Goodbye Thirties

With my 40th birthday fast-approaching, I've been thinking a lot about the past decade and all that has happened. W O W. What an amazing 10 yrs. it's been. Here's a quick look back:

J and I met at work. After much persuasion on my part, and 3 proposals later, we got married.

I said good-bye to my apt. in SF and we bought a house on 'the peninsula'. It was at that moment (not the house buying, but the local reference to 'the peninsula') that my east coast friends realized I was probably never coming back.

I learned to quilt with the help and patience of some wonderfully talented and gracious ladies. They took me under their wing...the girl who showed up with a bag full of fabric and an old sewing machine of her mom's with not one clue about where to start...and invited me to join their quilting circle.

I returned to school for my MBA. I walked away with a diploma (2 in fact) and a bit of knowledge. But most importantly, I met a group of amazing and accomplished individuals who I now call friends.

J & I survived our parenting test-run with K-dog and Daisy dog, although we may have failed D-dog a bit. We still feel guilty about it but you have to look out for your pack.

Lots of fun and interesting travel around the world - China, India, Japan, London, Spain, Hawaii, Grand Canyon, Mexico, Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands.

I reluctantly said good-bye to my first car, but in exchange, upgraded to my dream car. And now we must part (sniff) to follow another dream.

After 40+ shots (thanks J for the memories :) and a little dr. intervention, our beautiful daughter C was born.

And then out of nowhere, our happy baby K was born 18 mos. later.

Through D1 and the friends we met there, we maintained our sanity and built our own 'village'.

And now, we're getting ready to embark on our european adventure.

So I may not have dropped those 40 pounds that I had wanted too and I'm still drinking diet coke (although I have cut down A LOT), but aside from those minor setbacks, I'm feeling pretty good about the path I'm on. Thank you to all my friends and my family, especially J, without whom none of the above would have been possible. You all touch my heart and inspire me in more ways than you will never know.

And now the time has come to say "Goodbye Thirties", and "Hello Forties". I can't say that I welcome your arrival, but now that you're almost here...cheers!