i am 24 years old, or 8, 784 days old. according to my blog. the 365 days prior to september 5, 2008 sure were eventful. it was a pretty large year, and that's as best as i can describe it.

so, 23...gosh. well i guess the best place to start would be the positives. i quit smoking on november 1, 2007 at 10:41am. wow. i'd say that has to be in the top 5 things i have ever done which make me the most proud. i became an "official" aunt on january 3, to the most beautiful little boy in the entire world, baby connor. and while speaking of babies, i also became an "auntie" to baby james conway and found out i would be an "auntie" to baby nicholas emerson and baby girl conway. i love babies. somehow they make life seem brighter. i love that i have such wonderful friends who allow me to be just an integral part of their children's lives. what else happened while i was 23? well, the red sox did win another WORLD SERIES!!! gosh, that was sooo awesome. that night was an absolutely memorable night. there are pictures to prove it.

in my 23rd year of life, there have been some extreme changes in my friend’s lives. babies. engagements. new jobs. new houses. trish and ryan became engaged; michaela/gene and elizabeth/chris found out they are having a babies- a girl and boy respectfully; houses were purchased by holly/ryan and ker/jose and stephan; amy got a new and much better job and moved to providence. audrey graduated and became and RN. millie, laurie and linda all moved up to better positions.

and when there are positives, there are always negatives. i'm trying very hard to live this 24th year of my life not focusing on negatives, but celebrating the positives, although you can't erase tough things from your history. i guess the idea is to use them as building blocks. okay, lets get the negatives over. our family dog khiva died in october of 2007. that was very tough for me. its heartbreaking to have someone you love leave you behind. and then there was the chantix disaster. i'll make this simple- chantix helped me quit smoking which was wonderful, but it also made me feel crazy, which wasn't. nic's stepfather don died. this was very tough because nic's family was still pretty new to me. i didn't know how/what to do to help them. i had no clue how it felt to be any of them, so i was gliding blindly through this situation. i also had three pretty big medical concerns. BIG concerns. i had to put my cat oliver to sleep in july (yes, 2 unexpected family animal deaths in 9 months). the way i handled all of these situations was to worry. and obsess. needless to say- it didn’t help.

what changed? that’s a very good question which there are numerous possible answers. the most honest, forthright answer i could provide is: in order to end the worry/obsessing, i needed to cut ties with that which lead me to worry and obsess. its amazing how life provides you with blessings in disguise. was it easy? no. yes. i’m not sure. it really depends on which angle you look at it. best answer: it was much easier than i believed it would be. when it was time for change, i was simply exhausted. i had invested so much energy into making myself and everyone else happy. honest happiness should never be exhausting. all which is worthwhile deserves effort and energy, but cannot be forced. so, like i said. my exhaustion just led me to feel relieved when it was time to move on. being relieved simply made me happy. and being happy stopped the worrying and obsessing. what a wonderful turn of events. like i said. blessing in disguise.moving on. i’m assuming i should provide an overview of my birthday this year. there isn't much to say. i had a major TMJ attack (jaw). for the most part, that sums up my entire birthday. oh, that and the tropical storm which happened to swing by on the night i was supposed to celebrate my birthday with friends. (oh, and my jaw actually felt decent that ONE night).

every year i always pick the best part, and best present, of my birthday. best part: going to the zoo with holly. that was awesome. i am absolutely in love with the elephants and penguins at roger williams zoo. next year we are going to go to the southwick zoo for my birthday and RIDE the elephants! my best present: its a tough one this year. there was so many great, thoughtful things. michaela and family got me “twilight” with the hopes of getting me addicted to the series. (damnit), the ottoman from ally, connor, jill and michael was excellent because it perfectly matches my new chair. jeremy and amy got me a target gift card (always a good gift) and a “gift certificate” for jeremy to help me hang up all my frames, etc in the living room seeing as how i seem to think its fine to hang everything up with thumb tacs, haha. my parents gave me some cash flow to get me a car starter (necessity in new england) and the girls at work, as well as amy, both got me awesome necklaces. i was spoiled rotten.

my thoughts for the future year? well, its going to be wonderful. this month i was lucky enough to have a birthday, find some solutions for my tmj and will be going to the red sox soon. grey’s anatomy will begin again, and nights in rodanthe will be released in theatres (a movie adaptation of nicholas sparks’ books) october brings a trip to alabama and atlanta (besides connor being born, i believe this will be the highlight of 2008. i miss my roommates. life isn’t as good as it could be without elizabeth and chris) november, december and january will be filled with a huge amount of birthdays and holidays (including james and connor’s first bday, and nicholas’ actual birth day) february more than likely will bring a vacation in virginia, and from them on: who knows!

the future is a clean slate ready to be written on.