2-7.

Well, it's happened.  My birthday.  I am now 27 years old.  Why does that sound SO much older to me than 26 did?  And trust me, I had a mini panic attack about 26.  Ugh.

But honestly?  My birthday was great.  I have amazing people in my life who made my day (and basically my entire weekend) super special.  27 feels like a special year.

Every year since I was about...23, I tell myself "this year is going to be the best one yet!"  And uh, every year seems to kind of suck overall.  I'm not saying I haven't had good things happen to me - I've had some great things happen, but I would say ages 23-26 have probably been the suckiest times of my life (can we say, "divorce"?  "death of soulmate dog"?  "some serious yo-yo dieting"?  "career troubles"?  ....yeah.  you can say it all.  and more.)

So this year, I will say two things:  I don't expect anything more than a mediocre year!  BUT I do expect (if this weekend/birthday was any indication) my year at the age of 27 to be full of surprises. 

Are you wondering what kind of surprises I have had these past few days?  Ok, I'll share a couple....

Surprises like this:

My co-workers surprised me with, not one, but 3 birthday cakes!

 

And then I got flowers from another co-worker!!!!!  Puppy shaped ones!

AND...maybe the best surprise ever.  My 3 favorite people in New York City schemed together to throw me a surprise birthday party on Sunday!  I was brought to a super cool Steelers bar to watch the football game with my friends!  Thank you so much to everyone who was there.  I love you.  :)  I ate so many buffalo wings...oh boy.  AND they had pierogies!!!!!!!!!!!  I mean, could you make a Pittsburgh girl any happier?  We had so much fun.

 

The Steelers didn't win...but we had some good moments.  I believe this was after we scored the touchdown and got ahead in the 4th quarter.  I had to snuggle the terrible towel.  

 

 

"Who are we?  USC!"  The Upper St Clair Alumni ...and a random guy photo-bombing the picture. 

 

 

The Inner Circle:  Amanda, Taylor and Abby - thank you so much for an amazing celebration!  I am so lucky to have each of you in my life. 

Grateful.

Y'all.  Less than a month until my birthday.  Let's just start with that. 

So, I said I would actually blog something of substance soon....I guess it's that time.

This week is Thanksgiving.  Can you believe that?  We are already there....shocking how quickly this year has gone by.

I have so much to be grateful for.  I really do.  My life is not at all where I thought it would be...I've had so many ideas of where I would be around this age...I am not really anywhere near any of them.  But things are still ok.  And because I feel so lucky that even if life isn't what I expected, it's still pretty fabulous...I would like to give thanks.  Here.  On my blog.  For the things I am so very grateful for:

I have amazing friends and family.  You all mean the world to me.  Like...you are seriously good people.  Seriously, seriously good.

I have the sweetest little dog on the face of the earth - and another little doggie up in Doggie Heaven watching over me.  (boy, do I miss him.)  I have the privilege of taking this sweet little pup to work with me basically anytime I want.  And she is so freaking well-behaved, I don't know how I got so fortunate.

I live in an adorable little studio in the best neighborhood in New York City.  I'm minutes from my absolute favorite spin classes.  There are about a bajillion amazing restaurants within walking distance.  The parks, the parks, the parks.  And...the streets themselves...are just adorable. 

I'm so darn grateful for SoulCycle - I wish I could afford to do it every single day.  It makes me happy.  And really, what exercise ACTUALLY does that?  Like legit you want to do it all the time?  I'm sorry, but nothing.  Nothing else is like that.

Ok, maybe dance sometimes. 

But truly, for me, nothing else kicks my butt and makes me smile at the same time like SoulCycle does.

I am grateful for my body.  I'm grateful that it lets me run and cycle and dance and stretch and sing and skip and laugh and oh-so-much-more every single day.  I'm grateful it lets me train for the half marathon I will run in February.  I'm grateful for its ability to adapt. 

I'm grateful for heytell.  Cause it's freaking hilarious.  Please, friends, connect with me on heytell.  It makes my day to be able to send stupid messages to people so quickly.

I'm grateful for vacations.  For the ones I've gone on this year and the ones coming up.

I'm grateful for the chocolate chip scones at the Lincoln Square Farmers Market.  And suncrisp apples.

I'm grateful my coworkers like my baking.

I'm grateful for Brandy, who does my hair, for literally letting me walk in EVERY time and say "I don't know what I want to do, I just want to change it" and she does her magic and I always love it.

I'm grateful for the Steelers for giving me something to cheer about and believe in.  Though you made me a little sad last night.  But regardless, nobody else gets me to yell at my TV like you do, my little bumblebees.

I'm grateful for Spotify.  For letting me listen to all the Christmas music I want.  I'm grateful to the Feinberg (and Feinberg-Rowe) children for introducing me to Spotify. 

I'm grateful for L.A. Burdick having a location in New York City.  Holy crap. 

I'm grateful for Christmas decorations - and for my ability to convince myself that it's all actually there to celebrate my birth instead of Jesus.

I'm grateful for people at work who make me laugh.  I'm grateful for an assistant who knows what he's doing.

I'm grateful for manicures and pedicures.  They make me feel instantly prettier.

I'm grateful for New Yorkers and their amazing bravery and resilience in the face of disaster.  And for caring for others when times get rough.  It amazes me how strangers can quickly become friends in the face of a crisis.

I'm grateful for snow.  And sunshine.  And crisp autumn air. 

That is just a sampling of what I am grateful for this year.  There is so much more that I'm sure I could add to this list, but you probably want to stop reading now, right?

Oh, did I mention that I'm grateful for you reading my blog?  And humoring me and my crazy thoughts?  Yeah, I'm totes grateful for that.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

Day 165: Family Fun watching the Steeler Game

Day 165: Family Fun watching the Steeler Game, a photo by lalasappy on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
At a fundraiser for ...ok, I don't remember what it was for...a Children's Hospital or something... It was a great way to watch the game though! We bid on Chinese Auction items and I won a Cake Pop themed basket! HOW APPROPRIATE IS THAT?! Seriously! It was perfection. Everyone made fun of me because when they called my number, I jumped up and down and screamed in excitement. The lady at the table next to us apparently said "Does she know what she won?" cause apparently she didn't feel it was nearly as exciting as I did. Whatevs, lady. You have no idea the joy this brings me.

I have three things to say.

My eyelid keeps twitching. It's been at least 12 hours and it hasn't stopped. What does this mean?

GO STEELERS!!!! Lucky number 7! (this would be their 7th win...to those of you not familiar with Steelers Super Bowl History)

I want to go on vacation. Really bad. Somewhere warm and beachy. Where should I go that's affordable but still AWESOME?

K readers...give me some answers.