So yeah. I woke up this morning and realized that I’m officially in my late twenties. Unless that was last year, in which case, I’m late to my own party. Either way, I’m happy to be here.

Lots of people have told me that 27 turned out to be a pivotal year full of change for them—so I’m excited and curious.  If nothing else, I already know I’m set to graduate from my dietetic internship in early February and will likely take the RD exam shortly afterwards.  I also just registered for my last Masters course, so here’s to getting new business cards with MS, RD after my name this year (fingers crossed).

When I first went back to school, I cringed to think I might still be a student at age 27, but now I don’t know why I was so scared. In fact, studying nutrition opened up a whole new avenue of writing work I’ve been able to rely on to get me through. I’ve also been blessed to meet some wonderful people along the way. I won’t say the past 4 years have gone quickly, but, well…they’ve certainly gone. Paul Simon knew what he was talking about when he wrote “Leaves that are Green.” Still, I have no complaints or regrets. Actually, I’ve been pleasantly surprised most of the time, and overwhelmed with gratitude.

So how did I chose to ring in my new year?

Well, last weekend, there was a sushi dinner with my family in New Jersey. 

And then I took this Friday off. I’d actually saved my floating vacation day from working Labor Day so I could spend my birthday doing whatever I wanted or needed. Friday morning started with a nice breakfast, and then a workout, laundry, and errands. After a quick lunch (beautiful homemade soup from my mom), it was off for a massage and a haircut.

pumpkin pancakes with nonfat ricotta & cranberry sauce, sliced plum

In the past, I’ve gone out for a fancy dinner on my birthday, but this year, I opted instead to make myself a nice dinner—it wasn’t the most gorgeous plate ever, but it tasted fantastic. Like I said in my post about dating yourself, you need to do nice things for yourself that you would do for someone else. 

I held off from drinking any wine with dinner because I had plans with a bunch of friends for BYOB karaoke…We had an awesome time. And a lot of whiskey.

Classy beginnings

You know it’s a good birthday when the night ends with a group of you singing the Addams Family theme in the subway station and clicking your heels. Um, yeah…that happened. Another thing that happened? Let’s just say there now exists a video of me dancing and banging on a tambourine. An end-of-the-night group rendition of “Piano Man” might be my favorite memory of the evening, though.

Needless to say, Saturday was pretty low key. I cleaned, went to pilates, and took a few naps. I also stopped by a friend’s later in the evening for a small birthday gathering, which was  nice and mellow. When the fortunate cookies came out, this was my favorite, but not mine. 

Mine said this: 

This morning, after a deep sleep, I had a nice breakfast of pumpkin oatmeal with cranberries cooked in. It was so foggy outside, I could barely see the building across the way.

melty peanut butter makes a good breakfast even better.

Then I went to the best hot yoga class I’ve been to in weeks.  Oh my god—my hips feel almost normal (they’ve been even tighter than usual since the hurricane), which is no small thing for me. I’ve got a crazy week coming up (probably even more crazy than I could possibly predict), so I’m so happy I’ve been able to relax and enjoy myself for a few days.

Thanks for reading this long-ass post. Cheers!

How did you celebrate your last birthday? Do you like karaoke?