23 years ago yesterday

For some, New years brings a time of self reflection, revelation, and for some, revolutions. I, on the other hand, tend to use my birthday as my mark of reflection on the past, where I currently stand, and where I hope to grow.

Thursday night I met up with the team for a happy hour/Savageman Wall viewing. My friend Robin is a flight attendant, and came back from Frankfurt shortly before the gathering bearing gifts from Germany.

Here is Robin presenting me with a beer straight from Germany..
in her awesome dollar store dress from Frankfurt.

**note: and then I got sidetracked... and never finished writing this post. So, here goes the rest:

Robin brought back a German beer, fruit bars (really good to eat on the bike!), and an absolutely fantastic poppy seed pound cake. I will fail any drug test I have to take, but it was totally worth it.

Friday I woke up, ran some errands since I had the day off, and went to Tysons. While driving around trying to find a parking spot, I encountered this:

.... Are you kidding me? We now have spots reserved for Hybrid Vehicles next to the handicapped parking spots? After I sent this off to a few friends out of state (who all wrote back "f'ing hippies...") I wondered though the mall to find a dress for my brothers wedding. FAIL. What is it with dresses these days? They are either weird and tiered, which kind of makes me look like the trunk of a tropical plant, or short and ruffled. Seriously, who is buying these dresses, and where are they wearing them to? The fashion industry sucks. While I do love the malls in DC, I'm going to opt for looking for a dress in Toledo, Ohio while I am visiting friends at Bowling Green State University. For some reason, when I absolutely must have a dress, I've had awesome luck finding dresses at Franklin Park. They just carry more practical clothing, instead of wannabe high fashion or whatever that Tysons sometimes seems to endorse. I dread dress shopping, to be honest... I'm not very comfortable wearing a dress. On a side note, anyone want to go with me to my brothers wedding October 18th? Since it seems like I'll be the only one there not married or engaged... Moving on.

Began my trek home to Ohio around 4:15pm.. on a Friday. Again, not one of my most brilliant ideas. It took about 7 hours to get home, versus the usual 5 hours and 45 minutes. Met up with my friend Matt, who took me up to our favorite spot on Headlands beach in Mentor. It was a cool, crystal clear night, and we just laid on a blanket in the sand, listening to the waves crash in while drinking Jester's Blush (one of my new favorite wines..) Sounds quite romantic, but anyone who knows Matt and I understands we're just dysfunctional like that. Lived together for almost 2 years, attempted dating on an off, but we just work better without the relationship stress. I had a wonderful night though.

I'll update more tomorrow with my adventures though the rest of the week. :)