Life Begins at 30

I have been looking forward to turning 30 for about 5 years. Did that sounds strange to anyone? For the past 5 year, about 6 months before my birthday I started saying I was a year older. Why would I do that? It wasn't planned - it just happened. I was ALMOST one year older, so I would just end up saying the older age when someone asked.

Another not so surprising tradition of mine is to buy myself a couple of birthday presents. For the entire month of October. It was my 'blow the budget and celebrate myself' month. Since this is the Year of Embracing Simplicity, that month long shop-a-thon isn't going to cut it. So what could be a good present for myself?

Yes, I know it is a bit early to be thinking about my birthday present, but I have always been a bit odd. Even Aunt Sara (Grandma Grabbert's sister) called me a "Odd Duck" when I was a toddler. Although I adamantly denied it at the time, I secretly love being strange.

So I had been pondering this birthday conundrum for a month or so, and then I read in "This is Who I Am" about a woman who lost 50 pounds for her 50th birthday present. It struck a cord and I finally decided to lose 20 pounds as a final tribute to my 20's.

How did I choose 20? I really only want to lose 13 pounds, but the tribute to my 20's had such a ring to it that I couldn't resist. Standard weight diagrams say that someone who is 5'4" should weight 120 pounds. That ain't happening. I want to be 135, but I figure I can lose 7 more pounds to make it an even 20 lost, then not feel bad about gaining a few back.

How did the weight get there? One day I woke up and nothing in my closet fit, so I got on the scale and gazed in horrified terror as it kept creeping up. Sheesh. It is amazing how the creep can be so slow that it is unnoticeable. That is another reason I want to lose it slowly - I didn't gain 2-3 pounds a week, and I don't want to lose it that fast, either. I have time to take it slow and only lose 1/2-1 pound a week.

Do you have any healthy recipes or secrets you want to share to help me? You can count it as your birthday present to me (heaven knows I don't need more stuff.) Also, if you are around Minneapolis on October 24th you can consider yourself invited to my birthday party.