So long to my 20s

So long to my 20's.  It's been...rough.

I'm not sure I have any great pictures to accompany this post and frankly it'd take too much effort to go find some and scan 'em in at this point.  And, I'm tired now.  I'm 30 years old tomorrow, which means I'll get tired more easily than the today.  I'll start going to bed at 9pm, just after I finish perusing the Reader's Digest.  I'll start shopping at Eddie Bauer (again.)  I'll develop an affinity for drinking hot tea and become a prolific crossword puzzle solver.  I'll eat oatmeal for breakfast because I think it tastes good.  I'll buy shoes based only on their comfort level and my knees will hurt when a storm is brewing.

Oh, I hope not.  As my husband reminded me just before we got married, "you'll still be you and I'll still be me."  He's a pretty smart dude.  I easily get caught up in huge life transitions and think that everything is going to change overnight.  It doesn't.  But still, where in the world did 30 years old come from?  My twin brother and I have texted and chatted a bit more in the last few weeks and I always bring up the fact that "we're going to be thirty!"  That's not fresh our of college or mid-twenties.  I'm an established adult.  We had our first babysitter the other night (for our son, not us) and she was 20 years old which means that I'm TEN years older than her.  It's not the accuracy of my math that shocks me, but the fact that there is a distinct generation gap now between me and people graduating from high school and college.  I'm their senior. 

But enough is enough.  I'm over it.  And following with the "I'll still be me" concept I'd like to make a short list* of who I'll "still be" tomorrow when I enter a new life stage.
*In no particular order and not all-inclusive because my memory isn't what it was when I was younger.

I'll still be...

• Amy Michelle Warren
• A Kansan, and more importantly a Jayhawk!
• A follower of Jesus
• A wife to a crazy-cool man
• A mom to one of the cutest 9 month-olds around
• The girl who loves dancing around the house
• A tap and ballet teacher
• A crafty person- it's nice that I already have a leg up on sewing because I think that's what you're "supposed" to take on when you turn 30
• A goofball
• A friend to many wonderful people
• The wannabe interior decorator/designer
• A film major from KU
• A imperfect perfectionist
• Too hard on myself
• Learning to love myself more
• Learning to eat chocolate a little less
• The one who makes jokes in a group to ease any tension
• The girl who cries when I'm happy, sad, confused, overwhelmed, touched, and angry

So that's not an all-inclusive list, but it's a start.   There were a lot of low points in my twenties that I'm happy to leave behind.  I'm glad to say that the last 5 years were a drastic up-swing.  Life is pretty great right now.  I think my 30's will be a force to be reckoned with.

Here are some of my favorite recent pics...because I remember now that no one reads blog posts without pictures.