Booked!

That's right I have booked the house I will be staying in over memorial day in the outer banks.

I am SOOO excited.

This is the third year that my friends and I rent a house in the Outer Banks of NC. It's starting to become a wonderful little tradition that I couldn't be happier about. My hope is that one day when we all "grow up" we will continue to come to the outer banks together with our families. As of right now I like to think of my friends in DC (and NYC -shout out to Theo) as my extended family. I am ever grateful to have them in my life, and I seriously can't wait to be on those sandy beaches!

Moving

Speaking of great friends I want to shout out to The Webbs, Matt, Anna, Chaz, Holly, Tamsin, Stephen, and Sarah. They all helped me move this past weekend... to the third story of my new apt building... a building without an elevator. They were real troopers and I appreciate all of their help SO much.
Also, I'll have before and after decorating shots up soon.

Birthday Brunch for Becky!

Happy Birthday to Becky! We celebrated with a girls brunch at Harry's Tap Room on Saturday.
Here we all are looking lovely:

Holy Week

As many of you know I am Catholic. This past Sunday was the start of Holy Week for us Christians. I am happy to say I have done very well with my Lenten fasting. I have successfully given up gchat on my blackberry and abstained from meat on Fridays. This week I plan on attending mass at St. Ann's in Arlington on Thursday and Friday. However the Thursday mass is bilingual (not a problem) but Friday mass is in Spanish! I still think I'll attend. When I was little we attended mass in Spanish all the time. I haven't done this in years, but I'm hoping it will all come back to me!

Oh, and Happy Passover to my Jewish friends!

Moving and Painting!

I have my keys in hand! Tonight is the start of moving and painting my new place. I am getting off work at 3:30, heading home, grabbing a load of stuff, heading over to the new place, unloading stuff, painting, then hopefully heading home. Whew! tired just thinking about it, but excited as well.

Painting

I choose 3 new colors for my new apartment.
My living room will be a light green... I just cant move away from it.
My bathroom will be a sunny yellow.
My bedroom will be pink... that's right, pink. Want to fight about it?

Healthcare

I wrote this big long post. Then I deleted it. I have too many friends across the aisle. I'm Switzerland.

Work

I'm still waiting for my clearance BUT some of you may know that I have been working with another guy in my same position. He is also waiting for his clearance, and his came thru today!
I'm excited for him, but sad that I'm losing my office buddy :(

March Madness

I'm never any good at March Madness picks. I don't follow basketball, and I esp dont follow college basketball. I went to a school that didn't really have sports, so for the most part college sports are lost on me. My sport is football. I think I have to marry a guy who went to a college that had college football. I'll become a fan of his alma mater.

Non Sequitur

Kinda... speaking of alma maters, a random thought just entered my head.
My high school had a song (think "Lean on Me" but not as lyrical). We sang it at the start of all the pep rallies and football games. It went like this:

Alma Mater, Bishop Dunne
When together we are one
All our years and all our days
Alma Mater we sing your praise

Your Christian ideals we have made them our own
When life gets confusing their worth will be shown

Alma Mater, Bishop Dunne
When together we are one
All our years and all our days
Alma Mater we sing your praise! (shout the bold part)

It's been like 9 years and I still remember this.
Did you have a high school song?
Can you remember it?

Top 5 Best Birthday Wishes So Far

5. What Mac and Springer said. - Facebook Message from Henri (Mac and Springer had both wished me Happy Birthday)

4. I'm confident your birthday will be the least miserable day of lent. - Someecard from Tamsin.

3. Happy Birthday Dork. I'd call, but I'm hungover. - Text from my Brother

2. I can't wrap worth a shit. Happy Birthday. - Text from my Mom

1. Happy Birthday! At least it would be if you lived in Texas. sad face. - Facebook message from Karl

Relishing in the Fact that My Blog Title Is Irrelevant in 2 Hours

But I'm not changing it.
Many people thought I didn't think my blog title through.
"What will you do when you turn 27?", they said.
Well "I'm 26, Now What?" was more of an attitude. I think I'm still in that mindset.
I'm 27 (in less than 2 hours) and I still don't know exactly what I am doing in life, but I know I am closer to figuring it out than I was a year ago. I know I want to stay in DC.
I know I can't do everything at once, or rush through things. I know some things are not meant to be, no matter how much you want them.
I've lived, I've laughed, I've learned.
I've vacationed with friends.
I had a love.
I lost a love.
I moved.
I tried being unemployed. I got a new job.
I went to happy hours and parties. I crafted. I biked. I took classes.
I made new friends, and I let some old friends go.

It was a great year. I look forward to another great as I figure out life in my 20's and as I say:
"I'm 27, Now What?"

My birthday is fast approaching

Fiscally Conservative, Socially Liberal

I always tell people that I am fiscally conservative and socially liberal. It's sort of how I define myself. I decided that it was time to take the fiscally conservative part of me and apply it to my everyday life. The Cordova household is now on a strict budget.
I met with a financial planner a few weeks ago. He advised me on my retirement saving. I'm the maximum matched amount to my 401K. I'm excited that I'm being proactive about retirement funds. I already have an IRA, but I havent contributed to it in awhile. It's good to have spread out your retirement savings.
I also allotted myself certain percentages for "fun", "eating out", and "travel". All three of these are separate categories. I would say my most frivolous expense is eating out. I spend way too much in this category. I gave myself a generous amount each month for this, but my goal is to come in under budget in this category.
I'm really excited to start living like a "grown up". I figure, what with being 27 soon, it's about time.

Work Update

So many of you know that I am currently waiting for my security clearance to come through... it still hasn't. I did attend a really awesome conference last week and met a lot of the people I will be working with. That was great. I also met the guy who was in charge of orientation, once my clearance does come through. He said he expects it should be another month before that happens. Sigh. Till then, I'm located in Ballston, working out of my contractors office. Stop by and we can have lunch!

Birthday Countdown: 5 Days

Favorites

I was talking a friend earlier about getting a mutual friend a "baby warming" gift.
I decided to get her books. They are gender neutral, and you can use them for your next kid.
In no particular order, my top 10 favorite children's books (ages 0-12):

1. The Giving Tree
2. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (love all the Ramona Books)
3. The Gingerbread Man (I dont remember, but my mom says it was my favorite as a toddler)
4. Where the Wild Things Are
5. A Wrinkle in Time
6. Where the Red Fern Grows (this was my brothers all time fave book)
7. Charlotte's Web
8. If you Give a Mouse a Cookie
9. Sideway Stories from Wayside School
10. From the Mixed Up Files of Ms Basil E Frankweiler
11. The Secret Garden
12. A Light in the Attic
13. Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs
14. Goodnight Moon
15. The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
16. Millions of Cats
17. Miss Nelson is Missing!
18. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears
19. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
20. The Indian In the Cupboard.

Okay, I know I said 10, but I just couldn't stop myself. Stopping at 20 was hard.
What are some of your favorite children's books?

Moving on Up. To the East Side. A Deluxe Apartment, in the Skyyyy,

That's right folks, I'm moving.
Only, it's not really to a deluxe apartment. I'm actually moving back to my old apartment building. Only now I'll be living in an efficiency.
I'm excited to live alone again. I have realized that I am too much on an extrovert to share space with people. I start to nest and you can't expect roomies to be okay with nesting (especially my type of insane nesting).

I'm super excited about my studio, but also a little concerned about my stuff fitting.
When I moved from my old apartment, I had 2 bedrooms worth of stuff.
I downgraded, but was still able to disperse a lot of things throughout the house I live in now.
Down-grading to a studio will be tough, I know I can do it though! Wish me luck!

Smooth Talking Skills

So last year on my birthday I had brunch with all my friends at Boulevard Woodgrill in Clarendon. I am a sucker for their frittata. It's one of my most favorite brunches in the area.
Boulevard did an excellent job and actually gave me the private room. we had such a big reservation that it totally made sense to do this.
This year I called and wanted to get the same deal. The restaurant manager told me that the best he could do would be to reserve 2 tables of 11 people each. He promised me the tables would be side by side.
This just wouldn't do. I asked about the private room, and he said that there would be a $150 charge for that room.
My mom didn't raise a dummy.
I'm having my dinner on a Monday night.. and the reservation is for 22 people. There is no way he was going to turn me away from the restaurant. It was easy money, I was positive there wasn't another party booked in that room.
I told him that last year I had gotten the room for free, and that the reason I was calling again this year was because of the superb service they provided last year. I told him the private area really made the birthday dinner special.
He thought about it a moment and told me I could have the room, but he couldn't split the check.
DONE!
I got out of a $150 charge and told everyone to bring cash to pay with.
I'm excited that I got my way with a little smooth talking.

Birthday Countdown: 7 Days

Shopping with Children

The Cordova household has been on lockdown recently. Ive been very closely counting my pennies these last few months, but now that things are more settled job wise I decided it was time to treat myself. I decided on 2 new dresses. One will be for my birthday, a party dress, the second will be for Easter.

I set out yesterday in search. The first store I went to, I walked into the dressing room, and there was a mom there with her 3 kids... all under the age of five. The yelling and screaming started immediately. The children were running up and down the aisle of the dressing room, kick the doors and just causing general mayhem. If it were okay to spank other people's kids... I would have.
Today I went to H&M to continue my search. A mom was there with her young son... who was eating Cheetos. The me restate... She was trying on new clothes while her sons fingers were covered in cheesy mess. Well he picked something up, got cheese fingerprints all over it, she screamed at him and spanked him. He started crying. If it were okay to spank parents... I would have.
After H&M I went to another store. Again a mom was shopping with her son. Her son started kicking her in the middle of the store. He was yelling that he hated her. She kept trying to get him under control but he was mid tantrum. If it were okay to give parental advice to strangers... I would have.
At the last store I was at I walked in and a mom walked in with her daughter at the same time I did. I was already irritated, and I figured nothing good would come of this.
About 10 minutes later I was looking thru the dress rack and I hear this voice from behind me; "Excuse me ma'am. May I please pass you?". I literally smiled as I let the little girl pass me (must have been about 3 or 4). After she passed she responded with a "thank you". Now, I'm going to look part the part where she called me ma'am and focus on the fact that it is possible to have well behave children in a store.

I know I'm not a parent. I know I have no idea how hard it must be to wrangle kids. But I do know that some behaviors shouldnt be tolerated. I know that screaming and wild kids mean it's time to cut the shopping trip short. I get very irritated with parents who cant control their kids, because that little girl proves to me that it's possible.

Okay, end of rant.

Birthday Countdown: 12 Days.