33 and counting

For those of you too young to know, the ageing process is not a fantastic thing.Sure you can get more of a handle on your life as time goes on and hopefully make better decisions but you lose many things in the process. I am only in my thirties so, so far the things I have lost do not include my memory or bladder control and for this I am grateful. I have noticed over the passage of time some things that were  considerably less irksome in my twenties but give me considerable bother now. I need more sleep for one, in college I flitted from night out to college to work without much hassle or sleep and coped fairly well. These days I have a night shift and it takes me several days to be back to normal. My hangovers have magnified beyond what I could have ever imagined so its hardly a surprise that I haven't drank since New Years Eve. And of course my body seems to need a lot more work to stay in anything resembling a shape. I only have to look at a bar of chocolate and hear my belly do an ominous rumble and start to expand. It's a shame I never seem to just look at that bar of chocolate. And when I go over a month without going to the gym, my body does not bounce back but instead makes me feel like I am coming to Crossfit for the first time.

So you can see why I might not be filled with joy upon waking on my thirty third birthday. Mind you it wasn't some existential gloom that hung over me when I awoke but merely the fact that I had worked four of the last 6 nights and part of the comedown from that is that the tiredness will make me feel really down for a day or two. Unfortunately for me two days later happened to fall on my birthday. I reluctantly went about my day as unfortunately when you have a job, 'I'm just not feeling it today' doesn't quite cut it as an excuse. After college I came home and burritoed on my bed until I had to go to a drama class for kids that I'm helping supervise and that cheered me up somewhat. My boyfriend met me after to give me presents and get ice cream and the day started to suck a little bit less. I would love to tell you I snapped out of it and we went to party the rest of my thirties away but my very exciting night was spent under a blanket, eating icecream, watching parks and rec and getting hugs and it was exactly what I needed. 

To make up for a birthday that was meh, I went to great lengths to ensure my three days off would be better and kicked it all off with a visit home. As you can see from the pictures above it went well. The top photo is presents I received and the bottom is presents I bought myself. As much as I like receiving presents on my birthday (because I am still a big child) there's a lot to be said for getting them spread out over a few days. I got a present from my parents when I went home and had my first overnight stay in their house since before I started the new job and then promptly remembered how cold the place got, even in March and found myself sleeping with a fleece and dressing gown on. The next morning I did my first Crossfit class in forever and I discovered that I either need to give it up altogether and just resign myself to being fat and jolly or make sure I never go that length of time without exercising again. I haven't decided which, the overall effect was not pretty. Having survived that I cleaned myself up , ate something and headed to town buying clothes and books. I met my friend for coffee and a catch up and got a present (yay) and then later met my sister and got a present plus a whole bag full of books she had finished reading (double yay) and after coffee I went on to spend a voucher I'd gotten as part of my present from my parents. The end result is that I arrived home last night laden down with bags but feeling happier. Particularly when I look at the towering stack of books on my bookshelf waiting to be read. 

As for the rest of my birthday weekend, we're heading to my parents house by sea in Wexford in the next few hours, as soon as I come from my laptop long enough to pack and manage to pry a somewhat hungover Stephen from my bed. It looks like we're heading down there on the first very sunny weekend we've had this year so I am eager to get going. Another year passes and I am older, wiser but still a bit of child about my birthday. Some things will never change.