In spite of my protests, time has passed rather of its own accord and turned me 30 years old. Part of me feels I ought to protest - isn't it what you do? Fight the passing of time? The other part of me could care less. I have this memory of being a little kid and a good friend of my mom's - a beautiful, classy lady (who remains so to this day) turned 30. I remember it being a big deal, and I wondered why. I thought this woman was incredibly young and full of life. And now - in a blink- I find myself exactly there. It's surreal. I feel so young! Oh please, I AM young. What's 30? What's 50? What's 60? I see people at those ages and even older, and I think, they're not old! That's young, even! And when I look at what my life has been in each of those 30 years, I am utterly humbled at how blessed I have been. At how blessed I am. I've graduated from college, have my MBA, worked for 7 years for my dad in a job I adored, still get to work for him from time to time, am currently staying at home to be a mommy and wife, I have the world's most amazing family, so many wonderful friends, the most loving, incredible husband EVER and one truly delightful daughter. So far, so good.

The day was wonderful. I woke up at 9:30 and Brooklyn slept until 10:15! I had spent the day prior making Alice Baden's home-made bread - Alice, you're my hero. It's divine. I actually made one loaf of bread and then cinnamon rolls with the other half. In honor of you, Alice. My favorite events in history have been celebrated with a scrumptious, gooey cinnamon roll at the beginning of the day, and since I was turning 30, I felt this day should be marked with equal culinary delight.

I worked out(chest and shoulders and cardio), got a compliment from a stranger on my shoulder muscles - sweet! - and then had a wonderful lunch at home with Kyle. Brooklyn took her nap, I did my quiet time and balanced checkbooks, Kyle came home early and we went to eat Indian food. The second culinary delight of my day. YUM!
THEN..as a surprise, Kyle arranged for us to go ice-skating! Seriously fun! I hadn't done that in years! It was wonderfully chilly and refreshing! My crazy brothers, Michael, Joshua and Chad, took it upon themselves to turn the rink into an iceskating derby - racing on their toe-picks and vaulting over the entrance to the rink. Michael even befriended the local experts, some young Asian girls who were more than happy to impart their wisdom to him. He managed to learn some cool spin moves, but immediately negated his newfound coolness by rolling his jeans up to his knees to let his "sweaty legs breathe". Ug. Brooklyn even tottered out onto the ice, although I'm pretty sure she was flummoxed by it.

All in all, a very very nice day.