Twenty WHAT?!

Well hello!

Playing in super soft Canary Island sand

I turned twenty five yesterday.

My grandfather gave me a birthday phone call and casually asked how my life to do list was going.

THANK GOODNESS I have another three years to complete the list.  I take it very seriously despite all appearances.  Thanks, Grandaddy, for inquiring after the list and holding me accountable :)

Here is the list.  (I'm only 90% sure this is 100% accurate as I lost the original documentation.)

1. skydive
2. hanglide
3. ride a camel
4. ride an elephant
5. swim with dolphins
6. volunteer at an orphanage 
7. write a song
8. write a book
9. learn to sail
10. pay for a family vacation*

One, two, and three.  Done.

Four, five, and six.  Okay so, I'm not trying to be lazy, or a tree-hugging hipster, but I'm not sure these are very nice or ethical. I've decided I'm not going out of my way to do these things; I certainly won't pay to do them. But do I secretly hope that one day I'll dive off my sailboat into crystal blue sea and be suddenly surrounded by Flipper and his extended family?  Yes.

*Ten.  I don't know what I was thinking when I was eighteen.  Maybe that I'd win the lottery by twenty one?  I don't know. So I'm going to cheat.  Melissa and I paid for our parents to stay in a nice Florentine B&B.  So... check.  Until I win the lottery.  And I'm taking Melissa on a postgrad Caribbean cruise.  So... double check.

Seven, eight, nine.  Working on it.

love,
mb

24 Things I Loved About My 24th Birthday Week

Black Keys concert, a few days before my birthday

Oh goodness, today felt like a Monday. I'm about to drink a big glass of water and go to bed. But before I do, here's some things I loved about my birthday week.

* cooking with fresh bay leaves

* mixing mojitos with fresh mint 

* red beans and rice simmering for three hours and looking like legit cajun food
* two good workouts
* wonderful, honest discussion about prayer at home group
* wonderful, honest prayer at home group
* yummy lasagna cooked by Anna at home group
* sleepy time blended herbal tea
* hearing the voices of my parents, Grandaddy, and briefly, Pop-Pop
* a pretty birthday card from Dave's mom, Caroline
* my new stick-free frying pan
* a postcard from Amy from the Australian outback, where she's smooshing cane toads and planning community gardens
* seeing my friend Heidi's band, Cloud Control, perform in Camden… they have fans who know all their lyrics... it's so cool!  Plus the band went to school with Amy's boyfriend, James, in the Blue Mountains... small world.

* bright red fingernail polish
* women's breakfast at church: pancakes!  bright yellow flowers! girls to talk to!
* emails from Hannah and Shelley
* sausage and mash and taco skillet cooked by Dave
* my flannel shirt that kept me warm
* cathartic crying
* Sunday morning breakfast club
* truly thoughtful gifts and cards from parents, grandparents, and friends
* a clean bedroom and kitchen
* hearing the London Symphony Orchestra perform Copland's Appalachian Spring 
* post-concert cinnamon toast with Dave


Happy Monday night,
mb
 

23 Things I Learned When I Was 23

I learned that...

1. Having a tan looks and feels good. I thought I'd embraced my whiteness. Then this summer I got a real tan. And it looked good. And I miss it.

2. Minnesota is a beautiful state.

3. Driving solo for eighteen hours is not a good idea.

4. Pleurisy is the inflammation of the lining surrounding the lungs. Pleurisy burns and hurts a lot.

5. New Orleans jazz is groovy. 

6. Mardi Gras is gross and awful, especially when I'm desperately searching for a taxi at 4am.

7. Alabama has all sorts of funky homegrown festivals that I haven't discovered. 

8. I love bike rides in Grand Teton National Park. Okay, so I love most things in Grand Teton National Park, but I didn't go on a bike ride until my last week. It was one of my favorite afternoons of the summer. We discovered a hidden country store with free gingersnap cookies hot out of the wood-burning oven!

9. If I don't ask, I probably won't receive.

10. Being brutally honest to the right person relieves guilt and makes problems more manageable.

11. Blackberry produces mediocre phones. I'm sorry I cheated on you, Apple.

12. Extra exercise gives me more energy than extra sleep.

13. Six-foot live Christmas trees smell nice, but they're a pain in the ass to get rid of.

14. The City of London is its own separate city; it even has its own police force and tax code. 

15. I may prefer the countryside to city life. But I reserve the right to change my mind always.

16. I'm high maintenance, just like my dad said I was. I thought he was very wrong, but then in the middle of a serious relationship, I discovered he was very right.

17. It's almost always a good idea to meet up with friends I haven't seen in years, even if I think it might be awkward.

I learned how...

18. To skip a rock (sort of).

19. To ski (sort of).

20. To use London's bus system.

21. To crush garlic cloves so that they're easier to peel.

And why…

22. Grown ups don't do extracurriculars... 9-5s make you tired.

And what…

23. P&L, ETD, OTC, and CDS stand for… profit & loss, exchange traded derivatives, over the counter trading, and… I can't remember CDS, actually. I'll get back to you on that one.

Oh!  And the first thing I learned when I was twenty four:  how to make amazing lentil burgers.

Happy Lent(il)...
mb