Do I look like i'm 50?

This past weekend, I went to visit my family for my birthday and for Mother's day (I'll post more on that later). It was a great weekend, but the only thing that became quite hilarious was people's apparent desire to consider me a 50 year old (not that there is anything wrong with being a 50 year old).

Take instance #1:

On Friday night, we went to a baseball game. While we were sitting there, these three, girls came and sat in front of us. Their skin was the color of oompa loompas and their shorts barely covered their arses's, and they all had the same hair color. In any case, they came to sit by the guys who were previously sitting in front of us. They began taking an array of photos of, well, everything. But mostly themselves. So, after watching this go on for about 30 minutes, I asked if they would like for me to take their pic for them. To which they responded excitedly, yes! I took their camera and took a group photo of them. When I was finished, I handed the camera back to the lead girl and she responded with  "Thank you, Ma'am".... When did I become a "Ma'am"? It was as if the world stopped, my dad laughed, patted me on the back, and said, you don't look like a "Ma'am". I said thank you, but he is of course, a little baised. I looked down at my clothes, to make sure I wasn't wearing mom jeans or that I didn't have some other type of clothing that made me look like a "ma'am". Sure enough, I was all clear in my tank top and shorts. But apparently, looking mature, not orange, and wearing shorts that don't show my arse, makes me a "ma'am", who knew.

Instance #2:

On Sunday, we went to brunch for Mother's day. Afterwards, my mom and I went to CVS to get some "necessities" (which by the way, when my mom and I go to CVS we always ending up buying everything but necessities). I walk up to the check out counter, happily hand over my CVS rewards card (which I am glad I could find because nothing is worse then being asked for your rewards card and embarrisingly having to say "I do have one, I just don't have it with me"). The check out lady scans my purchases, I pay, and then as I am about to walk away, I hear "Have a very happy mother's day, ma'am."....awkward pause..."Uh...thank you?" Apparently, the CVS woman thought that not only was I a "ma'am" but that I also MUST have had children already.. Silly me. I appreciated the nice message from the check out lady, but "Hey, have a good day" might have done more for the ole self confidence.

In any case, after this weekend, I'm taking a closer assessment of my appearance, just to make sure its clear that no, I am not a "ma'am"..yet, and hey its okay that I don't have children.

The 27th Celebration of Cinco de Sara

I turned 27 today at 6:35 a.m. I didn't wake up for that moment but I reflected on it at 7:30 when I did wake up. I think 27 is a good age. I'm not a fan of the "odd" number birthdays but I think this will be a good year. It's hard for me to imagine that I was 17 ten years ago. Most days I still feel 17. In honor of this, my 27th year of life, here is a recap of my 26th year of life in hopefully the least boring way possible (and yes I am consulting my planner to remember - my paper planner that I still use everyday, I like the writing down of things rather than the typing in of things into an iPhone - its cathartic):

• Ran an entire 5k for the first time without stopping.
• Ran 8 miles (on a 5/1 interval).
• Went back to blonde.
• Maintained the same job at the law firm.
• Went on vacay to Mexico with the boyfriend in July.
• Went to several fun concerts.
• Was lead attorney in my first bench trial before a federal court judge.
• Won my first trial in front of a federal court judge.
• Took my first deposition.
• Travelled to NYC on business for the first time!
• Celebrated my two year anniversary with the boyfriend in San Antonio.
• Hired a maid (this is momentous because I finally gave into the hatred of cleaning, I can afford it, so why not, even if I only live in a one bedroom).

I'm sure there is much more that I did in my 26th year of life, but that list will have to do for now!

I arrived at work today to find a bouquet of flowers from my wonderful parents (picture above - ignore the messy desk, I'm in the midst of drafting a 25 page response to a motion - its intense), a cake from the law firm, and a balloon that sings from my legal assistant. I'll recap tomorrow about all the wonderful things I did today on my 27th celebration of Cinco de Sara.

Random act of kindness.

My apartment building is, well, like a compound. Its surrounded by gates which you cannot gain access to without the special "card" (walk though gates - drive through gates). As a tenant, a card was bestowed upon me for my use. I kept it in safe keeping for 3 years, and at some point last fall it became "lost" or rather fell out of my car somewhere in Houston. What they don't tell you is that this card costs $50.00 bucks to replace, that's a new pair of shoes. And I'd much rather spend my $50.00 on a pair of shoes then a new "card". So, rather than spend the $50.00, I have a refined system to get into my apartment (which my boyfriend thinks is ridiculous and that I should just go get a new card, but I stand firm). I wait in the bank parking lot across the "street" from the entrance for a car to enter the gate, and then I annoyingly follow behind that car. Sometimes, I even try to sneak in the out gate. Yes, friends, all these efforts so that I do not have to spend $50.00 on a new card. Some call me frugal, others call me smart. I take the latter position.

Well, last night, as I was waiting in the bank parking lot with the food I picked on my way home from work from Whole Foods, the hot food that was getting colder as I sat and waited for someone to come through the gate, the "out" gate opened and a truck rolled through. As this was happening, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be nice if that person in the truck stopped and swiped his card on the "in" gate side to let me in? And what do you know, that's exactly what he did. He rolled through the gate. Stopped, got out of this truck, and let me in. For that he got a very friendly wave and smile.

And this folks, is why I love living in Texas.

A hatred for balloons.

Unbeknowst to me, my cat, Callie, is horribly afraid of balloons. I did not realize this fear until this morning. I noticed she was avidly avoiding my living room. She was hiding under the bed, crouching near the door way, and not being her usually friendly self. So, I picked her up, which normally does not bother her, and carried her into the living room - begin freak out. She jumped off of me (which felt awesome) and ran to the window sill across the room and began making these deep meow noises that I didn't know that cats could make. Then the shaking started. The whole time she was staring at this busshel of Happy Birthday balloons that were hanging from a chair in my dining room (my dining room is a part of my living room - the joy of living in a 750 sq ft one bedroom apt). I removed the balloons and it took her approximately three hours to stop shaking and for her poofy tail to shrink back to its regular size. Needless to say, my happy birthday balloons are now residing in my closet. And my cat is now back to her normal happy self.. Who knew.

My birthday is on Wednesday. I had a fabulous friend birthday celebration last night that included margarits, shots, and a karaoke bar. I will do a birthday celebration post later this week.

I've returned, and probably for good.

It may be that I've become introspective or retrospective, or some sort of spective as I round out my twenties, but I've felt the itch to blog lately, keep a journal (for the more personal matters), and start keeping better track of the pictures I take. So, to indulge this itch, I have decided to start back with the blogging.

A little refresher course for all of my five blog readers - I am 26 and 360 days old. I will turn the ripe age of 27 on May 5. I am "single" in the realm of I am not married. I have a boyfriend, the same one for the past 2 1/2 years. He is 34 and 345 days old. Quite the age difference, I already know. But we even each other out. We met in law school almost five years ago and are moving happily along our merry way. As you may have inferred from that last sentence, I am a lawyer. I have been one now since 2008. Most of my time during the day involves lawyerly activities where I try to convince myself that I am not just playing "lawyer", but that I am indeed an actual attorney. Sometimes its hard to convince myself of that. You laugh, but it happens.

I have recently taken up the sport of running. I was an avid running hater. I loathed it. Really I did, and sometimes I still do. But, in January, my secret running lover self emerged from some random place. Don't ask me how it happened because most days I can't answer that question for myself. All I know is that I joined a "running club" in January, and began running at 6:30 am every saturday morning thereafter. And as a result of this new "love" I signed up to run my first half marathon in November. Yes, 7 months away, but I decided that'll be how long it'll take to convince myself that I can actually run 13.1 miles. I'll keep y'all posted on that one.

I would describe my interests to you, but then what would that leave for you to keep reading about in my future posts? I have to do something to keep you around somehow..

So, what's the point of all this, I read a lot of blogs in my down time. They entertain me. Most of them involve babies or married people. I thought it might be an interesting perspective to read a blog about a 27 year old who isn't married, and who has no kids. So, please don't expect pictures of cute little babies or daily accounts of my routines with my husband. Not that I don't enjoy reading those myself, because I honestly do, so keep on trucking with those posts my friends. What you'll get from me are hopefully witty (although most of the time i'm not), interesting (in the eyes of the beholder), detailed (or not so detailed) ramblings of my daily experience and encounters as I attempt to navigate my way through the remaining years of my twenties. I can't promise a post everyday, but I can hopefully guarantee they'll be a little entertaining when they do happen.

Enjoy my friends.

I've disappeared, part 2.

Where have I gone the last two months? Wow. Its really been that long since I last posted.

I won't attempt to catch everyone up on what I've been doing. Let's just say there were:

- two weddings mixed in there (tracy and jennifer)

- the busiest work time I've ever had (and still the busiest right now, trial in March)

- a bachelorette trip to Florida for Jennifer's wedding

- two business trips (one to Dallas, and one to NYC)

- my first ever deposition, my second ever deposition

- my first blizzard experience during my business trip to NYC

- my first time in Connecticut (for the first deposition)

- an office move to a new building

- my first time coaching the Pace moot court team, and their subsequent placing in the top 3 of 84 teams at the competition last weekend! (finals baby!)

- joining a running training program with Houston Fit to train for a half marathon, and so far sticking to it.

- my first time to run 3 1/2 miles

- visiting with Elaine and Brian when they were in Houston briefly.

- some serious Olympics watching.

- some serious Lost watching.

- some not so serious Bachelor watching (yawn).

- Book club meetings with the girls

- quality time with friends

- quality time with the boy.

- Christmas at home in Arlington.

- New Years in Boerne with Patrick's family.

- Almost losing my mom to a heart attack in December, and NEVER EVER EVER wanting to do that again or feel what I felt on Friday December 18th for 20 minutes when I didn't know if my mom was okay or if she was going to make it while i was stuck in Houston 4 hours away. (if you don't know the whole story of this, well you can ask, i'm not afraid tot alk about it.)

- My mom surviving a 95% closed vein in her heart, and being strong and persistent in her continued recovery.

- Appreciating my family even more than I already did (if that's even possible)

That about sums up my last two months. Hopefully I will post more soon once life slows down after March 16th...

I've disappeared

Me and the Sis at Thanksgiving

Me and one of my besties at the Baylor/Tech game!

With the boy at the Baylor/Tech game, he's ridic.

Well I horribly failed at that blog posting month. Sorry bout that. And apparently I am failing at posting in December also. Things are busy right now, what with the hoildays, and finishing up things at work before I take time off for the holidays. I promise more posts over the holidays, especially when things slow down and I am hanging out at my parents house.

I leave you with some fun photos from Thanksgiving tailgating at the Baylor/Tech game!

Much Love.