Hanging out with my high school self

So this weekend an awesome friend (as I have said before my friends are the best of the best) invited me on a lady date to go see the Backstreet Boys. Now more then a few people that I told had one of three things to say:

"They still tour?"

"Really? The Backstreet Boys? Ick. No way"

and Honey wins with:

"Yeah, no"

All naysayers aside I can tell you that I have a already seen the Backstreet Boys, and N sync,  and 98 Degrees. More then once. My bedroom was a shrine to these guys back in the day, and my first car had all their CDs on repeat. So the tiny 15 year old in me was pretty excited when I was invited to this show. Friends I am just gonna put it out there, there is NOTHING that will make you feel old quick then seeing you favorite boy band from high school 15 years later. However, it does make you think about all the things you have learned in your time in becoming an older individual. I refrain from using the word adult as in the last week the following things have actually happened: I've laughed until I snorted from a "that's what she said", I squealed and rocked out a BSB concert, and honey and I had a pretty intense nerf gun war. (Fun fact immaturity is even more fun when both people in the relationship do it!)

So here's my cliche "things I would tell younger me if I could, even though younger me would probably not listen as younger me's judgement included teased Kelly Kapowski bangs" post:

1. What you are attracted to will change (FOR THE BETTER!)

High School Crush: 

Riiiiight. I'm embarrassed for him. 

"Adult" Crush: 

Those eyes say "I have a 401K, and ALWAYS put 20% of my income into savings"

Swoon! 

2. You will become uncool, and realize you are not as cool now as you think you are.  I am pretty lucky in that I happen to have the best people ever in my life in several capacities. Friends, clients, neighbors etc. Getting older has been the only way these relationships have cultivated and but it has also meant accepting what is. I find myself saying the things the grown ups would say that I hated. I worry about things I still feel like someone else should be concerned about ("Do I need better health insurance? Maybe this weekend I should see if I can get my car insurance cheaper through a new company") Here's the kicker about being old: IT'S A LOT OF WORK! But it also comes with a lot of perks. Unlike high school me, this lady was able to go to a BSB show and enjoy a nice cocktail. Would have I enjoyed it more if the waitress insisted on seeing my ID? Well obviously. But there is a point where being liberated of feeling so anxious and concerned with how cool or popular you are can only be described as the first moment you slip into your favorite yoga pants and know you don't have to leave the house. 

3. Laugh. This is something I preach about pretty often because the honest truth about life, to me, is that it comes with a lot of really shitty, hard, how am I going to survive moments. Your heart will get broken. There will be death and drama and controversy and work stress and money stress and body image stress. The world has a lot of really awesome people in it, but the fact is there is also a lot of assholes out there. Being able to laugh at them or the situation at hand is really the best thing ever. It is so nice to know you can smile even when it feels like your whole world is gonna end. Added bonus, most assholes HATE it when people laugh. So theres that. 

That's what she said (Okay not funny, but you know what I mean) 

4.  Learn to spend wisely. I may or may not have a slight addiction to designer purses. And going out to dinner. And taking trips. And wine. But I am very frugal about how I do all those things because if I want to keep doing them the money has to come from somewhere. Don't deprive yourself but maybe get your Michael Kors at the outlet? 

This may or may not be based on a true story I starred in 

5. Go to the gym: Trust me on this one. You will never love it. But you will appreciate the advantage if you start now instead of waiting until your 28 and hide your chin roll with your large collection of hipster scarfs. 

6. Make your own advice. Don't listen to some crazy cat lady with a blog. I have no fucking idea what I am doing. Do what makes you happy. As long as it isn't at the cost of someone else. Listen to boy bands, drink wine, buy a bow tie for your cat, start a blog that all 2 people who love you know matter what will read. 

Hipster Homeland

So Recently a friend and I took a lady-cation to Portland. Having never been to Portland I of course asked all my social friends what I had to see. Apparently Portland has beer and doughnuts, so I already knew I was in for some carb-y goodness. Upon landing we hopped on the light rail and headed to our hotel. Anyone whose every met me knows I have no sense of direction whatsoever so it was no surprise when we got off the train and I explained we needed to figure out where the hotel was when my traveling companion pointed out the large building. Right.behind.me. So once again my internal gps pretty much screwed me.

ITS SO FLUFFY!

Both being animal lovers we decided to head to the zoo. So if you are ever in Portland and have 11 bucks you should totally check out the zoo! We spent hours walking around seeing all the animals, and acting like teenagers because honestly what good is a lady-cation if you can act a fool? Once again I decided that I really needed to put a penguin in my purse but alas my pet penguin dreams have once again gone unfulfilled. 

So this happened. 

This should have scared me but I live with Bruce Kanye so it didn't

I also want to be as happy as this bear. 

So after the zoo we went to back to the hotel and had drinks at the super awesome rooftop bar our hotel had. Another fun tip is make friends with the bartender. We made friends with the super awesome Rashad and he was seriously a delight to talk to! 

Day 2 started with brunch, we had asked the front desk staff for some suggestions and they swore a certain place was were we had to go. So after a long light rail ride, an even longer hike thanks to siri's detours we ended up at the restaurant. Fun fact. If you are over the age of 25 DO NOT take brunch advice from the 20 year olds. Arriving at what I am pretty sure is a night club that serves eggs, we sat down hoped not to get roofied in the process. After giving up on the loud music and low lights we ended up at a super cute cafe with a great patio. This is where my real love of Portland started. Not only did they have coffee (Which is my favorite ever) but instead of having the normal sugar packs and cream they had raw brown sugar cubes to plop in your java. Plus water in a super sweet glass bottle that screamed hipster fab. 

The next stop after brunch was the Saturday Market, which is like a giant crafty fair thing. But they have deep fried foods and a crap ton of duct tape artists (I don't get it either.) Then out of no where was sign that made the entire trip to Portland go from awesome to AMAZEBALLS! 

That's right people. Bowties. For Cats. Now if you've met me I'm pretty much total cat lady. I routinely battle all my friends wedding and baby posts with pictures of my cats. So cat bow ties pretty much make me want to scream "TAKE MY MONEY NOW!" The guy running the booth was super awesome and I fully have to say if you ever need a cat bow tie you should totally check out: 

www.businesscatual.com

After Saturday market we went back and saw Rashad for some pre dinner cocktails. The we headed to the Kennedy School which is probably the only school I would ever be okay with going to every day. 

Beards and Beer? Well yeah. 

So Portland has whiskey bacon butter. And that is why I almost never came home. 

So the final part of Portland was probably the only thing we had 100% committed to before showing up in Oregon. Voodoo Doughnuts. Having seen the long ass line on Saturday we figured the best plan of attack was to try and get there before the lines. Helpful hint: there is ALWAYS a line! Even at 6:30 in the morning we had to wait 20 minutes for our sugary goodness. In the end it was so WORTH IT. Granted the fruit loop doughnut left me feeling very diabeticy.

So in conclusion Portland is AWESOME. I do not own enough flannel to there but I will totally be back! 

Hipster camera. Check.

So for Christmas I got the most awesome gift of a new camera. I am still really rusty and have very little photographic talent but I am trying. And like any true hipster what better place to clog y'alls feed then on my blog?

Another Wild and Crazy Saturday Night

Remember when you were younger and you would think of all the fun, exciting things you would do on a Saturday night when you were old enough to do what ever the hell you want? Can someone explain to me when doing whatever the hell you want turned into watching old TV shows on netflix and munching on Chinese food? Lately I have been looking for the good things about being 30. Overall there are a lot of really great things about this stage of my life. Then there are the moments where I remember all that I thought I was gonna do when I was a "grown up" and start to wonder if I am failing at this whole "Adult" phase of life. I will be honest; 30 with three cats, a few terribly failed relationships, and being totally okay with staying home most weekends is not what 21 year old me had planned for. But if I had to explain to my younger, thinner, more energetic self why I am okay with where I am now there are a few things that seem very important.

So far my favorite part of being "mature" is knowing when it's okay to just say whatever the hell you want. Obviously you can't do this all the time, but in the right space, with the right friends, it's a-okay to let the thoughts that may make you appear mentally unstable, but shit sometimes mental instability

 super fun. 

The things you swear you hate will not bother you nearly as much as you thought it would. The things you thought you would never give a crap about are suddenly important. 401K? Yep all about maximizing my gains. Eating better? Well okay, I love paying twice as much for something because its free range organic. J. Crew, Gap? Yep, like half my closet. 

30 also comes with people in your life who make it all better. The besties who have become sisters, who were crazy with you at 20,  held you at 25 when your heart was really broken, and are proud of you at 30 despite the scars. The characters who are from a million different beliefs but make up a super awesome collection of randomly random adventures. They encourage your knitting habit, tease you for your love of cats. Enable your coffee and wine habits. There won't be a million friends, just a few that are one in a million. 

So here is my main point. 10 years ago I had a plan. Today I have a plan. Those plans are so different from each other it's like night and day. Maybe it's time to ditch the plan and see what the next 10 years has in store?