Happy dirty thirty husband

My man turns the big 3-0 today and lucky for him his birthday weekend also falls on the same one as the Super Bowl. Actually T was born on the night of the 1984 big game which is fitting for such a football fan. So if you haven't figured out T is younger than me by 2.5 years, the girl who never wanted to date a younger guy ended up marrying one. I like to point out to T that when he was a freshman in high school I was enjoying my senior year. Funny how now our age difference is barely noticeable that we are adults. Tonight I'm taking him out to a nice dinner at a restaurant he has been wanting to try for months and Saturday night we are having drinks with friends at our favorite local pub.

Happy birthday to the guy who has kept me laughing and feeling loved for the last 6 years.

I'm going to pop some tags

I spent this weekend indulging in one of my new hobbies thrifting. I got into the thrifting game last summer and now I'm officially hooked. Since I work in the richer part of town I have the luxury of being near one of the better Goodwills in the city. This one seems to get a lot of the rich people castoffs and I love scouring the racks. In the past I have found several cute Loft tops for great low prices. I went there on Saturday and left with some nice pieces. If you don't thrift shop one big tip I would give you is to make sure you give yourself enough time to really look through the racks. You have to be patient in thrift shopping.

I found a cute green and white top from New York and Company for $7 and Mossimo gray pants for $4. I also had money on my Kohl's gift card from Christmas and scored a Lauren Conrad sweater for $10. Nothing feels better than finding a good deal.

The lazy girl's guide to managing stress

Stress. I have yet to find a way to avoid it and doubt anyone can. Finding a way to cope with and manage stress is a necessary part of life. Whenever I read articles about how to deal with stress they always talk about exercising, eating healthy, and doing all things generally good for you. With the exception of my 2005-2007 stint of twice a week yoga classes, my record with exercising is inconsistent at best. I have accumulated various stress relieving techniques over the years that are more of a fit to my lazier lifestyle.

1. Bravo is your friend. 

Nothing beats coming home from a stress filled day of work and watching my favorite trashy reality shows. When I'm having a rough day I like getting comfy on the couch and escaping with some bad television. T likes to tease me about what he calls my shows and doesn't understand why I enjoy watching them. What can say? I feel like those shows require no real thinking and serve as temporary escape from whatever I'm currently dealing.

2. Stress eating is real.

This week has been a hectic week for everyone at work. I noticed a lot of my co-workers stress eating throughout the day. I'm guilty of this myself. I notice that I tend to crave sweets or comfort foods in times where I'm overwhelmed. I always keep emergency chocolate in my office for those moments. So while it may not be the health conscious thing to do, treat yourself to something you like to eat when you feel stressed out. Snack on.

3. Sing your heart out.

Music has always served as a type of therapy in my life. Jamming out to a good song while driving home from work is an easy way to destress for me. Today I had my own car dance party to Britney Spears on my commute home and loved it. I found myself feeling more relaxed before pulling into my driveway.

4. Walking the dog.

This one is win for Kavalier who loves walks and anything having to do with going outside. It really helps me collect my thoughts when I'm out for walk with Kav. The fact that he is forever happy to spend time with me is also an added bonus.

What are some of the ways you deal with stress?

Changes ahead

I have talked on the blog in detail about my desire to move out of Florida on several occasions. T and I have spent the last few months discussing where we see our future in length and started putting a plan together for what we affectionately dubbed the "Get out of Orlando" plan. I know to some people they might think I'm crazy for wanting to leave Florida but the reality is that this city is not the place for us anymore. T recently finished his degree in Political Science in August and is looking for a job that utilizes his newly acquired expensive piece of paper, while my field of education or non-profit is found everywhere. So after much discussion and research we have officially put up our house for sale and will be moving this year to the DC metro area! We have both been there several times and really like it.

            I took this picture when we traveled to DC for the Jon Stewart Rally in 2010.

Random Friday Ramblings

As I'm writing this Florida is getting a blast of winter air, which for Orlando means it will get down to the 30's. People down here start to freak out if the thermometer dips below 50 but I actually like cold weather. It gives me a chance to break out my cute sweaters and peacoat from my one New England winter. Oh and cold means cuddling with a cup of hot cocoa.

This week has been crazy busy at work and yesterday I actually did not get around to eating lunch. I never do that, even when I was a teacher I still managed to scarf down my lunch in the 25 minutes I would get for lunch time. I used to skip breakfast regularly but always made time for lunch. I wrote something on Facebook about how crappy I felt at the end of the workday in skipping lunch and got many replies from people on how they skip eating lunch all the time. Maybe I'm just a weirdo who needs to eat all her scheduled meals. Do you guys skip lunch often?

Today with the cool down in the temperatures I got a craving for Shepard's Pie. T and I love going to this hole in the wall Irish pub near our house that serves it. They make theirs with a pie crust on the bottom and it is delicious. So I went to get all the ingredients after work and attempted to make my own version of this Irish treat.

I definitely earned my new Irish last name with this dish. T loved it and said it tasted just the one from our favorite little pub. There is nothing like trying a new recipe and knocking it out of the park.

Why your 30's are not your 20's

On the drive to work this morning the local radio show that I have been listening to since my middle school days was talking about things that you are too old to be doing. While most days I don't feel like I'm 32, some things bring me crashing back to the reality that my carefree 20's are long gone. People might say that 30 is the new 20, but I think that is just what us thirty-somethings tell ourselves to ease the pain of getting older. Don't get me wrong, so far I have really enjoyed and embraced my new decade of life, but I'm not naive enough to think I can just cruise along like I did when I was 25. Sorry to break to you twenty somethings, so enjoy the hell out of those years.

1. You can't drink like your 22 old self.

To be really honest I can't drink like my 25 year old self. Somewhere that version of Denise is shaking her head when she watches me try to drink like the old days. She laughs at her future self. Back in my early 20's I went out every weekend and drank like your typical college student. Football games meant all day drinking and tailgating. Nowadays if I attempt to do all day drinking I find that I need a nap halfway through it and will feel hungover the next day. A popular thing in Orlando is to go to Epcot to go drink around the world which involves going to all the countries and having a drink. T's 30th birthday is this month and when I jokingly suggested it to him as an idea he quickly said we were too old for it. Sadly I think he is right. Oh to have my younger liver back.

                                                              Circa 2000's

2. Eating whatever you want with no consequences.

I'm very lucky to be blessed with a fast metabolism and be on the slender side. Trust me I know that. But even for me I have noticed a slowing down of the metabolism and acquiring what I call a baby muffin top. My mom had warned me that she started to gain weight in her 30's so I should have seen this coming. I especially noticed this over the holidays when I ate with reckless abandon.

3. Midnight movie showings are no longer worth the lack of sleep.

There was once in a time in my past when I loved going to see midnight showings. Harry Potter, Batman, Hunger Games, I was there. For me I gladly sacrificed my eight hours of sleep for the privilege of being one of the first to see the movie. Feeling tired and sleepy at work the next day was no problem for me. The last midnight movie I went to (which being married to a comic book fanatic was probably a comic book film) I was completely dragging the next day at work and needing a nap by lunch time. I like getting my full night of sleep if I have work the next day.

4. You sound stupid using the current slang.

I work at an educational non-profit that mainly works with teenagers, so I get to stay on top of the new lingo. Yes, I realize that using the word just made me sound ancient, but oh well. So if you are over 30 and going around saying cray cray, then sorry but you sound ridiculous. Instead embrace your age and stop trying to be young and hip. The beauty of being in my 30's is that I no longer really care about trying to be cool. I'm good with being nerdy little old me.

So what differences do you see in your 30's?

Making your own milestones

It feels like we go through life with a built in checklist that society has programmed into us from birth. We move from goal to goal starting with childhood. I worked hard in high school to earn the good grades to get into college. Then it was about getting a big girl job after graduation, moving out, getting married- you get the picture. I call it the life script. We are raised to believe that the life script's purpose is to serve as our road map in life. I'm not saying it is good or bad, obviously I have used it to mark my life accomplishments along my 32 years. But what happens if your life choices have you straying from the prescribed path? Sometimes I feel this way since I have decided not to have children and I'm already married. Have I marked off my last milestone?

In all seriousness I know that is not true and that I have many adventures left in my years. I can't help but think of that Sex and the City episode where Carrie gets show shamed and talks about how much time and money she has spent on celebrating other people's life choices like marriage and having kids. She makes a comment to Charlotte on how Hallmark doesn't make a Congrats on not marrying the wrong guy card and that society only celebrates certain life choices. I can't help but agree with the lovely yet neurotic Ms. Bradshaw. While I'm happy with the choices I have made and will continue to make, I can't help but feel like I'm driving around without any navigation. I'm at that age where my Facebook is filled with pregnancy announcements, and now that I have been married a full year strangers love to inquire about the status of my uterus. In the last month or so the husband and I have been seriously discussing where we see life taking us next. The kind of conversations that start with a glass of wine (or two) and leave you giddy excited about the next chapter. Living somewhere in between post wedding and no cute gender reveal baby announcement is my reality. A reality that can at times be just the mundane details of married life, but can also be a blank canvas for new adventures. So maybe I will just have to be content with making my own milestones.

Garnet and Gold for life

Last night my Seminoles had me on the edge of my couch with their championship game against Auburn. I joked to T that I felt like I was going to have a heart attack during the last quarter. I couldn't help but swim in nostalgic thoughts yesterday from the last time the Noles won a championship during my freshman year there. Partying on Tennessee Street and going to class hungover the next morning alongside everyone else, there is nothing like the energy of being in a college town post championship win. Tallahassee is FSU football. There is nothing like the energy of being in town for game day.