another year older, though not necessarily much wiser

it seems like i just wrote my last birthday post, but i suppose it really has been a year now. my, how time flies.....28 years down, 72 more to go. (i'm hoping to inherit whatever it is that's responsible for longevity in my family, as i'm going to need another 72 years to accomplish everything i want to before i croak.)

in honor of this special occassion, i pulled a few favorites out of the ol' photo album this morning.....


here i am at the tender age of 7 months old. i'm not quite sure what that is behind me. the orange, fuzzy guy hanging out with me is theodore the bear, who's currently somewhere in my apartment. (if that's not incentive to clean out my room, i'm not sure what is.)


here i am at a year old, trying to convince daddy that my feet smell like roses. 27 years later, i still don't think i've convinced him of this fact.


with mama, at 16 months old.


proof that i can totally take credit for starting the whole "talk to the hand" craze. september 1980


she's always been the cute one.
even at not quite a year and a half old, my sibling was more mature than i was....and almost as tall. march 1982

a few past milestones:

2 years ago: drove to beach after work. arrived at the isle of palms as a huge storm rolled in. didn't think to take a picture. (dammit) drove back to columbia and consumed roughly 5500 calories worth of fondue at the melting pot.

5 years ago: celebrated my birthday at the myrtle beach house of blues- at a cult concert. (yes folks, being a mere 20 feet away from ian astbury is my idea of a good time.)

6 years ago: arrived in columbia. i still haven't gotten sick of this place yet, though i seriously doubt i'll still be here in another 6 years.

7 years ago: went whale watching in boothbay harbor, maine, with mama.

10 years ago: please....i was still grounded after the infamous july 4th incident.

14 years ago: this was during the three week period between the move from baltimore and moving into our house in kansas city. daddy worked, and i spent the day hanging out by the pool at the motel 6. this was roughly when i went blonde, courtesy of a blowdryer and large amounts of sun-in. i think my hair was pretty much fried by the time school started.

28 years ago: take a wild guess.

last year, i set five goals for myself:

1. visit three new places. (i've got two planned- just need to work on a third.)
just three? over the past year, i hiked between waterfalls on the havasupai reservation in the grand canyon, took about a thousand photographs in yellowstone and grand teton national parks, set foot in two new states (montana and idaho), wandered around hopewell rocks (in the bay of fundy) at low tide.......

2. eat 100 tacos (no problem there)
if i didn't make it to 100, i must've gotten pretty close.

3. find an intact conch shell at the beach. (this seems to be the holy grail of shells for me....i can find broken ones, but an intact shell seems to be just out of my reach for some reason.)
this one continues to elude me, but the day is young, and maybe i can squeeze in a trip to the beach before midnight to see what i can come up with.

4. get in a position (financially) where i can afford to work less and play more. (actually, i may need a couple of years for that one.....)
i'm certainly not rich, and i'm not sure i work less, but i balance out my hours differently, and i have a far easier time getting my vacations approved. additionally, i'm in a far different position than i was last year, with better pay, less stress, and 100% less corporate bullshit.

5. take a picture every day...and remember to post them on my new blog.
almost every day counts, right?

so, i suppose it's time for a new list for the next year:

1. visit 3 places i've never been before, including at least one new state and one new country.

2. post a picture a day over at random photos, even if the only thing i can photograph is my collection of bellybutton lint.

3. save up for the blue diamond earrings i saw last christmas in maine but couldn't afford.

4. continue to avoid acquiring jewelry of major significance. (i mean really- i'm only 28- still way too young for all that grown up stuff.)

5. write more....though not necessarily on here.
gotta start that best-selling autobiography sometime, you know?

after all, i've only got 72 years left to become rich and famous.