The Year I Turn 30

So, I got past Christmas hoping that it was my last one in retail and ushered in a New Year. I spent New Year's Eve with a group of former co-workers (see photo) at a row house off of Tucker in the city. We went to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant first and then we ended up at the house for talking and Trivial Pursuit. It was a good time and a great way to welcome "The Year I Turn 30."

Thirty years old. I can't believe it. I still feel like I'm 25. I'm not sure where all the time went between college graduation and now. I don't feel like I've accomplished much of anything. But at the beginning of the year, I had the feeling that 2006 would be my year. And if it wasn't, I was going to make it my year. It would be the year I got a new job (I was determined to get out of retail ASAP), it would be the year I got a social life (not working nights and weekends would free up social time), it would be the year I lost weight (still working on that) and it would be the year I would become the adult person I was always meant to be.

I spent the first part of the year listening to the soundtrack from the musical "Rent" and adopted "Seasons of Love" as a theme song for this year. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, how do you measure a year? And what was I going to do with those minutes during "The Year I Turn 30."?

Christmas in Retail

Yikes, I have a lot of catching up to do. Is anyone still reading this? Let me get you caught up with a couple of posts, and then we can get to more current events.

If you've ever worked retail, you know what it's like to dread the holiday season. Unfortunately, it's difficult to work past the negative feelings and enjoy the holidays again. After working at the mall, the last thing I want to do is shop for presents. All of my friends end up getting gift cards. (I don't know how everyone else feels about gift cards, but I love receiving gift cards. But it's really rare that someone will ever give me a gift card. I'm not sure if that's because the rest of the world thinks you're wimping out by purchasing a gift card or what.) By the time the holiday finally arrives, you're just glad it's over.

But even though you're feeling down, sometimes it's just the little things that cheer you up and make you happy. Like when my friend Sarah sent me a Christmas card that was a pop up Christmas tree. She knew that we hadn't gotten around to putting up our family Christmas tree for the third year in a row and she knew I was down about that (this year we got really close, the lights didn't work and we hit a roadblock and these are 20+ year old lights). So when I opened her card and read her message about her wanting to make sure I had a Christmas tree for the holiday, I laughed out loud and gave it a place of honor on top of a wrapped present (see photo).

Those moments make you remember what Christmas is all about. It's about spending time with friends and family, not putting up the Christmas tree. But it's easy to forget when you're working retail and have to deal with the mundane hassle and commercialism of Christmas daily. When I was working at the store Christmas Eve, right before close I said a little prayer: Please God, let this be my last Christmas in retail. I don't think I can take it anymore. And it worked! It was my last Christmas in retail. I am really looking forward to this year's holiday season.