dirty thirty

The BEST 365 days of my life. Plus, check out my 23-week baby bump watch pic!

by Courtney on March 20, 2011

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Wow, I can’t believe a year has gone by so fast. I started this blog in February 2010 as a way to capture my feelings going into my “dirty thirties” and to blog about all the exciting things I’d plan on doing with my life moving forward.  And now here I am at 31 already, and it wasn’t too long ago that I was freaking the EFF out about turning 30! I thought it meant I was old and my youth was swiftly slipping away. But ironically, the 30th year of my life has been the best of my life! And it definitely started with a bang!

My 30th birthday celebration actually started a month before my actual birthday on March 19th when my husband totally surprised me and flew me down to Palm Springs to see my favorite American Idol alum, Adam Lambert, perform in concert. On that trip, we got a private tour of Elvis Presley’s Palm Springs estate by its current owners and something really stuck out to me from that tour that had nothing to do with Elvis. Our lovely tour guide hostess gushed about how cute Jeff and I were as a couple and asked if we had any kids, and we of course said no. With that, she perked up, sucked in a quick breath and smiled before saying; “I see you having a little girl…” And she started to elaborate but stopped herself saying that this was another topic altogether, eluding that she had some kind of psychic gift! I never forgot that and well, she was right – baby girl is on her way!

Then, a week later I boarded a plane to Cabo San Lucas with three other girlfriends for a long weekend of fun in the sun to help celebrate a couple of us turning 30 in March. Too bad it rained the whole time, but it was a wonderful trip. I remember on our final night we were all sitting at a table at an outdoor bar on the beach, where we consumed THREE bottles of champagne, and I got all champagne-induced teary revealing to the girls that I had taken my last birth control pill that night. They all gasped and didn’t realize that Jeff and I were ready to start a family. And truthfully, I didn’t know if I was ready either, but I don’t think you ever really are. And besides, we weren’t going to “try”; we just weren’t going to be actively avoiding it anymore. And now a year later here I am, almost 6 months pregnant!

Then to ring in my actual 30th birthday, Jeff surprised me yet again and took me down to Hermosa Beach/LA to have a glam weekend with our friends searching for celebs at the hottest hot spots in Hollywood and Beverly Hills! I will never forget my 30th birthday – how could I? It was the best.

Because I had turned 30, I felt like I needed to do things to challenge myself and keep myself in shape despite my advancing age! So I trained for 3 ½ months for a 65 mile bike marathon in the spring and I taught myself right then and there as I crossed the finish line that I could do anything I set my mind to. So to prove that this was true, I trained for a half marathon on foot in the fall and ended up beating my own expectations for myself and ran the whole time – beating my husband by 4 minutes!! And to top it off – I was 5 weeks pregnant when I ran that and didn’t even know it!

To round out the year, I took a few more trips to LA, New Orleans, and Gulf Shores, and as you all know now, I found out I was pregnant in November and have been blogging about my pregnancy journey ever since. For news that was quite a shock to me, and something that took a few weeks to get used to, I’ve whole heartedly embraced pregnancy and I absolutely love it. And to think, all these fun travels, confidence building challenges, and life changing surprises happened in my 30th year – when I thought the “fun” in life was walking the plank! Yes, the irony! I’m here to say folks; life really does begin at 30!

Baby bump watch continues – week 23!

According to Babycenter.com, it’s time to get dancing! The baby’s sense of movement is well developed by now and her keen ears are now picking up sounds outside of the womb, like my dog barking or the vacuum running! Surely she can hear her daddy’s loudass voice too! Between you and me, sometimes on Saturdays when I’m leisurely getting ready for the day and listening to the “Hottest Hits” station on Comcast, I dance in the mirror and get a HUGE kick out of seeing the baby bump bounce around! There’s nothing funnier than seeing a pregnant girl drop it like it’s hot! I’ve promised Jeff that one of these times he can film me dancing and post it in a blog. He said that’ll be his one and only contribution to my blog! Ok, I’ll sacrifice my pride and self-respect to give you all a good laugh…well maybe.

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My “Us Weekly” birthday weekend

by Courtney on March 24, 2010

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My So Cal friend, Ashley, and I have always talked about me coming down to LA and having an “Us Weekly“ weekend in which we hit up all the celeb hot spots that we read about in our fave goss mag! Of course being the Pop Culture Junkie that I am, this is right up my alley! So to ensure that my 30th birthday is forever engrained in my memory, my husband Jeff drove me down to LA this past weekend for one last birthday hoorah!

Needless to say; Ashley didn’t disappoint as we had Friday night reservations at one of the hottest celebrity hubs in Hollywood – the Chateau Marmont!

Act like you belong

Upon arriving at the shabby historic Chateau Marmont hotel, we were immediately ushered next door to Bar Marmont. Wait – whaaaaat? Perhaps they direct the “common folk” to the Bar next door so the celebs can eat their salads in peace. One thing we realized is that the name of the game around here is: “act like you belong”. So as we drove to the Bar valet Ashley’s fiancé, Jon, said; “We have reservations at BARMAMA”! To hear him flub the name as one word trying to sound French was the absolute funniest thing on the planet! As soon as we were out of site from the valet we died laughing! This still cracks me up!

Once inside, we were in awe of the Bar. It had the coolest ambiance ever with hip hop and jazz music playing in a gothic, darkly lit room, with candles and an open skylight. The meal and martinis were superb! Before leaving the restaurant we made a quick trip to the restroom where Ashley had to politely decline an offer of drugs from a fellow restroom attendee. You know you’re in LA when…you’re offered acid in the bathroom at dinner.

We made one last attempt to see the Chateau Marmont hotel but we were once again stopped dead in our tracks by the same woman with a clipboard in hand. She spoke to us in a French slash bitch accent and told us to come back tomorrow during the day when it’s less busy. As we walked away Jeff commented that he kept tripping on his tail between his legs. Of course I felt somewhat deflated as I was reminded of how ordinarily civilian I am, as in – not famous, so PISS OFF! Jon reminded us that at least we don’t have her job. YA, she can keep her silver clipboard. (P.S. We did go back and see it the next day – and we got in!).

Next up: bar hopping in Hollywood! At this point I texted my friend who’s a producer at one of the nightly celebrity magazine/news shows and asked him to take us to the celebs! He made sure to let us down gently by telling us there was not a chance in hell that we’d see celebs on a Friday night. Of course I’m thinking; F*CK, $HIT, DAMNIIIIIIT! But whaddya gonna do?

We spent the rest of the evening bar hopping between trendy little bars with velvet ropes and bouncers in black suits deciding on our entry fate. Being that we’re in the land of pretty and prettier, I had scary visions from a scene in the movie “Knocked Up” when older sister Debbie (in her late ‘30’s) tries to get in to a club and the bouncer tells her: “It’s not cause you’re not hot, I would love to tap that ass. I would tear that ass up. I can’t let you in cause you’re old as fuck. For this club, you know, not for the earth.”

Thankfully, I heard no such thing. I mean, I’m barely 30! C’mon!

Let’s go somewhere, like, really high profile

We woke up on Saturday morning to a gorgeous 80 degree day and OH F*CK, our reservations at The Ivy in Beverly Hills were in 20 minutes! NOOOOO!! Ashley called to see if there was a later reservation, and since God loves us, there was one at 12:45! Relief! We got all gussied up for lunch and headed down to the place where we swore we’d see at least one celeb lunching on the outdoor terrace.

This place is very interesting. It’s where you get a real sense of what it would be like living in Bev Hills. First of all, any time a person gets out of a car in front of the restaurant, walks up the steps, or enters a room – EVERYONE looks up. It’s because everyone is a possible celeb. This can really play on your insecurities. It’s truly the essence of where you go to “see and be seen”. And I’ve never seen more plastic and Botox in my life. Eeks!

The Ivy was utterly adorable in its French country décor with an endless array of fresh flowers on every table or ledge in sight. The food and drinks were stellar too and my husband even commented that this was the most memorable lunch he’s ever had! If I ever go back to BH, I will definitely return to The Ivy. But next time, I better see a freaking celeb – Hmph!

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around at big name boutiques such as “Kitson” and doing map of the stars! We saw Jennifer Aniston’s house, the Playboy mansion, Madonna’s “block”, and the creepy home where Michael Jackson died. We ended the evening dining and bar hopping in the laid back setting of Hermosa Beach.

On Sunday, after lunch and a super cute bike ride along the Hermosa Beach board walk (where we passed the original “90210” beach house) we were on our way home. AHHHH – what a weekend!

I’m glad I got to taste a slice of LA life. I can see how one can overdo it in Hollywood. I can see how one could overspend in Beverly Hills. But hell, it’s a badass place to visit!

You should know that despite all the dramatic blogging I’ve been doing lately about exiting my twenties, I’ve been having the time of my life in the past few months! This trip to LA marked the final event in a month long celebration that started with a surprise trip to Palm Springs to see Adam Lambert in concert, and a girl’s trip to Cabo San Lucas. This is one birthday that I will never, ever, forget. And it’s all thanks to my uber thoughtful husband, Jeff.

So it’s official; I’ve hit the big 3-0. The “dirty DIRTY thirty”! And TA-DA: life has never been better!

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Dear twenties: so long

by Courtney on March 17, 2010

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What can I say? We’ve known each other for ten years now and we’ve had some great times. It’s been with you that I’ve had my pivotal years of maturity and growth. As much as I’m trying to tout this new chapter in my life called the “dirty thirties” as an exciting new place to be, I can’t pretend that I’m not going to miss you just a little bit. So before I leave you, I thought I’d give a proper goodbye.

When we met, I was an unabashed college student in Indiana with hardly a care in the world. I made some of my best friends to this day in that first year, learned how to live with 100 girls, and realized that the attitude “my way is the right way and your way is the highway” no longer works in this new setting.

With you, I graduated college and embarked on a new chapter into the unknown…the chapter of responsibility. I had my first job and quickly realized it’s not the right job. Then I had a job that was way over my head, struggled with the learning curve, and finally found my way.

A little more than halfway through our time together, I got married to my long time boyfriend, Jeff, and within a year, we shipped off to sunny California. I spent a year and half working in corporate retail where I thought it was going to be all fashion and glamour and realized it’s nothing but stress and overtime. It was here that I grew a set of balls, walked into my boss’ office and told her where this job could go. Ok, I didn’t really say that. But I told her I didn’t love it. And if I’m going to spend half my life at a job, I need to love it. And now, I love my job.

I became a mom to a beautiful red puppy named Indy and he’s been my pride and joy, or what I like to call my “training wheels” for the real mommy job! And in my final year with you, I entered the blogosphere and found that I have an intense passion for writing and creating this little space that is whatever I want it to be.

On my 29th birthday I got a little freaked out at the prospect of leaving you, because I’ve always seen you as the definition of youth. When I was younger, my mom would apply her makeup in the mirror side by side with me, and she’d look at me and say; “Courtney, I used to have eyes like yours.” I’d of course roll my eyes and complain that she needs to just accept getting older and aging! Ew! What a brat I was! But now I understand. Because now I have laugh lines — and like five gray hairs!

Turning thirty represents a whole new set of unknown chapters which will likely trump any challenge I’ve had to date; such as (God willing) having a baby, raising a solid kid, being a steady and reasonable mom, and balancing a career, family, and home. I’m excited for this next phase of my life and downright jubilant at the possibilities.

I’ve accepted the passing of my twenties now and learned to embrace my thirties with confidence and humor. Some people might say they were ready to kiss their twenties goodbye, like I might say I was ready to kiss high school goodbye. But I’ll always have a soft spot for the carefree, career newbie, bride to be, Midwestern girl gone Cali that was my twenties.

So long twentysomething. Hi thirty, it’s nice to meet you.

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My first spring break since college

by Courtney on February 10, 2010

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In exactly three weeks I’m leaving for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a long girl’s weekend. I cannot freaking wait to be laying in 85 degree weather having a hot pool boy bring me a free pina colada upon command. I say “free” because we got a sweet deal on an “all-inclusive” resort and it’ll feel free since I won’t have to pay for anything on the spot.  

This isn’t just any ‘ole vacation by the way. This is the “kiss my twenties au revoir” vacation. Another girlfriend on the trip is saying sayonara to her twenties in March as well. But she already had her first kiss-off in the Dominican Republic in January (she’s my jet-setting friend with a charmed life), so I’m a little more excited then she is, I’m assuming.

This vacay has been in the planning stages for years. I believe around the age of 25 we girls talked about celebrating our 30th birthdays in Italy. But we’re now settling for Cabo (don’t cry for us). As I’m sure all girls do, we are of course comparing this trip to the one taken by Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte in the “Sex in the City” movie. We already know who Samantha is (jet-setter) but we argue over who is Carrie. I get tossed Charlotte’s name but only because I’m the only married girl. I’m not like Charlotte, FYI. But instead of mourning a failed wedding day we’ll officially be celebrating the brand new engagement of one of the other girls who thinks she’s Carrie!

Now I haven’t had a “spring break” since college so this is going to be a little different. Aside from jet-setter, most of us haven’t had a girls trip since the good ‘ole sorority days (Vegas doesn’t count).  In Cancun back in ’01 we were doing booze cruises, making out with hot strangers, walking barefoot home from the bars by ourselves, and going to bed at 4am only to get up at 7am to be in the audience of Jerry Springer’s MTV spring break show.

Things have changed a bit these days. Our standards are higher. We’re essentially grannys who want to spend half our time at the spa and the other half eating at nice restaurants. We’ll probably get sleepy at the hotel bar around 10pm from too much sun exposure and one too-many daytime margs. We’ll be taking advantage of the early bird breakfast this time around because we’ll actually be awake for it. And we’ll definitely cringe at any spring breaker who comes up to us and tries to hump our leg.

Yes, we’re getting older and it shows. We want the finer things in life which include eight hours of sleep, no hangover mornings, and relaxed shoulders. Do I miss those spring break days of yesteryear? A little. Would I trade them for our granny “Sex in the City” vacation next month? Hell to the no!

I’m almost 30 and I’ve earned the right to be classy!

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Embracing the dirty thirty

by Courtney on February 7, 2010

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As I sit here and type this I’m not yet 30. I’m only 29. The clock is ticking loudly though, which means the “dirty thirty” is coming fast and furious. It’s funny, because it doesn’t seem so long ago that I pledged to myself to get drunk often and live it up during my last year in my twenties. I guess I always thought once you turn thirty it’s probably a little frowned upon to get drunk often and act like an idiot. But you know, my husband is going on 32 and he seems to get away with it just fine. On second thought, I guess I do frown at him often.

The point of this blog has absolutely nothing to do with getting drunk though. Well, I mean sometimes it might come up in a blog if it’s a pertinent detail to a story, but the point of this blog is to embrace this new chapter in my life – with humor. I might not always be funny. Sometimes there might be a moral to my stories. But usually I want to make you laugh.

I plan to blog about everyday funny truths, ironies and irritations, but also about life milestones like turning 30, my 65 mile bike marathon that I’m doing in April, the decision to have little kiddies when the time is right – to work or not to work after that – etc. I feel like 2010 is going to be a big year for me. And I want to blog about it.

I hope you come back often and join in on the conversation. This will only be fun if you’re here too. I want to hear your stories. I might need your advice. I don’t pride myself on how many Facebook friends I have or how many followers I have on Twitter, but I do care how many blog friends I have. So don’t make me feel bad. Let’s be friends here (sign up for Google Friend Connect!).

Oh but don’t forget to friend me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. I mean, I guess I kinda care about that too.

Alright, let’s get started…

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