Be My Guest {Goodnyou?'s Frist Guest Blogger}

Today, is my friend Stefanie's birthday. All she wanted for this special day, was a big glass of milk, and a little slice of Goodnyou?, so here she is, the first ever, Goodnyou? Guest Blogger. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Stef!

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While on a walk with Samantha (author of "Goodnyou?"), she mentioned my birthday. GULP! Since when have birthday's become something that makes me cringe, scowl, and gag? Probably, now that I've realized, that I am now officially in my thirties, not thirty, THIRTY-ONE. It's not like I was twenty nine just as few months ago, and now I'm thirty, I've been thirty for a whole year. I don't questions if I have a gray hair, I pull out the same tweezers I used last week, and yank that baby out! I find myself saying things like "I'm a thirty year old woman, I think I know what I'm doing." YUCK! Who says that? I'll tell you who says that, people in their thirties, people I don't want to be. So this week I am forcing myself to think Goodnyou? style. I am going to rein in my thirties induced negativity and force myself into the positive, life loving, mentality that has carried me through the last thirty (double gulp) years!

The opportunity to "guest blog" is a new adventure…. and I got to say, I am all about new adventures! Problem is that, I don't look before I leap. I make big decisions with ease, climb Mt. Katahdin? Sure. Paint pink owls on my daughter's wall? Abso-freaken-lulty! However, when asked where to go to dinner or what movie to rent? I've got nothing. French fries or baked potato? Ummmm, well, do they have mashed?… yum, mashed… no wait, baked…no, wait, mashed… definitely mashed. Ten minutes later while sipping my wine, everyone else is in conversation, while my mind is still wondering if I didn't make the wrong decision, and should have ordered fries. Sam mentioned guest blogging (while consuming large quantities of wine) and hells yes! I'm all over it. Tonight, however, this thirty-one year old woman, is questioning if this is such as good idea.

Admittedly, I am an open book. Definitely, a what you see is what you get, kind of girl. (Woman?) If questioned, "Do these jeans make me look fat?" If they do, then my answer is likely to be, "Holy cow! What have you been eating?" Not the around the bush, "Well, not really, I don't know. Try it with the black belt." response.  It is, what it is. I repeat that a million times a day about everything. Because there is no use wasting time going over the 'what ifs'. It always just is. So the fact that I'm floundering over just how high to fly my freak flag, in a blog, has me more than a bit unsettled.

I plan for big changes this year, and in my CONTINUED positive style, I don't mean to just drop five pounds or highlight my hair blond for summer. I plan for world domination! I plan to become a better me, just because I can. Wake the kids, with a balloon filled living room and clown faced pancakes before school, just because my two year old likes balloons and who wouldn't like clown faced pancakes? Wear fabulous heals, even though they make me taller than my husband, being tall is one of my better attributes. Read, something other than, the trashy romance novels I'm accustomed to reading. I have always envied people who have read the words of Shakespeare A-Z. Push myself, into situations, that might feel foreign and out of my comfort range, so that I don't just get older…. I get wiser too. Sam blogged once, about new years evolutions, the idea of evolving each year fascinates me, because although I know, I'm getting older, all the signs that years are passing are present. My kids are getting older, anniversaries are being celebrated, birthdays are coming and going… and I'm still… Me. I'm not all that different from who I was when I was 21, yet, I am all that my thirty one years of evolution has added up to, and still going strong. So, I've decided, I'm going to live it up. Instead of asking, "Why?" I'm going to force myself into, "Why not?"

Why not fly my freak flag?

After all: It is my birthday!