Ruminations on 22

As I sit down to write this, the seconds tick away on my kitchen clock, and I realize I have approximately 4 hours left at age 22.

In honor of my 23rd birthday coming 'round the bend, I decided to make a list of 22 ruminations on my 22nd year of life. It was a good year, and I can only hope for a 23 that is just as good, or, if I'm lucky, even better. Enjoy :)

1. I got a new niece: On July 18th, my sister-in-law popped out baby #2, and little Annemarie came hurtling into the world to fall in line behind big brother Reeve. Word on the street is she's starting to look like me. Lucky little chick.


2. I graduated with honors and a BA in Journalism from USC.

3. I got into and started grad school.

4. I adopted a dog from the SPCA: I believe most of you are familiar with the many stories of Stella.

5. I got another sister-in-law: Congrats Dave and Meredith-- can't wait to meet another little fetus Townes in June.

6. My parents made a "final relocation" back to Greenville, SC: We have heard the words "final relocation" before. But we are keeping our fingers crossed.

7. I went overseas for the first time: London, Spring Break.

8. Little Seester got into her college of choice, went off to school, and we all became pseudo-Sooner fans.

9. Said Seester convinced me to highlight my hair for the first time in all my 22 years: 95 dollars, and 3 subsequent CVS-bought hair dye boxes later, I hope this can be chalked up as a "lesson learned."

10. I redeem another hair mistake I made at 21 by growing it back out again at 22: This is what it looked like. I much prefer longer locks.

11. Many of my best friends from college moved away to new places for jobs, grad schools, etc: This seems like a bad thing, but it means I've gotten to visit them in sweet cities such as ATL and Indy. Alice, I've got my eye on Nashville next.

12. I met some interesting new friends in grad school: Such as Heather and Lydia!

13. I went to a Hallmark convention in Kansas City with Seester and Suz with an open mind, and ended up thoroughly enjoying myself: I for REALZ need to post a blog about that little adventure.

14. I discovered that 3-d movies are not my scene: I went to the bathroom for 20 minutes halfway through Avatar and puked my brains out. Seriously.

15. My siblings, nephew, and I discovered the joys of playing Super Mario on the giant theater screen in our parent's new house.
16. I was enlightened to many new and effective ways to smite roaches: Yes, this makes the list of important things that happened this year.

17. I started my BLOG: This is obvious, but I was a reluctant blogger, and I must say I am very much enjoying it.

18. Almost my entire extended family jumped on the Facebook bandwagon: Some people won't even accept their mom's friend request. I've got Mom, Nana, Great Aunt Merk, all of my cousins, you name it. And I lurve it.

19. I moved for the 8th time in my college career: To a lovely townhouse with an even lovelier roommate, and we have both signed on for another year. It marks the first end-of-the-academic-year that I will not be having to uproot myself and move across town somewhere.

20. I quite possibly consumed more Diet Coke than in all my undergrad years combined: Mmmm, Diet Coke. I blame grad school, obviously.

21. My beloved truck hit 75,000 on the odometer: The good news is she's still puttering around town like a champ. I freaking love my Tacoma.

22. I began scheduling routine appointments at the Columbia Red Cross for blood and platelet donations: And you should too. Those Red Cross workers are the jolliest of jolly, you get free food and free Diet Coke, and you save some lives. No big deal.


That's all I got. My year in review, if you will. Now I've gotta go spruce up to ring in the ol' 2-3. Cheers!