of grown-up women's brassieres - the not-from-Macy's, professionally fitted, mature, not-cheap kind. Whoo hoo! This was the birthday present I've been waiting for!! Then we hit up the Dairy Queen next door for some birthday cake - a small Chocolate Extreme Blizzard!!! Delectable. (The E.P. got his own huge blizzard, of course.) Our dessert-for-lunch gave me the energy to bike from town to the Metro station, which is how we got home =D Well, except that we got off at Clarendon and then discovered the elevator was out, and had to wait another 15 minutes for the next train to Courthouse so we could get out!

Not long after we got home, we hit the road again - walking this time - and met up with an old friend who is in town for a few days. We went to neighborhood favorite Mexicali Blues for a low-key dinner, where I ordered myself a "Wise Ox". The waitress, upon seeing how low-key my 30th birthday was (via an ID check), wanted to help make it a night to remember. She had the bartender prepare another Wise Ox for me on the house -- that was noticeably stronger than the first one I'd been served. It was strong, Haha! I didn't want to get really drunk, so I stopped at slightly drunk/very tipsy, which is where most of the fun in drinking stops anyway. My friend shared some HILARIOUS Dr. Demento songs on her ipod with us - the funniest being a remix of Nine Inch Nail's Closer (I wanna ---- you like an animal) with Super Mario Brothers. TOO FUNNY!!! When I find a site to legally download that song, I'm gonna buy it.

Then, we went over the Barnes & Noble to hang out. My friend and the E.P. share a love for fantasy literature and I really enjoyed watching them discuss books and authors. We walked my friend back to the busstop, and enjoyed many more laughs on the bench before the bus came. It was great to see her, and I miss my friend again already!!! At home, I collapsed in bed - exhausted, but very happy. =)

Nothing's Missing
So no, I didn't have a big party or have people buy my drinks or hide and deny my birthday. None of these. I'm happy to be 30! A big party was not in order this year - I haven't been able to be there for a lot of my friends this year, so I am not about to force them to come celebrate me and give me stuff - it just doesn't fit right, is not what I want this year. And I have a LOT in store over the next year - learning and becoming a certified health counselor, getting in shape, starting a family - it's a lot! But I'm looking forward to it, and to hanging out with all of you. =) Love you guys!