Well, friends… yesterday was my 30th birthday! I have to say that I’m not really sad about this transition. Our day to day life and responsibilities definitely feel older than our 20s, so being in my 30s now feels like I have a little more street cred 😉 To celebrate, I thought I’d share 30 little tidbits about me in honor of turning 30!

(1) My birthday is the day after my mom’s. She walked for miles trying to get me to come on her birthday, but I was stubborn and wanted my own day, haha! It’s always been really fun to share birthdays back to back!

(2) Because my birthday is in late July, I was one of the youngest kids in my class throughout school. I didn’t get my driver’s license until right before junior year of high school, I graduated high school at 17, and was barely 18 before I moved away for college. However- I changed majors in undergrad and ended up doing a “victory lap” so I caught up and was the same age as most of the people I graduated undergrad/ graduate school with.

(3) I am actually older than my husband. From July 23 to October 5 older. But, that victory lap in college meant we ended up starting graduate school/ medical school the same year, and thus our love story was born 🙂 And even though it’s a measly 2.5 months, that doesn’t stop him from occasionally (and jokingly) calling me a cougar.

(4) From the time I graduated high school, I pursued 4 potential/different careers. I started college as an English major with the intent of going to law school (attorney). After a year to year and a half, I dropped the pre-law designation and picked up a secondary education minor with the intent of teaching (English/ drama teacher). After a year or so of that, I switched completely to communication disorders to be a speech language pathologist. And once I started in the speech and hearing department, I decided I didn’t have near the patience required to be a speech therapist and moved over to the audiology side (and I am actually an audiologist now!).

(5) I was an English major because I love to read and write. One of my hobbies growing up was to write fiction stories for fun. I don’t know that I’ll ever actually start and finish one that’s worth publishing, but it’s really fun to me to create little worlds and happy endings!

(6) My very favorite musician of all time is John Mayer. I’ve seen him in concert 3 times. (Apparently photographic evidence of 2008 no longer exists. I went with another friend from college, and hadn’t met my BFF Hannah yet, but apparently she was at that same concert, too and we didn’t even know each other! Small world! The other two times were with Han 🙂 )

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(7) I really enjoy grammar, and one of my biggest pet peeves is incorrect grammar or spelling, especially in professional or public settings. I am that obnoxious person that has a really difficult time not pointing out grammatical errors/ misspelled words.

(8) I have never been out of the US, but I have been to 10 states (Texas (obviously), Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, and Hawaii). (And a layover in LAX… does that count? Haha!). Steven and I intend to visit all 50 states together before our 50th wedding anniversary. Our original plan was to visit one new state each year, but we knocked out Louisiana and Arkansas for fellowship interviews after we’d already taken a vacation to Oklahoma all in the same year. So, together, we’ve been to Hawaii, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas in 3 years of marriage. And Texas, of course. God Bless Texas. 🙂

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(9) I am a shorty– 5’4″. But I’m taller than my mom, and she’s taller than my grandma, so, as a people, we are growing! 🙂

(10) I never played recreational organized sports growing up. I wasn’t overly athletic, and didn’t really have an interest in them. I was in dance for a long time, was in athletics in 7th grade (so I very slowly ran cross country and track, and played 3rd string on the basketball C team) and took tennis lessons at one point. And that’s the extent of me being an “athlete”. I’m hoping Olivia got some athleticism from her dad!

(11) I love to bake, but cooking… not so much. I feel like following a recipe for baking almost always leads to success, meaning I can be successful at baking 95% of the time. It drives me crazy that I can follow a recipe to a T when cooking and there’s a decent chance it won’t be good. I like consistency, haha! Do y’all think I can convince my family to only eat cake and cookies, etc. from now on?

(12) I LOVE a good bargain. Love it like it’s almost a sport to me to find a good deal on something. I am in a constant battle of looking for the best deal, but also knowing my husband is correct when he very often says “You get what you pay for”.

(13) In Texas, we call all carbonated beverages “cokes”, rather than “pop” or “soda” or whatever people in other places call carbonated beverages. For most of my teenage to adult life, my favorite coke was, in fact, Coke, like Coca-Cola. For some reason, after I had Olivia, I randomly had a Dr. Pepper at some point and now Dr. Pepper is my favorite. Before I was pregnant, DP was way too sweet and I didn’t like the flavor, but now it’s my jam. Pregnancy does a lot of weird things to you!

(14) If you want me to remember something, make me physically write it down. I feel like I don’t process verbal/ auditory stimuli as easily as written, so I need to read something to understand it, and write it to remember it.

(15) Because I need to write stuff down, I’m probably one of the few people left on the planet that still uses a paper planner that I carry with me most places. I’ve tried a lot of different styles and brands, but right now I’m using the Erin Condren academic planner and it’s working really well for our current life! (And how adorable are the covers with all the pictures??)

(16) My favorite book is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I have a collection of old/ antique copies, and if we are ever in an old or independent bookstore, that’s usually the one book I look for.

(17) If I had to eat one food for the rest of my life, it would probably be Chick Fil A nuggets. I’m not sure it’s possible to get tired of CFA.

(18) I’ve always been a night owl, and have been as long as I can remember (at least through college and my twenties’). Luckily Steven is a night owl as well, so we can stay up late together and not be morning people together. Although he can hang way longer than I can. Maybe I’m neither? Haha!

(19) I very rarely wear “decorative” type jewelry. I typically wear my wedding and engagement rings, my Lisa Leonard stamped rings (I have one for Olivia and one for Steven), my not-smart watch, the cross necklace Steven gave me for my birthday six years ago, and stud earrings.

(20) I am part of the 2% of the world’s population with naturally green eyes. Steven has blue eyes, and Olivia’s are blue, too. Both of my parents have green eyes and so does my brother.

(21) Probably the strangest job I’ve ever worked was being the photographer for pictures with Santa in the mall in my hometown one Christmas in high school. People be crazy, especially when it comes to pictures of their children with Santa. In high school, I also worked as an assistant in my dad’s office, and I did a summer at Bahama Buck’s and another summer at the clothing store Maurice’s before I went off to college. In college, I worked for several years as an editorial assistant for a health curriculum for primary and secondary schools in Texas. In graduate school, I worked as a graduate assistant for the head of our department and a newborn hearing screener for the teaching hospital.

(22) I love a good road trip, and I’m not a huge fan of flying. Since our very first date, Steven and I have been known to just drive around for entertainment and to pass the time. We talk, listen to music, check out areas we haven’t been before, etc. We drove around looking at Christmas lights/ decorations after dinner on our first date.

(23) My favorite color is turquoise.

(24) If there was one piece of advice I could give to everyone I meet, it is to be kind. No matter what, be kind. It costs nothing, and it completely changes lives. You will never regret being kind to someone, and seeing someone be unkind to others really makes me crazy. Be kind or be quiet.

(25) If I love a show or movie, I don’t mind (and really actually enjoy) watching it over and over again. I probably can’t count on two hands the number of times I’ve watched The Office or Gilmore Girls all the way through.

(26) One of my true loves is live theatre, especially musical theatre. My completely outlandish dream job that I’m completely unqualified for would be playing Elphaba or Glinda in a production of Wicked.

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(27) I have recently gotten very interested in the Enneagram, especially after listening to EnneaSummer 2019 with Annie F. Downs on the That Sounds Fun podcast. I am a 2, but I can’t tell if I’m a 1 wing or 3 wing just yet- it feels like I have my times with both. I think stuff like this shouldn’t be taken as Holy Grail, but I think it does have it’s place, and explains a lot!

(28) My favorite animal is a pig. Or puppies. Gosh, really just baby animals of all sorts. Is there anything cuter than a baby animal?? How do you choose who is cutest?? (And here are our boys as puppies. What cuties!!)

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(29) My baseline is to be terribly long-winded with words. That’s clearly evident, just look at this incredibly long list. And everything else you might read on this blog. I can’t help it, I’m an over-‘splainer!

(30) I feel like I have much more confidence now as a 30 year old than I ever did when I was younger, especially in college and my early 20s. I think part of that comes from realizing as you get older that it really doesn’t matter what other people think- most people you deal with on a regular basis are merely bystanders in your life and their opinions don’t have to matter to you. Know who and what does matter, hold tight to that, and let the rest roll off. 🙂

And if you made it to the end of this incredibly long list… kudos to you! Thanks for hanging in there! I had a great day yesterday- Steven took me to lunch, we drove around talking after we ate (our favorite!), my sweet co-workers sent me flowers, we had a yummy dinner and Nothing Bundt Cake, Olivia’s nanny brought me the biggest cinnamon roll I’ve ever seen, and I got to snuggle my girl (who was feeling like quite the beautiful diva in my sunglasses). We’re taking a fun trip this weekend, too, so I feel so spoiled! Thanks for reading, y’all, and I’ll see y’all back here Friday for some Faves for Friday!

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