Another year older...

On Sunday, it was my birthday, and if you know me well, you might know that I'm weird about birthdays. I always have been. To be clear, I have no qualms with celebrating other people's special days, throwing confetti at them, writing them cards, and eating their cake. But my own DOB always seems to be accompanied by a slight hint of dread. When people wish me a happy birthday, I tend to respond with morose comments about aging and crawling closer and closer to the grave. Yeah, I'm that guy. And given the fact that I'm still relatively young, it's especially crazy. I am sure my eighty-something self will want to give my twenty-something self a swift kick in the ass for all of my premature existential crises. 

But the fact that I know they are irrational so far has not stopped me from having these mini-birthday-freakouts, and this year was no exception. In the days leading up to my twenty-sixth birthday, I felt queasy with anti-anticipation. 26? Who turns 26? Am I officially in my late twenties? What have I done with my life? What is happening to my metabolism? Am I dying?!

(Does this happen to anyone else, by the way? Just me? Cool.)

Come the day of my birthday, I fully expected to be my jaded old self but alas, my plans were thwarted. The thing is, you guys, I know some amazing people. And even with my propensity for birthday misery, their kindness totally outweighed any of my angst. All weekend long, I had cards and gifts pouring in from so many different people. I don't expect every year to be like this, but man, I kind of felt like a kid again. Positively, spoiled rotten. Armed with an email inbox full of sweet words of affirmation, it turned out it was pretty much impossible to think about the inevitability of death. 

Oh, and also, I had some sangria. So that helped too.

So thanks to everyone who helped get me through my birthday! I felt positively rich with love and friendship. A special thanks to Daniel, my hunky as all hell husband, who would give his right arm to make me happy (but babe, I would never ask that of you. Don't give anyone your right arm, no matter how much they offer to pay you. You need that thing!).

Case in point, even though he swore he wouldn't get me anything, he and my parents teamed up to get me a DSLR camera! I could not believe it. This thing is going to be an absolute game changer for me. I mean it. Thanks to Camilla (that's what I've named my camera, by the way), you can expect to see this ol' blog become a photographer's dream. Here's the first picture I snapped:

I swear I'll get better.

How do YOU feel about this whole getting older thing? 

Are you a fan of your birthday?

OH! And before I go, this has nothing to do with my birthday, but my friend Clinton Washington performed on The Voice last night and pretty much changed the world forever with his rendition of "Stay," which he performed alongside India Carney. If you haven't watched it, I'll just leave it right here for you because dammit, I'm pretty proud of that kid.

5 Things I'm Pumped About This Week

Someone recently asked me what my favorite word was. At the time I didn’t have an immediate answer, but I’ve given it some thought, and now I’ve got one: FRAZZLED. I’ll admit that it may not be the most positive word choice, but I just love the sound of it. To me, it is the most apt word in the English language. The very sound of it seems to imply its ridiculous meaning.

When I think of the word “frazzle,” I think of getting off of the subway on a damp day at the wrong stop. I think of slightly shifty eyes, flushed cheeks, and frizzled hair (probably because “frizzle” is so similar in form to “frazzle”). Sometimes being frazzled can imply a negative state of emotion, but not necessarily. It simply means a lot of things are happening at once, whether those occurrences are absolutely dreadful or positively awesome.

And as you might have guessed, I’m a bit frazzled this week. My mind has been moving at lightning speed, and I show up everywhere slightly out of breath. It’s the good kind of frazzled, by the way. It’s the THINGS-ARE-HAPPENING kind of frazzled.

But even in the midst of a good-frazzly week, being frazzled can easily turn into stress. So to combat that, I’m going to spend today’s post reminding myself of all of the things I am pumped about right now. Gotta keep that frazzle in check, y'all. Frazzle frazzle frazzle.

Anyway, here goes:

1. Clinton Washington on The Voice

Via NBC

My megatalented superfriend, Clinton (I call him Clint, but you probably shouldn’t) is a contestant on The Voice! I’ve known this man ever since our freshman year of college when I gave him a haircut using a pair of kitchen scissors. He’s just a blast and a half as a human being, but he’s also an unbelievably talented singer. You may have caught a piece of his blind audition Monday night, and even though he was only on there for like seven seconds, admit it: it was the best seven seconds of your life. If you missed it, you can check it out here, and also download his track from iTunes because it’s golden. He was on last night in a preview for his battle round, and some guy named Pharrell said that it was "technically the best battle" he's seen this season. So yeah, you should probably watch that.

2. This weather forecast:

Oh hey there, next Wednesday and Thursday! You’re looking mighty sunny. I’m not going to be deceived into believing that these snowy hell days are done with, but I think this is at least a good sign. This winter has been pure evil for my psyche, and I’m not going to be sorry to see it go. 

3. TV

TV is a comforting, dear friend, and lately it’s just been really kind to me. A few weeks ago, I caught the premiere of Better Call Saul, the highly anticipated spinoff of Breaking Bad. Something you should know about me: even though I’m hip and I wear glasses and I’m up on all of my cultural references, I have not really watched Breaking Bad. I know, I know – best show in history, such gripping performances, Bryan Cranston is a genius, yadda yadda yadda – I’ve heard it all. I saw the first two episodes, and I was riveted, but I was also immediately disturbed by how dark it was. I gave up on it pretty early, but after the joy that is Better Call Saul, I decided to give it another try. Now I’m binge-watching Breaking Bad and catching up with the rest of the world. NO SPOILERS! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! But for lovers of the show, just know this: I made it through the ATM episode without barfing.

4. A meetup with some ridiculously creative humans

Tonight marks the start of something I have been excited about for a good long while. I’m partnering with my dear friend Alex Shellhammer (the woman I'm hugging in the above picture and the lovely voice behind The Shellhammer) to create a collective of bloggers, makers, and entrepreneurs here in New York City. We’ve been talking about it for months, and it’s finally coming to fruition. Tonight’s gathering is going to be very simple, but the people who are coming – OH MY GORSH – they are just brimming with talent and creativity and inspiration. I can’t wait to hear their stories and continue growing this unique community. Stay tuned, folks. This is going to be good.

5. Kindness

The folks from OSNY serving with City Meals

Lately I have been struck by just how many lovely people I encounter in this city. Sure, there are some frustrating individuals out there who throw garbage at moving trains and manspread to their hearts content, but for the most part, I find that everyone is really just doing their best. Even if we don’t have at length conversations or always smile at each other, the people of New York by-and-large have big, generous hearts. I’ve noticed it a lot in prepping for this meetup. Everyone is so willing to lend a hand and contribute (“How can I help?” is the most common response I received). But I’ve also noticed it in little things like interactions with strangers. This last weekend, I volunteered with a group from OSNY at City Meals to deliver food to elderly New Yorkers. It was such a great refresher in basic human decency. Everyone we interacted with was so sweet and full of gratitude, and the entire experience was such a powerful reminder of how far our small gestures of kindness can really go towards impacting someone's life positively. When in doubt, just be kind, you guys.

What are you pumped about this week?

October, Halloween, and Costume Anxiety

It's October, and seriously, people are enamored of this month.

This quote was the very first thing I saw in my newsfeed on Facebook today, and while I think my good friend L.M. here might be a little bit aggressive in her love of the month, she reminds me just how very psyched I am to get this whole October thing going.

So far, so good, by the way. Today, I woke up, guzzled down a pumpkin coffee like a pro, and went to my improv class at the Upright Citizens Brigade. In the weeks that follow, I'll be celebrating my girl, Emily's, marriage, connecting with some well-missed friends in Texas, and running amidst the changing leaves in Prospect Park (oh, by the way, I'm running now).

But I have to say, for as much goodness as this month promises, when October strikes, I immediately regress to an eight-year-old girl, unabashedly PUMPED about candy, costumes, and watching the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons.

Halloween is 30 days away, and you guys, this holiday is where it's at. This is true for a million reasons and yes, most of those reasons involve the movie Hocus Pocus.

Flawless.

While my family didn't really celebrate Halloween, it was an inescapable aspect of living in San Antonio (HELLO, Dia de los muertos, anyone?) and I grew so fond of the joy with which my town reveled in skulls and corn mazes. In my adult life, I go to great lengths to honor this day.

One of my favorite and least favorite things about Halloween is dressing up. It's my favorite because dressing up is always a win in my book. It's my least favorite because I have an undocumented condition referred to as Costume Anxiety. It's the reason that two years ago, I dressed up as a Cat Nurse Practitioner. 

You know...it's like a cat...but it's also a nurse practitioner...so I can land on my feet...and prescribe most medications...?

That, my friends, is the face of a woman who decided on her costume at the last minute. I bought a bunch of dress-up paraphernalia from Goodwill, all of which were pieces that had nothing to do with the other. After a mini-panic attack, I slapped on some kitty ears and called it a day.

Around this time every year, my sister usually sends me a text message telling me what she's going to be, and it's always amazing, and I'm always left wondering why I didn't think of that. I got the text over the weekend, and surprise surprise, she's crushing it again this Halloween. Seriously, how does she do it?

Well, I'd like to be similarly prepared this year with a cute, clever costume. Right now I have nothing, but here are some ideas from an off-the-cuff brainstorm session. You will notice they follow a similar theme...

1. Zooey Deschanel as a cat

It should surprise no one that this has already happened.

2. Martha Stewart as a cat

3. Hermione Granger: Post-Polyjuice Potion after mistakingly using cat fur instead of the hair of a Slytherin

4. Couples Costume: Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in denim...buuuuut they should also be cats

5. The Chair from The Voice...with a cat...and CeeLo, I guess

Minus the cats, some of these might be good ideas. 

Feel free to weigh in on my costume selection. I'm fine making this decision by consensus. Also, what are you dressing as for Halloween?