Happy 27th to Kristi Leigh!!

YAY - IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

Hip hip hooray! Today is my birthday! Instead of hiking with my fiance in the expected beautiful Charlottesville weather, I'm hanging in jammies because of rain. Oh well. Laziness trumps exercise anyhow, especially the older you get. ;-)

I'm so excited to be 27 - I heard it is a fabulous year. (No one told me that, I just keep telling it to myself!) Since so many people dislike turning one year older, I make it a point to appreciate the fact that I survived another 365 days. So, looking back - let's see what good came out of year number 26...

Year 26 Happenings & Accomplishments

1. I finished grad school - FINALLY! After 9 years of higher education I am FINALLY DONE! Graduating this coming Sunday with a 4.0. :-D
2. I got rid of the Acura (oh, I still mourn this decision) and bought a more wallet-friendly car. The sleek, the sporty, the boy-magnet, the Volvo station wagon. Aptly named Victor after the Lone Ranger's nephew's horse.
3. I GOT ENGAGED!! What an accomplishment. I remember being little and mama telling me about her wedding. She said she had just turned 21 when her and daddy wed and I remember thinking... "wow, TWENTY-ONE?!? I could never wait that long to get married." :-) Well, the marriage will come one month before I'm 28.
4. We got our house. A controversial decision, but the right one for us. We rent, don't own yet obviously, but it is SO nice to not have to worry about cranky apartment neighbors.
5. I got my main man Georgie. Sidekick to Fluffy, Tubby, and Leo Lionni, Georgie joined the crew as the baby this past fall.
6. I bought a wedding gown. YAY!!
7. I applied to 8 school districts for teaching jobs only to hear back from ZERO. (Maybe this is a 27 year old thing).
8. I CLEANED AND ORGANIZED CHRISTOPHER'S OFFICE. Sadly, this may have been my greatest accomplishment of my 26th year. He loves it though so I'm happy.
9. Did I mention that I finally FINISHED SCHOOL!?!?!?

There are obviously many, many more that I can't think of currently in my whirlwind of birthday excitement, but let it suffice that some really great things happened during my 26th year and thank God I made it to 27 to see what that holds in store. (Christopher says your hips start to hurt at 27....)

And a LOVELY photo of me at 9:11 am, when I technically turned 27 years old. Don't I look gorgeous??