10 Ways to Tell You've "Developmentally Lept" Into Adulthood

A Developmental Leap is when a person reached a turning point between phases of life and makes a giant step towards growing up. It's exhibited in children by being cry-y, cranky or clingy. In adults* it's exhibited by being cry-y, cranky and get-the-f#ck-off-y.

I've noticed it as such:

1) You pass up worrying about preventing gray hairs and wrinkles for wondering how they show up so quickly and being generally in awe of the transformation. Like one of those pills that, when in water, becomes a towel or a foam dinosaur.

2) You start off conversations with coworkers with the phrase, "My financial planner says..." and you get worried about other people not having a retirement plan. For both their sake and yours. You don't want your tax dollars to compensate for their lack of planning!

3) You get hair cuts with the specific intent to not look like a mom**, not draw attention and not have to spend more than 10 minutes on it***. I got my hair cut last Tuesday and literally NO ONE has said a word about it. Except The Mr, but he's legally required to notice.

4) An invitation to attend an outdoor concert seems like a trick.

5) When you happen to get in a nap, you wake up in a state similar to the twilight between drunk and hung-over and you haven't had a sip of alcohol in days. And yet... it was a wonderful nap! Let's go for broke and call an 8:30 bedtime!

6) Shopping makes you nauseous for a combination of any of the following reasons: prices, sizes, tweens, the general public, florescent lighting, touching those credit card machine buttons with your bare hands or the ease of accessibility to drive-thrus.

7) You scold someone else's unattended children in public and feel no shame. ("Hey hey hey! Watch for cars!")

8) You recognize your own slow-creeping racism/sexism that is birthed from road rage.

9) You notice a hobo pooping in the alley behind your house and, while you are disgusted, you commend him for doing it in some newspapers and at least trying to throw it away. Never mind he placed it in the recycling bin.****

10) You keep a formula letter to the city and/or bookmark the 311 website so that you can easily report downed tree limbs, blacken street lights, graffiti or that damn noise from the neighbors having a party past 10 PM*****.


*Me
**My only real request
***Even for formal occasions
****Have you read "Everybody poops"? You've gotta hand it to him. Or don't. Ew.
*****The. Nerve.

Don't Call The Serbian Orchestra A Mariachi

The salon where I got my hair cut recently serves wine and beer in addition to the traditional choices of water, tea or coffee. I have water in my glass. Truth be told, I just wanted to use the glass.

I'm fairly certain that the salon was only slightly decked out for Halloween. There was a zombie baby sitting on a bench near me while I was getting my hair did. The stylist told me that the  blue, wild-eyed, infant with bones poking through his skin was a permanent fixture of the salon, not a seasonal delight. 

I do believe these are seasonal, though.

Sarah at Twisted Scissors did a great job with the new haircut. 

Then my MIL came into town and we headed to Merrillville, IN for this little diddy. 

Serbian Orthodox church

Serbian Orthodox church a Capella choir

Serbian Orthodox wedding crowns

The Mr.'s cousin got married. We were seated at an eclectic table and were the only ones not familiar with Serbian wedding traditions.

A brash woman explaining to us about the use of guns in celebration.
An old man who introduced himself as both "Ed" and "Ron" and would correct you with the other name when addressed.
A cop taught us how to smuggle open containers of wine home in our car... and swiped them from the head table for us!
All of them not shy in booing off the maid of honor when her speech dragged on or smacking the table a bit too loudly (picture bouncing silverware) when joke was made about someone's dancing.

In other words, my kinda people.

Maybe I'm Serbian?

Flip-It Friday: Personal Growth - What are you working on?

We have made it over halfway through the year. How are you doing on your New Years Resolutions? Did you make any?

I resolved to run/walk/hike 5 miles a week. Might seem like that's not a lot, but for me it was like going from 0 to 60. I am not interested in being athletic. Although I'm naturally pretty small, I was getting soft and doughy and needed to make a change.

I debated sharing this because I know that there are tons of people out there who are more fit than me and also those that are less fit. I didn't want to brag and I also didn't want to appear to be bragging over a few measly miles. But I'm nothing if not awkwardly honest, so let's proceed.

This week I reached some new personal bests. They may not seem difficult to anyone else, but I earned every. last. bead. of. sweat.

I ran my fastest 3 miles (in 29 minutes!) and my longest run ever (4 miles!).

And I plan to keep going. I now resolve to run/hike (not walk!) 6 miles a week and consistently go over that. A few weeks ago I did 9 miles in a week and this week I'm going to do 8. I also have upped the weights I use for strength training (using the 15 pounder ones now - take that 8 lb weights!).

progress

So how about you? What did you resolve to do? Did you keep your resolution going? Are you making any new promises to yourself? 

---

So I used to be doughy: 

 Now I'm really cookin':

 Sorry for the bad jokes, but I also made this bread. I found the recipe on Pinterest and it's seriously easy, but did does take some time for the yeast to proof. Make the dough a day before you need the bread so it can rise. My sister asked for the recipe, so here it is! Mine is made with sage from my friend B.Lill's garden and a 3-cheese blend.

And if anyone cares, here's a hair update. My natural curl is coming through. I'm still learning how to do my hair with it's new texture. I do like this style though. Last night I washed it, combed a light mousse through it and let it air dry. I slept on the waves and then took a hot curling iron to a few wayward ones this morning to take some of the bed-head out of it. Really easy.

(Pre)Friday Flip-It: Taco Supreme Court Ruling: Nacho Grandma's Healthcare

What do you call cheese that doesn't belong to you?

... Nacho cheese!

Heyo! (Does that give the title some context?)

I can't wait until Friday to flip-it on you guys. Tell me: What do you think about the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the new proposed healthcare law?

Comment below with:
- Your health insurance status (have vs. not-have)
- Your political views (if you're comfortable sharing them - I showed you mine, remember?)
- How you currently pay for healthcare/how much you need (i.e. Are you chronically sick?)

Aaaand to lighten it up, here's Katy Perry:

I can't say what it is. I think it's her low female voice (a contralto, Wikipedia says). I won't read Twilight, The Hunger Games or finish the Harry Potter series, but I will watch Katy on YouTube... on repeat. There you have it, I'm a book snob but a chick-pop junkie.

Also an update on the hair. Here's day 2 of the Keratin Treatment:

I wrapped it up last night to shower, but was still worried about the humidity in the shower frizzing it out. I blew it out with a hair dryer for about a minute just to make sure that it was totally dry. This morning I combed it slightly and ran out the door. 

So, What Do You Think?

*UPDATE

Keratin treatment out on the streets 5 minutes after the last few flat-iron strokes.

An hour later after I got home.

Passed a place for my favorite treat: Fro-yo (watermelon, lemon, cake batter and vanilla) and toppings (chocolate covered pretzels, mango, mini gummy bears, andes mints).

I had a video to show you but editing did not go well. We'll see if I can keep this treatment for the long haul.

***UPDATE***

I slept on "the hair" and it's looking good this morning. I didn't re-straighten it or apply any heat. I just used a wide-tooth comb and walked out of the door! This is me at the office. (Your welcome for the make-up pics.)

Just to be clear, I hope to not always wear it this straight. It's nice to have as an option, but ideally this new hair will be wash-n-go. I don't mind it being wavy, I just didn't want it to look so frizzy or need so much product. Hopefully I can be one of those girls who can walk out of the gym with wet hair and go straight to dinner, letting it dry on the walk to the train!