Birthday Pictures

I wanted to share a few pictures from the party my mom and Willie threw for me.

J and me, I guess its ok to look silly on your b-day



My mom :)
Grandma and my cousin

My sisters & Dad
My brother and Ashley

Officially 30

It's official, I am 30. Its so strange to say I am 30 when I feel no older than 23. Yesterday was the "big" day and my friends made me feel very special. I was hoping that I could lay low at work and just have my department know it was my birthday but my friends made sure that everyone knew.

The first call I got from reception was at 11 am and Maureen told me that I had two packages downstairs waiting for me. Nancy and I walked downstairs to pick up my items and it was flowers from Carrie and Shan and a flower "cake" from Linda. C and S sent 32 flowers, tulips and iris, the card read "Sending you 30 beautiful flowers for a beautiful person with an additional 2 for hugs to celebrate our best friend's birthday. Happy Birthday to the girl who doesn't look a day over 21!" I have said this many times but I'll say it again, I am very lucky to have the best friends that I have. The second call I received from the receptionist was around noon and she was snickering as she told me I had another package waiting for me. As she was telling me this, it occurred to me she was giggling about the item waiting for me so i asked her "by any chance is my package balloons?" She said "yeah, wait until you see them." I could feel the red creep into my face as embarrassment set in. I knew that my friends couldn't let me enter 30 quietly and the balloons were here to let everyone know how old I am. Before I explain the balloons let me explain where I have to go to get them. I work for a travel agency so the reception area is not private. customers and employees alike are there and on this afternoon there were a lot of customers. The area is also the farthest point from my cube so getting the balloons back to my desk means going by almost everyone that I work with. By the time I enter the reception area I am sweating and red in the face with embarrassment. I open the door and I can see way on the other side of the room, a 7 foot monstrosity of balloons, with a huge sparking 30 balloon on top. I couldn't believe it, they scream "hey look at me I am 30 today and I want everyone to know." i tried grabbing them and getting out of there as fast as I could but no luck, everyone gathered around to look at the balloons and ask me how I feel to be 30 etc. The one older gentleman that was waiting in line actually starting to sing happy birthday a little. Needless to say by the time I got back to my desk, I was so hot that I had to take my sweater off (I was wearing a button up shirt underneath it). Then everyone in my department came over at once to star at my balloons, they couldn't believe how tall the bouquet was. The only thing you could see over all the cube walls was the big 30 balloon at the top. The staring at the balloons went on all day. You need a special badge to get into my department and employees from other departments were knocking on our door to let them in to see the balloons all day. My friends made my day feel so special and important but I hate all the attention. I know when I say that, most people may think I just say that but really I hate the attention. The best part is that C and S turn the big 30 AFTER I do so as I told them..pay backs are coming. :)

It is a tradition with my mom, brother and I to have dinner on our actual birthdays and I picked Shogun as the restaurant I wanted dinner at. It is a Hibachi Steak and Seafood House where they cook the food right in front of you. J, my friends Marissa and Jen and my brothers friends Mia and Katie joined us for dinner. It was such a great time!! My mom had never been there and loved it so much she "hinted" that her and Willie would love to come to dinner there sometime. So I bet you can't guess one of their gifts from Santa is... hmmmm? :) We started at the bar with a drink until my brother and his friends arrived and than they sat us. We ordered some sushi for appetizers along with cold and hot Sake and Marissa ordered a bottle of Champagne for a birthday toast (thanks girl!!). The sushi was great and the sake and Champagne were very tasteful! We ordered dinner and waited for the show to start. Each table gets their own chef who makes everything, including the fried rice right in front of you. Our guy was amazing with the knives, flipping the food around etc and pretty funny. Once dinner was over, the waitress came to the table with a wig and kimono wrap for me to put on as they sang Happy Birthday to me in Japanese. I was embarrassed but the champagne and sake made it easier to enjoy. They took a picture of the whole group and put it in a frame for me. However, everyone at the table took a picture of me with their camera phones because the wig is just too silly.

All in all my day was fantastic. I even received a special text message from Anthony (pretty good for being 3 weeks old) here it is.. the message said "happy birthday auntie K" Too cute I tell ya.Thank you to everyone who helped make my day special!!

My mom did throw me a party the Friday before my birthday with my family which was a lot of fun. Pics to follow shortly.

Good Bye 20's

Today is a sad day of sorts...it is my last full day of my eventful 20's. The last decade has been an adventure that prepared me to enter my 30's with all the tools and confidence I need to be successful. No one explains that once you leave high school the world transforms in front of you as you grow and experience different situations. I am thankful that I learned life lessons with the very good and bad situations that happened through my 20's.

As I turned 29 last year, I started to stress about the big 3-0 and all the things that I had not accomplished before that age. It only occurred to me a few months ago that i should be proud of my accomplishments and who I am as I look forward to 30. I am an independent, loving, funny, confident and successful woman who with all the life changing events in her 20's, really found herself. I used to stress a little over not being married, having kids, and not having my MBA, etc. because those are "goals" that I set for myself when I entered my 20's. I realize now, that if those events had happened before now, I would be a different person, I wouldn't have had the time to find out that I can be independent and happy with myself.

As I see it, I am lucky the way my life has played out so far. I can't wait to see how the next 10 years of my life will be. In my opinion, every decision you make today will have some effect on your life for the rest of your years on earth. The decisions I have made in the past 10 years have gotten me to this place in my life which gives me confidence that the next 10 has something good in store for me.

There are a few people I would like to thank for guiding, supporting me and getting me through my 20's without any major damage. First and fore most, My mom. Than my friends, Carrie, Shannon and Linda (what would I do without you?), my brother and last but not least, all the people that I encounter that taught me something about myself ( even if you didn't mean to).

So I welcome my 30's !! I can't wait to see how I survive them :)

My New Car

It has been a long time since my last post but I have been so busy with work, the new living arrangements and all the other things life has to throw at you. As busy as I have been, I finally found time to go car shopping.


In the past on a couple of occasions, I have bought a car without any real research or thought process. My previous car, a 1998 Saturn SL1, was bought just because it was affordable and available the day I went to test drive it. The car before that, had just been totaled by a deer on the thruway and I needed a replacement and so for the last 7 years, I have driven my Saturn without any major complaints. Now don't get me wrong the car is 9 yrs old, over 120K miles so it has it's quirks but really no major catastrophes. It was very good to me and to be honest, I would have kept it until it stopped running but a few minor problems (the sunroof leaks when it rains etc..) added to up to be expensive repairs so off car shopping I went.

I am a very independent person but when it comes to car shopping, I always need someone there for a second opinion or just as a sounding board so I enlisted J to come along. Before we even went into a dealership, we decided to pick the top 3 or 4 cars I was interested in and they would be the first ones I test drove. Immediately, I new my top two, the VW Jetta and the Dodge Charger, the third choice came about by a comerical I saw on TV, the Ford Edge. All 3 cars completely different but before I went test driving, I wasn't sure what I really wanted. Luckily for us, the Dodge, Ford and VW dealerships are close by so we just went down the street and hit the places as we came upon them.

The first stop, the Dodge place. The Dodge Charger is such a manly, American car and I was excited to drive it myself. Last year we went to TX to visit J's brother, who owns a Charger so I have ridden in one but never got behind the wheel of one. The first thing I notice when I got into the car was the room it had. The get and go the car had was awesome and the sound of the car was great!! I love when cars sound like they have balls ( the only way I can think it put it). Actually one day, I eventually want to restore an old muscle car but for now I will enjoy the attempt at the new muscle car. :) The sales woman was very nice and to my surprise not pushy at all. She let us test drive it by ourselves and when we came back I she was on the phone so I handed her the keys and said I would let her know. She smiled and thanked us and off we went down the road to the Ford place.

As soon as Jon the salesman greeted us, I knew I was not going to buy a car from this guy or dealership. We started off being up front and letting him know I was not buying a car that day and I only wanted to test drive the Edge. Jon started to ramble on about the Ford Focus and what a nice car it is blah, blah, blah. I wanted to say "if I was interested in a Focus, I would have mentioned it" but instead we listened to his spiel while he escorted us to his desk. I was a little annoyed that he had us sit down before I even got into a car to drive. After asking us few questions, he finally had us go outside to test drive the Edge. Its a very nice "crossover" car and had a lot of room but after I thought about it, it was too much room for just me right now. After getting out of the Edge, Jon kind of insisted that I drive a Focus so I did. It was a nice car but that all it is a car, nothing fancy, nothing special its a sedan. He was selling it to me like it was best thing since sliced bread. Jon also kept referring to J and asking him what he thought of the cars and what he wanted to buy etc.. J handled him well he said "It doesn't matter if I like the car, she is buying it and driving so I am just here for the ride" and Jon could not remember J's name and referred to him as Justin (after telling him 3 times the correct name). After the Focus Jon wanted to come and sit at his desk and he started to talk numbers. HELLO!! I SAID I WASN'T BUYING A CAR TODAY. But he insisted, we let him talk and than thanked him for his time and out the door we went.

Off to the VW dealership down the street and around the corner (sort of) we went. Let me back up just a little, I have wanted a VW Jetta since I was a Sr in high school so for over 10 years. I can remember the first VW car I ever saw, it was an old VW rabbit and I loved it. As the years went on, the VW Jetta's became more sportier looking, sleek and sophisticated, just making me want one more. To be honest it kind of is my dream car, other than the muscle car I want to rebuild. We arrive at the dealership about an hour before it was going to close and we are greeted by a very tall (st least 6'6"), slender man named Dan. He was very friendly and spoke with an accent not sure how to describe it but he does speak spanish so I am sure it ties in with that. As we did in the previous two places, we stated that I was only going to test drive a car so he said no problem, and brought around a Jetta for me to drive. The 3 of us get into the car and now I am driving a Jetta. I knew than that I wanted one of these. I wasn't sure what I wanted in it but I knew I wanted a Jetta. When we were done, Dan had us sit down at his desk too look over the inventory they had and to ask a few more questions like if I wanted to buy or lease etc.. We thanked him for his time shook his hand and went home.

I really wanted to say right than and there that I wanted the VW but I knew I had to think about it. So the thought process started my choices either the VW or the Dodge Charger, both having excellent selling points. It took me about 5 days and a lot of discussion with J that I decided I wanted to lease a VW. Luckily for me, J had offered to fund a small loan for a down payment with the agreement I would pay him back (of course) so we had some bargaining power when we went back. I was so excited that I didn't even want to talk about in fear that I would jinx me getting a VW.

We went back to the VW place about a week after the test drive, met with Dan to let him know I wanted to lease. He was a very honest salesman, yes that sounds like an oxymoron but he really was. When I told him I was thinking about using my current car as a trade in he said I would get more money if I sold it on my own and actually he is right I would. Than when he was going through his inventory of cars he kept telling me not to pay for things that I will not use. We ended up at two cars, one with cloth interior, 6 CD changer etc... sort of the basic model and the other was more done up. Leather interior, sunroof, seat warmers, 6 CD changers, satellite radio, a place to put my Ipod that plays on the radio, and chrome accent. I asked Dan to run numbers on both cars, knowing that I probably would be getting the cloth seat one, which is what I was looking for. I didn't go into looking for new cars thinking I was going to walk away with the car I did. So the numbers were ran and it turns out there wasn't that much difference in monthly payment so I of course I choose the one with the bells and whistles. I had to wait for a few days to actually pick up the car but it was well worth it.

Here are a few pictures of the car, which was taken out front of the new place. My best friend C asked me if I felt like I was apart of the "in" crowd now driving to work, (she was teasing me), I told her no but I feel grown up now, no longer in college. My Saturn was my college car, which when you are in college, who cars what you drive. I have had a "career" since I got out of college but just now and maybe because I am turning 30 soon, I just feel like I am saying goodbye to the 20's. Whatever it is, I do love my car.



Thanks J for all the help!! Love you honey

I AM NOT Weird!!

Ok I have to take a moment and vent. I usually keep my posts upbeat and informative but I have to get this off my chest.

I AM NOT Weird ( or whatever people seem to think) that I am not married, do not have kids and I will be 30 this year. I have had enough of other women ( usually) asking me when I am going to have kids or get married. This happens to me more often then I have ever imagined. Especially now that my best friend is having a baby. Whenever I mention S having a baby or used to talk about my friends getting married, I'd get the same reaction from most women "When are you getting married" or " when are you having kids" or my favorite "Don't you want a family?" Of course I do you idiots!! I just didn't know that all had to happen before 30. Now I understand the biological clock thing but I am assuming if science can clone a sheep or a 60 year old woman can give birth, I can still have a family after I turn 30. I almost feel like the people who ask me this think I am weird or something. When this first happened to me ( 3 years ago when S got married), I would say something sarcastic like "I don't see a reason to get married", just so the person asking me wouldn't ask me again. Actually one time I told my supervisor that I couldn't have kids after the 100th time she mentioned having kids to me. I know that is really mean and maybe unlucky to say something like that but I get offended when anyone ( outside my my dearest and closest friends) ask me that. Now when people ask me about kids and marriage, I get angry. I mean lets logically think about this, one it's the guys job to ask me ( no J, this isn't a hint, just a fact) to get married, two in my world, school, career, husband and house comes before starting a family. So forgive me world that those things haven't happened to me yet. It seems to bother other people more than it bothers me. I am happy with my life for now and I don't think its weird or unusual that I am not married or have kids. If you know me, those are events I look forward to but I don't stress about them at all. Well until the 5th woman in one day asks me why I don't have kids etc...

Sorry for the venting but I have had enough. Come to think about it, I would never ask anyone besides my closest friends anything personal like that so I don't understand why I get the questions.

On a much happier note, I saw S today for the first time since she announced she is prego and she looks beautiful!! She is 5 mths along and looks like a glowing healthy, pregnant woman. Tomorrow is her baby shower.. more to come on that :)