I turned thirty today.

First, the good news. Thirty is the new 21. But the bad news is, I never really thought I’d make it to my thirties. I mean… I just never really thought past my twenties. I always knew I’d go to college and probably grad school. Then I knew I’d have a family. And I was pretty sure I’d do that all in my twenties. Perhaps I thought I’d die a horrible tragic death after that and everyone would talk about a life cut short (that’s the drama queen in me). But really… I just never saw myself go past 29. And then last year Nick threw me the “Forever 29 Surprise Party.” Part of me kind of took that as a bad omen that I might actually be forever 29. So, I’m happy to report, I made it through.

But I kind of have to think, “now what?” All day long the song in my head has been Tim McGraw’s “In My Next Thirty Years.” So, I’ve kind of been compiling my list of my next thirty years. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

• A few more triathlons
• Go on educational adventures with my kids
• Visit Washington DC
• Write (and publish) a book
• Learn to sew
• Travel to Australia… or Spain… or Cambodia. Ah heck… all three.
• Build my dream home
• Run for public office
• Go to law school
• Have a few adorable grandchildren

If I sat here long enough I could think of a million more. The possibilities are endless. In fact, they are so endless that I think I’m going to like this new stage. I feel like I have  a whole ‘nother 30 years to decide what I’m going to be when I grow up! And maybe by then I’ll figure it out. Or maybe I’ll just save that for my final third.

For my birthday today, my wonderful fabulous splendiforous husband took the day off work! I woke up to breakfast in bed and 30 balloons each filled with something he loves about me. I was also gifted an already-scheduled massage. I got to go to a leisurely lunch with a friend and then we went out for a date night dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. This Friday the celebration of me will continue with a date night with friends to Comedy Sportz. I am so truly spoiled and blessed. And to prove it, here is a picture of my balloon-popping helpers, because heaven knows I couldn’t have managed the task by myself:

And the even better news? Thirty balloons really isn’t that many… look at all that floor space left. I guess maybe I’m not that old after all.

I make the best from-scratch homemade pizza. We’re talking dough from scratch and sauce from my own canned tomatoes. Someday I’m gonna make my own cheese too. Just sayin’.

Way way back (like, in June), we got this crazy idea to do a really cool Christmas Musical for our Children’s Theatre. What better Christmas production than The Nutcracker, right? We had a great script that put lyrics to all the familiar songs from the ballet, and also added dialogue.

There was one little thing that, although we factored it in, we did not adequately check our math. The little thing was, I was supposed to be giving BIRTH just three weeks before the production!

So, on December 18th, just three weeks post-partum, we took sixty local children ages 5-12, along with 120 costumes and sets and props and put on a WONDERFUL production of The Nutcracker. Somehow, despite numerous technical difficulties in a theater that wasn’t ours where we weren’t allowed to touch anything and where we only got to rehearse twice, and despite two of our leads PUKING on the day of the performance (one of them AT the theater), somehow it still just worked. It always does.

And I will never do that again (the whole, delivering babies right before hand).

For really really cool pictures of the performance, go to Steve Lents Photography.