;-)

It has been an incredibly busy month between taking care of the kittens, dog sitting , working on the house, family visiting and, of course, Halloween. We have had the mildest fall weather that I can remember and it has provided days upon days of being outdoors and soaking in the sun. Gloria has been planning for Halloween since October 1st and ended up with a precious fairy princess costume. She is such an interesting mix of intensity, sweetness, fiery temper and plan cuteness. I was under the impression that when she turned four she would magically no longer resort to bad temper tantrums. Silly mommy! At the same time, she is learning to communicate in all sorts of ways and growing up so fast. I can hardly believe I am a mother to a four year old!

Speaking of feeling older, next month is my 30th birthday. Although I know that if I think about it the whole idea of me being 30 is somewhat unbelievable, in general I am excited about the whole event. I am more than ready to say good bye to my 20's. I am sure that I will look back at my 20s at some point and think fondly on my frame of mind, as of right now I am more than willing to stake my claim in my next decade of age. It is actually more strange for me to think about my friends turning 30 than it is for me. One by one we are each having our odometer turn over and we deal with it in our own ways. Generally speaking, there is a lot of alcohol involved. Still, we each carry our dignity with us having only minor moments of weakness as we say goodbye to a period of time in our life. Truly, turning 30 is a definite marker of true adulthood. So when does the wisdom set in?

Things continue to grow and change with Ray. We have been living together for a couple of months and the worst thing we have fought about is our loyalty to cats (me) and dogs (Ray). I am sure that, like all couples, bigger fights will inevitably arise; as for now, it is encouraging to know that we are both communicators - slow to anger and quick to forgive. We got to spend some time with his dad, Ray Sr., when he came out for a short visit. It was fun to see the similarities and interesting to see the differences. I can see where Ray gets his quick wit and charm ;-) On a side note, I have noticed lately that I can't seem to post anything without some kind of emoticon. What did I ever do to express playfulness before these handy little symbols became commonplace?

Well, it is now 2am and I am officially up WAY past my bedtime. I suppose I am still coasting on the sugar spike from today's festivities!