28!

What a difference a year makes. 

Today I turned 28 and had a pretty awesome birthday. I'm in session 4 of my conferences, have 186 elementary school students on site and am working 16 hour days but managed to have fun and celebrate! My staff made me a fort! and surprised me with a balloon card and a lanyard - it was a joke about all the key issues this summer! plus when the chef found out that it was my birthday at lunch he made me a special dinner, which was delish! Plus it was great to hear from so many friends & family today!

But while I was excited to turn 28, 27 was really a great year for me. SO many amazing things happened. I got a full time job and moved to Virginia, I ran a half marathon a year after tearing my ACL, I kicked butt at the inauguration conference in January with 2000 high school students, I went on a great first date that has turned into an amazing relationship and found someone I who I love so much, had a fun spring traveling around the US with conferences, got to see friends all up and down the East coast, went to a lot of National Parks, went to Cali for one of my close friends wedding, said goodbye to the house I grew up in, saw my little brother graduate high school and ended the year challenging myself professionally with the conference I am currently working. But I think the biggest thing for me this year was stability. Having a job I love and a place to call home. Not worrying about what I'll be doing at the end of the summer and just having no idea where I was going next. I have been so lucky this year after 25 & 26 were so jumbled. I learned a lot and I wouldn't have it any other way, but I just feel better after 27. 

So looking at my 2013 goals now that we are  a little more than halfway through 2013. 

  2013 goals...
-go to 2 new states - no new ones so far. I've been to 15 this year so far but no new ones.
-use my passport in 2013 - nope. need to figure this one out.
-read 100 books - somewhere in the upper 40s - need to update the read list
-lower my credit card debt & save $1000 - been putting any extra money towards the cc debt
-run 2 half marathons -  ran the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in April, signed up for one in Sept & the Ragnar in October
-finish first 3 years of college scrapbook - need to pull this out once I'm home
-send more cards & letters to friends - I've been good about birthday cards, need to write more random notes
-go to 20 national park sites - 10 new ones plus a few that I needed stamps for
-go to a winery -  went to one with the boy in June
-read 10 presidential bios - read 1 so far, need to get back into reading now that I'll be home more
-bake 5 new desserts  - made 1 new dessert
-100 blog posts - hahahahahahahahaha
-enjoy life & have fun!- yesss! I am just loving life and taking advantage of everything.
So the goals are coming along - some better than others, but I've been super busy with work. Since January I've been at conferences or traveling for a conference for 15 weeks. So looking forward to the second half of the year being a bit quieter in that sense!

I can't wait to see what 28 has in store for me!