Thirty-One? More like Thirty-FUN!

Yes, it's true, I am now 31 years old. Being in my 30s is no longer a novelty and I can't really claim to be in my late 20's anymore (20-11, anyone?). To celebrate my birthday, we had dinner at Lone Star Taqueria and then headed to Bonwood for the best economically priced bowling around. Who else has replay camera that let you re-watch all your amazing shots? And their 3 game special is unbeatable ($8 for 3 games + shoes, I think). Most of us only bowled one game though. With 5 people per lane that seemed to take up plenty of time to make me feel like I'd been bowling.


Taco Town! (Not really)


Woo!


Bonwood


I bowled a 147. I'll take it.

A few days later, I also had some good friends out to my parents' house for Sunday dinner, which was a rare, but very nice occurrence (not my going home for dinner, but bringing friends with me).

In trying to do some self-assessment on this, the anniversay of my birth, I went over the past year and tried to see what all I'd done. The older I get the faster time seems to fly by, so it was nice to look back and see that actually a year does take quite a long time. I don't want to steal any thunder from my annual Christmas Card in a few months, but here's a brief list of thingss I've done in the last 12 months:

• Successfully defended my dissertation, completed my dissertation manuscript, and graduated with my PhD
• Found a job that I enjoy that pays me an honest wage
• Purchased a brand new car
• Traveled to Boston, Seattle, Yellowstone, the Bahamas, and other parts more local.
• Been diagnosed with Diabetes, changed my eating and exercise habits, and lost 30 pounds
• Moved in with some cool guys in a very nice place

In hindsight, that seems like plenty for one year, right? :)

Just for funsies, here's a photo from this year's party and one from last year's birthday party:


31


30

Looking ahead to my next year, I'd like to keep up my improved healthy lifestyle, get my car paid off, maybe start looking at purchasing my own place to live (people keep telling me that it's a great time to be buying), do some more traveling, and keep looking for Mrs. J.