29ish

There’s nothing like disappearing for a month then returning to write about something that no one cares about a 4 weeks later, haha. I think the statute of limitations for writing about life events that people give a shit to read about is a week. Oh well, close your minds and pretend it’s February 9 and not March 9…

Well, I hit the big 3-0. Full disclosure: I’d been saying I’m 30 since at least December, lol, so I guess I accepted this age milestone a while ago. I think saying I’m 32 or 33 will be a lot more of a mind fuck for me than saying I’m 30. Plus, I just don’t really feel like I’m 30, so why get upset over turning it?

Anyways, Jay & I went home to NY on the weekend of February 8 to celebrate me climbing further up that hill with my family. It was a fun weekend. I admit, I spent my 30th birthday a lot quieter and way more sober than I always thought that I would, haha. But, there’s always 40, haha.

We got to NY late at night on Thursday, Feb. 6 so we could have the entire day there on Feb. 7 to make up for us having to leave earlier in the day on Sunday, Feb. 9. Friday was low-key. I went shopping at Tanger Outlets in Riverhead, NY with my mom. I turned 22 weeks on my birthday and although my belly was starting to show a bit, I still had little problems fitting into most of my clothes. [Flash forward to today, at 26 weeks, where some of my shirts are now giving me issues because of my newly acquired assets on top and I am having issues buttoning my higher-waisted pants and jeans…time for the belly band!] After a nice day with my mom and dinner of homemade pizza with my parents, Jay & I headed out to Tara’s Inn in Port Jefferson, NY for my friend and birthday buddy, Ian’s, surprise party.

We had a great time at the party. Ian’s wife and his brother’s girlfriend had decorated a section of the seating area with balloons and birthday signs and bought him this AWESOME Batman-themed birthday cake. I got to see just about all of my friends from home, who I hadn’t gotten to see since Ian & Kyrstan’s wedding last December. I miss my all of my friends. Sometimes, it’s tough seeing pictures of them hanging out together and going on group vacations and all the things that I’m left out of doing because I moved. But I made my choices and can’t complain about how wonderful my life is with Jay in Raleigh is, so ignore my brief melancholy.

Aaaanywayssssss, there were two great announcements that night: Ian announced that his wife is pregnant, due mid-Sept., and another high school friend announced that she is also pregnant and due in mid-Sept – with twins! Everyone’s having babies in 2014! I’d say Ian’s surprise party was one to remember, haha. 🙂 I’m glad that we go to ring in 30 together at midnight, just like we’ve celebrated 16, 18, and 21 (and many more) together.

I look godawful horrible in every picture we took that night. 🙁 I hate all of them.

I swear there is a better picture I took of just this awesome cake, but I can’t find it anywhere. It must’ve been with Jay’s phone.

Saturday morning, the morning of the 8, was stressful because of San Diego Comic-Con ticket presales. Even though I can’t go this year because of the baby, Jay and Jack will be going and we wanted to make sure we got them tickets as well as any of our friends who needed them. The lottery system this year made it even more nerve-wracking because you could do everything right and still get fucked and not get the days you wanted. Once we survived all that, it was birthday time! I helped my mom make dinner for later on and then my family and friend Tricia arrived. So if you saw all the baby pictures on Facebook, that was Tricia’s son, Declan. February 8 happened to also be his 5 month birthday. Thankfully, neither Tricia nor Declan had any problems with the giant game of “Pass the Baby” that ensued for the next hour or so, haha. It was awesome to get to see them again for a little while before dinner.

Dinner and dessert were delicious as usual. I’m really happy that we were able to go home and celebrate my 30th with my family. It was very sad to not have Grandpa there, though. He was missed more than anything. This was my first birthday at home not having him there to play the opening intro to “Happy Birthday.” I love you and I miss you, Grandpa.

Jay and I headed out on a 12:30 p.m. flight on Sunday, Feb. 9. We had to be back in Raleigh that evening because we were seeing Billy Joel!!! He was performing at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, which happens to be right up the road from where we live. I know it was a full month ago today, but I still want to make a separate post with the setlist and some song clips that Jay took. I promise to do that within the next day or so. The concert was awesome. It was so good that even Jay, who for the past 7 years has constantly asked me, “What’s the big deal about Billy Joel, who cares?” was converted into a fan. I’ve seen him once before, at the very end of May 2008 when he performed at Mohegan Sun, but this was even better than I remembered. If you can get tickets and are a fan, do it.

It took 4 weeks to write this, but woo-hoo, I finished. My 30th birthday weekend was a lot of fun. I think next year, I’m going to have to have a “30+1 year” birthday bash…or, I suppose, just a big 30th birthday party for Jay, haha. That will probably be met with a lot less “…really…?” looks than throwing a delayed birthday party of myself, lol.

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