finance and stuff...

Uh... in case you haven't heard, interest rates are historically low, this means that you can buy more house for your buck, or have such a low payment on your new home that you'll be saving over $300 each month on what you were spending on rent (yeah, you heard me right!) Or so they make it sound... what they don't tell you is that getting a loan nowadays is a PAIN... so while the saving money aspect is totally legit, they don't tell you that you will have to document every single penny that ends up in your account, including but not limited to, the $20 your mother in law gave your six year old for his Birthday, anything you've sold online recently and just so happened to deposit to your account, do you have documentation from the person who bought your used girl's clothes? NO, because in the real world I don't list something in the free classifieds and then badger the people who buy it into filling out a form saying that they paid cash for a bag of clothes from a stranger... HOLY MOLY!!! So aside from sacrificing a virgin on the next full moon, and giving them the rights to choose the future spouse of my first born... things are moving along, slowly, but surely! The part that makes it all worth it? Today I drove by my home to be and saw that they have installed my new wonderful AC unit, which came with a beautifully wonderful powerful furnace (technically they are four years old, and believe me that was a fun day in the ups and downs of real estate... but they are way better than what I would have gotten if I had insisted on new, because with new AC I still would have had the nasty OLD dirty mouse ridden furnace that was in the place to start with... sometimes you gotta give a little!) I got to go to the warehouse and pick out my two slabs of granite that in one week will be my gorgeous new counter tops. I got to go to pick out my appliance package, yes, I'm the luckiest girl alive for getting all new appliances! And tomorrow I get to go deep clean the place and disinfect all the nasty light switches that are grimy and gross me out so I won't have to worry about it when I move. AHHHHH... this is what makes it ALL worth it, I will happily jump through any hoop you want me to now because I realize that in the end, I'm getting a great house and a practically brand new kitchen :) Two more weeks... two more weeks... I can make it, right? It will all be worth it!!!

Thanksgiving...

I'm so thankful this Thanksgiving:

that my husband has a good job
that we are finally buying a house
that I have four amazing, wonderful, smart, and healthy kids
that we have a place to live
that we have warm clothes
for hot chocolate
for food on our table, in our bellies and in my pantry
for family
for my health
for my husband's health
for grocery stores
for clean drinking water
for nice long hot showers
for my flat iron
for my minivan
for tools
for a computer
for my camera
for my cat
for books
for blankets
for so many other things!!!

When I really step back and look at my life I realize how incredibly blessed I am... sometimes we complain about life and how hard it is, or how bad we think we have it... but the truth is, we have it pretty darn good. I'm grateful for this amazing country we live in, and think of those pilgrims that were so grateful to make it through that first season there... how blessed they knew they were, to have a new land, a clean start... it's such an amazing blessing that they came here and founded this great country. And it really is a great country, we have so many freedoms, and I love it here! I hope everyone else has so much to be grateful for on this beautiful Thanksgiving day :)

Not a lot to say...

Sometimes I feel like my life is one constant stream of sleep, eat, get kids ready for day, drive to school, do dishes, do laundry, fix lunch, take Kindergartener to school, go to the store, pick up kids, help with homework, make dinner, clean up dinner, spend quality time with kids, put kids in bed, spend quality time with Hubby, brain drain with book, computer or TV for a little while so I can recharge then sleep. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, everyone has a life routine... I've just been having a hard time with mine lately. And it's for a great reason, not something bad or sad. We are buying a house... it seems to me that there is nothing I hate more than the buying a house process. I'm ready to pull my hair out. Everything takes FOREVER and I'm not a patient person. This is a busy time of year, and this has only added to the chaos... not to mention that we will probably be moving in right before Christmas, ugh and YAY! all at the same time. So that's why I have been AWOL on my blog lately... just so much going on, and I'm so exhausted from it all, I will be happy when this part is over and I can just live in my new house and not be worried about inspections and deadlines and loans and stuff!!!

Depression is a funny thing...

Nine years ago on September 11th, I was at home with my 5 month old baby boy. My husband called me and told me to turn on the TV, I watched the second tower fall. It made me sad, but it was so far away from where I lived and things on TV never really look quite real, so I didn't really feel the impact that others I know felt. Every year on September 11th, people say, "never forget" or "I won't forget" or other things of that nature... and still I feel so detached from the situation. I promise I'm not cold... I love my country, I love the men and women who helped in that crisis, I'm angry that a group of people hated our country enough to kill innocent people. I'm happy that airport security and other things have stepped up on their responsibilities to keep us safe... but still feel detached from the whole situation. I finally figured it out today... I was one of the lucky women who experienced post partum depression after I had my baby... but I didn't figure it out right away. It was at least two months after my baby was born before I realized that the "baby blues" had never really gone away. I was in a black hole, felt like I was sinking and never could get on top of anything. I made sure my baby was always fed, changed, napped, loved etc. But I never showered, got ready, picked up, did the dishes or fixed food. I was truly and deeply depressed... when I finally figured out what was wrong (hubs begged me to go to my Doctor) he said, "wow, you are really depressed!" He put me on an anti-depressant that didn't work for my body chemistry... it's not his fault or anything... it works for other people, but it made me tired, so in addition to being completely non-functioning, I also couldn't get out of bed. So then we tried another one. Celexa. That one finally worked for me, but of course it took a while to work the dosage out and get me feeling like myself again. So by the time 9/11 happened, I still wasn't back to "normal." I think this is why I'm so detached from the event... I was pretty detached from my own life. I'm happy to say that two years on Celexa and a year and a half of counseling to teach me how to deal with my emotions finally put an end to my depression... but it's still sad to me that I don't feel the same way that others seem to feel on 9/11. It's a yearly reminder, that there was something wrong with me... and even if it is "fixed" now, I can never go back and undo what was done, I can't go back and emotionally connect with this great tragedy.

The wave...

So they sell this really cool stuff at the hardware store. It's a film that is usually textured on one side, and sticky on the other side, and it's perfect to cut out and place on windows to get a little more privacy, it just kind of makes everything a little bit fuzzy so you can't just see straight through a window, but it still lets light in. My friend has it on the skinny long window by her front door. It really works well.


If this was my house I would totally buy some of that stuff. I have this huge window that is above the front door. It's so pretty during the day, because it lets in a lot of light, but it looks right into the railing in front of my bedroom... which makes it problematic for when I want to walk into my room at night. When there is any light on, anyone on my street can see right in that window and right up to my doorway... so I've implemented what I call "the wave." Usually I'm dressed, so neighbors could happen to look in and see me and it wouldn't be a problem... but it so happens that several times when I've been less than modest I've walked down the hall and right in front of the window and thought, "I really hope no one saw me!" I just don't think about the fact that you can see right in until I've walked past it, I stressed out about this fact a few times until I realized I just don't have the energy to waste worrying about it. So now instead of worrying about it, I just turn and wave. I figure that it's better for a neighbor to see me in my underwear and waving at them, than to just see me in my underwear. So the next time you are walking naked in front of a big window and everyone can see you, just turn and wave!

:(

Hubs has a new job... YAY, he's been working for himself, but that's because working for himself was his only option... but now we have full time employment and lovely benefits again, that always makes me happy. Also kids are starting school tomorrow, usually an exciting time. I love summer and doing fun things, but I also like getting back to a routine. So why the ":(" cause I'm SICK... I have the worst sore throat I've had in a long time. I feel awful and I want to crawl in bed and do nothing all day. But I can't because this is a big week for us!!! My body has awesome timing doesn't it? ;)

BLAH

FAVORITE things...

I've found that a lot of my favorite products have come about by other people... do you feel that way too? My mom recently introduced me to one of her favorite products and it got me thinking about all the products I love, so here are a few, just in case you are interested ;)

This one was my mom's suggestion... okay so I'm um... THIRTY now, and in the last three years I've noticed that my pores are getting larger :( I know, right? Super sad, but it's just a fact of life and I've just had to deal with it. Along with larger pores came more blackheads, am I grossing you out? Hope not, they are just blackheads. What do you expect, the world is dirty... I mean, if my car can't stay clean for a week and it's kept in the garage, then certainly my big pores are going to be dirty as well. Anyways, my mom bought me Neutrogena's Blackhead eliminating daily scrub, and now I seriously LOVE this product, I noticed a difference the next day, I mean, I still have some, but they are far less than before and my pores look noticeably smaller too, so much better than the apricot scrub I've tried and toners and stuff, it's a keeper!

Next up: Lip gloss, I love lip gloss and I've tried quite a few, but I have long hair, and when the wind blows, or I lean forward or anything my hair gets stuck in the sticky lip glosses and that just grosses me out. So I went on a hunt for a good, long wearing, nice shine, NON-STICKY lip gloss, my favorite, another Neutrogena product, go figure! So their MoistureShine gloss is awesome, shimmery, not sticky at all, lasts a long time (for lip gloss) and it doesn't smell either (that's a big one for me, I have a sensitive nose!)

On to eyelashes: So a while ago I ranted about separating your lashes and why someone couldn't come up with a better solution than a thumb tack. (I don't think it was on THIS blog, I think it's on my other one, so don't feel bad if you don't remember that.) My aunt responded with a product that actually works! The Sepralash by Tweezerman. Unable to find it in my local Ulta, I settled for the "travel" version, the folding Ilashcomb, get it "I" lashcomb... it took me a minute, it's made by Tweezerman and it is fabulous! Most people I know don't need to separate their lashes, but I always needed to, and this did the trick... BUT I don't need to anymore, because I finally found my favorite mascara!!!

My favorite mascara: So I have a friend with the world's most gorgeous eyelashes, people are always asking her if they are fake. They are LONG and curly and just about as perfect as you could possibly get. I've tried and loved (for a few weeks) dozens of mascaras... frustrated, because of clumping, crossing, not getting enough coverage, flaking etc. I texted her while in the store to ask what kind of mascara she used. It was Covergirl Professional Super Thick Lash. Ulta didn't have it, so I sat there in the Covergirl section frustrated and wondering what kind to buy. My mom, yet again, came to the rescue... she said that she had read about what kind of brush to buy, it was skinny and straight, not at all like any of them I had used before, so I grabbed the Covergirl with the brush that looked the most like my mom's suggestion, actually she picked it up first, so she gets all the credit for this one too. Seriously it's my new favorite, and it's passed the "few weeks" test, where it's been a while and I still love it. It doesn't flake, even at the end of a VERY long day, the brush is perfect and covers really well, all in all I'm very pleased, and I've hated whatever mascara I've been using (all five of them) for the last 8 months! So try the Lash Blast Length mascara is the new one I recommend!

Along with lashes: The same aunt who told me about the sepralash also suggested her favorite eyelash curler. I have the straightest eyelashes on the planet, they are long and they point straight down over my eyes... I have always had to curl my lashes, I've tried Revlon's Maybelline's, and Tweezerman's, they've all been okay, but not great. Aunt and my mom both use Shu Uemura's eyelash curler. They were both right, this one is PERFECT, at $19 it better be, but it helped me learn that the $5 curlers, just aren't going to cut it!!! I get perfectly curled lashes in seconds, love love love the Shu Uemura curler (even if I can't remotely pronounce it ;))

Okay, so that's it for today, these are my can't live without products right now... I love being a girl, it's so much fun, makeup and products are just way too much fun to try and to love!!! :D

I moved...

It's been a long time since I have blogged... why you might ask? Is it that I have four children that keep me super busy? Is it because I recently celebrated my 11 year anniversary? Is it because it seems like no one actually read blogs anymore anyway? Nah, it's because we had to move. The house that we have been renting for two years was being sold, so there was no renewing of the contract available, so on the 31st of July, we had to be out of there. It was sad for us, we loved it there but I'm ready for something a little more permanent. For the first seven years of our marriage we were in the same condo, we bought it and closed on it a few weeks before the wedding, and stayed there until we were bursting at the seams with three kids in one bedroom, us, the piano, treadmill and second TV in the other bedroom and one bathroom to share. Needless to say we were completely relieved to buy our first house. Too bad we were only there for 4 months. We bought the house, moved in, fixed it up and then got offered a job in Las Vegas. It just felt right, and as hard as it was to sell my first house (especially because I loved it SO much!!!) We packed up and moved to Vegas, it was an adventure, and luckily we rented our house down there... especially since houses dropped so much in value the two years we were there. Then when the company my hubby worked for laid off 200 employees (including us unfortunately) we wanted to stay there, but ended up finding a job closer to home. So we moved back, and after being out of work for a few months decided to wait on buying, so we rented again. Renting isn't bad, in fact I think it's pretty responsible, especially if you are going to move a lot like we have. People say we are wasting our money, but it's not a long term solution for us, it's just a few years... can't be any worse than losing 120K on a home, which is what happened to the house we were renting... actually it's not worse than that, it's much better. But anyways, now we are ready to be in ONE place for a VERY long time... the problem now? We are self-employed and with the stricter lending standards, we have to jump through a few more hoops. PBBBBLLL!!! So we wait until January, when we can file taxes again, and while we wait, we are lucky enough to have a house to live in for about 6 months. So that's where I've been. Packing for a temporary move so we wouldn't have to unpack everything. We are living with about 1/3 our stuff, the rest we are storing. That way it's not as hard to pack up and move again when the time comes. So that's what I've been doing, organizing, and packing and getting rid of stuff and having a garage sale, and organizing and packing some more... but we are here now, and we are mostly settled, and we are grateful to have some time to save up more money to make us less of a risk to the lovely banks who have really low interest rates but don't want to lend any of their money, and eventually it will all work out and I will again own a home and I will never move again!!! Well, maybe not "never" but at least for several years! So yeah, did you miss me?

ANOTHER Twilight Rant...

Okay, okay, I know, I've already ranted about this whole Twilight thing, the books, and the merchandise etc. But you know the latest movie just came out, and it started up a conversation between me and my husband, so of course if I don't get this all out, it will fester!!! So my cousin's sweet wife called me up the other day and said that she had two extra tickets to go see the new movie, Eclipse. She offered them to me, and although I'm not one of those crazy fans, I did like the last two movies, (not enough to watch them more than once) but enough to have gone with the girls to see them... any excuse for a girls' night out is good for me, (plus, who turns down a free movie!) So I grabbed a friend and we went to see it. Pretty good, not a favorite or anything, but it wasn't a total waste! So anyways it got me thinking about this whole Twilight craze and all the grown women who lust after these young Hollywood actors and how uncomfortable that makes me, and of course how all the cute little tweens and teens are obsessed with this as well. I won't pick apart the writing again, so save your groans, I will of course mention how hairy and unattractive I think Cedric Diggory is, and how I don't think that old what's-his-name should have ever been cast as Edward, and how much I hate the girl that they got to play Rosalie... AHH, I'm getting off track, okay, so this was the basic rant of my conversation with hub:

How on earth is Edward attractive (not the actor, the character.) He's a STALKER... he watches her sleep, he follows her everywhere to make sure she's "safe" he's COMPLETELY obsessed with her... his entire life revolves around her, he has no other hobbies, he's entire existence completely depends on Bella, to me this is not romantic, it's creepy... why on earth is he so darn creepy? When he thinks she is dead, he tries to kill himself, um... maybe just a tad extreme? I mean, I adore my husband, I love him more than anything in the whole wide world, and I would be absolutely heartbroken if he died, but life goes on and eventually I would get over it and continue to live my life. So this is the message we are giving our young girls? Hey girls, find a guy who is so obsessed with you that you won't ever be able to get rid of him?

Bella. In the book she is a little more opinionated and sassy, but in the movie she is a lot less self loathing and annoying... she is also obsessed with Edward, she continually tries to get him to lower his standards and sleep with her, she hates the concept of marriage, she hates the fact that she might get older, and when Edward leaves her, she completely shuts down and can't function until he returns, oh wait, no I'm sorry, she can sort of function when she's with Jacob, that's much better isn't it? So apparently she's not strong enough to get it together on her own, she has to have him in order to be happy. She leads Jacob on and continually hurts him, but apparently this is all okay, because the entire world is supposed to revolve around her, and as long as she is happy, then I guess it doesn't matter who she hurts and what she does. Oh and when she decides to marry him it's not because she loves him and wants to be with him, it's because it's the only way to get what she wants... also a great message, marriage isn't for love it's for getting what you want!

Am I wrong here? Is this not the worst romantic scenario to be feeding our daughters and OURSELVES!!! We are taking our young girls and letting them read these books, and watch these movies and telling them how wonderful they are and how we wish our husband/boyfriend was more like Edward? I can't possibly be the only person who thinks this is ludicrous!!! I have a seven year old daughter. I love that little girl more than anything, I want her to have HEALTHY relationships as she gets older. I want her to believe in love, and all the happiness that it can bring. I want her to be confident enough in herself so that being in a relationship with a man doesn't "make or break her" it doesn't define who she is. And I sure as heck don't want someone who is completely obsessed with her to smother her and cripple her. Okay, I need to stop now... It has always been my goal that when my children were grown to go back to school and get my degree as a counselor, because I loved my own counselor and I love how I learned to have healthier relationships with everyone because of my time spent with her. My first client? I'm going to contact Stephenie Meyer and help that girl out, because to me it's obvious that she has some nice issues that she's managed to glorify in her books!!!

Junk Food HATES me...

Sometimes I wonder how healthy I really do eat, I'm sure have more carbs than I should, more sugar sometimes and more fats than I really need, but for the most part I try to eat fairly good food for my body and keep a good balance of everything. It's hard to find a healthy balance and eat that way consistently but I feel like I do a pretty good job most of the time. So we went to church with my hubby's family yesterday because his brother blessed their baby girl, after the blessing we had a big family lunch, I ate some fruit, some veggies and a cafe rio style pork burrito, but then I also splurged and had chips, a donut and a piece of a cinnamon roll, granted I spread this out over a long period of grazing because we were there basically all day. Oh yeah, and I had two of those peanut butter chocolate square things... now looking at that, I wouldn't have thought I would feel SO awful today, but apparently I have been eating pretty healthy, because when I decide to splurge my body gets awfully angry with me!!! Last night I felt sluggish and while I was trying to sleep I felt like someone had put a lead weight in my stomach... this morning is a little better, but I always wake up thinking, I'm never going to do that again, but inevitably I do. I guess it just makes me wonder, how do people eat like that all the time? Who are these people who don't feel sick after they eat garbage? UGH... I tell you what, I'm motivated to eat healthy foods today!!! Veggies here I come, cause the thought of anything else is grossing me out, especially since it's 9 am, I haven't eaten anything, and I still feel full from all that crap I ate yesterday... junk food HATES me, maybe someday I'll start to hate it too ;) Until then I will continue to have days like this every couple of months or so where I realize, wow, I am doing a pretty good job of eating healthy because when I'm not I am REALLY aware of it!!!

Jillian Michaels is Trying to Kill Me!

So anyone who knows me can tell you that I'm not a workout diva... in fact I really don't like working out, everyone always tells me, at first you won't like it, but after a while you'll start to love it... BOO! Doesn't happen for me, I HATE working out, but I LOVE how I feel after I work out, and I need to be healthy, so that's why I do it, but believe me, I do a bare minimum or working out so that I can stay healthy. For a long time my routine has been 30 minutes on the elliptical, then 30 minutes of stretching, sit-ups and push-ups. But of course I hit the point where that wasn't actually doing anything for me anymore. I mentioned this to a friend, and told her that I didn't want to join a gym, and I didn't want to work out for over an hour every day... but I didn't know what to do to challenge myself and get in better shape. I'm completely unwilling to do p90x because I don't want to do a hardcore workout for an hour 6 days a week.

I needed something that fit into my lifestyle which consists of spending a lot of time doting on and playing with two darling little boys. So my friend suggested I try Jillian Michaels 30-day shred. WOW, that's all I can say, the DVD is 8 or 9 dollars and all you need is some hand weights. It has three different workout programs, level 1,2 and 3. You progress from one workout to the next when you are ready. Each workout uses a combination of strength, cardio and abs and they only last about 20 minutes, it's more like 23 because of the warm up and cool down. But it's easy to commit to because it's only 20 minutes. You think, I can commit to a 20 minute daily workout... that's no big deal! Which is awesome, and it seriously kicked my butt the first time I did it. Which was GREAT... I really needed that, I did level one for about 6 weeks, and then it started to become easy for me, so I knew it was time to move on up to level 2. I've been doing the level 2 workout for about two weeks and I'm pretty sure that level 2 is going to kill me... I'm sweating and breathing SO stinkin hard by the time I'm done with this workout, that I just lay on the floor, trying to catch my breath for at least 10 minutes after I'm done. (Maybe this isn't a reflection on how great the workout is as much as it is on how out of shape I am... but either way, I'm happy.) So I'm pretty sure Jillian Michaels is trying to kill me with these work outs... but I'm kinda glad :) I highly recommend these to anyone, especially people like me who want to be able to do a good hard 20 minute workout and just be done for the day!!!

Thank goodness for sisters

So my day started out crappy and I was enjoying a nice pity party... but my wonderful husband with his positive attitude tried to pick me up. He called once again and got at least a partial payment, so now I don't feel like my world is going to end, which I mean, I knew it really wouldn't, but it sure felt like that for a little while. So then, my darling sister called and asked me if I wanted to go to lunch with her. So we went out to lunch and then to a furniture store to look around, and then to Nordstroms to get her some makeup since she was out... it was the BEST day, started out BLAH, but then ended up being a great day to talk and spend time with my sis. Thank goodness for sisters!!!

ARGGGGGGGGGH

Ugh, having a FRUSTRATING day. Sometimes having a husband who works for himself is really nice, even though he works for himself out of necessity, and not choice. We take the good with the bad and just feel lucky that he has any work. But with the crappy economy we have run into a problem we have never faced before... clients waiting a REALLY long time to pay us. That mixed with the RIDICULOUS taxes you pay when you are self-employed, (again, that seems dumb to me, we wouldn't be self-employed if we could help it) has left us strapped for $$$. I just want this stupid client to pay us, I hate feeling like this, so much stress. I'm trying to remain positive, but I'm having a hard time today. I'm ready to be caught up and maybe, I don't know, even a little ahead for a change!!! I'm sure my friends are getting tired of me complaining about this, but it's gotten to the point that it's been so long, I truly feel like we are on a sinking ship, and all hope is lost. I mean, really I know that isn't true, and I'm trying to look at all the positive things that we have, and think about how blessed I truly am, but my good attitude comes in waves, where sometimes I think, it's really not that big of a deal and it will work out eventually, and then other times I hit a point where I think, YES THIS IS A HUGE DEAL and I'm going to DIE from the stress of this!!! At this point I'm hoping for a large check to just drop out of the sky or something! Anyways, at least I feel better getting it out, even if I'm sure my hubby doesn't want me posting my financial woes for all to see, but I just had to vent my frustrations... cause I'm REALLY frustrated! ;)

Nylons

K, so my mom use to tell me, if you don't have time to shave, nylons work to disguise hairy legs. Truly, this is not the case, as you can clearly see if you look closely at your hairy legs UNDER your nylons, but in spite of this evidence, I still find myself wearing nylons sometimes to disguise my hairy legs! Why do we do this? I have no idea, but I ran out of time this morning and didn't make it to shaving, so I put my nylons on, and went to church anyway. The sad thing is that I can see myself perpetuating this crime with my daughter someday, when she runs into the same problem. Maybe I just need to start waxing.

Really? I mean REALLY?!!!

So A is a saver, and when we went to the store to go spend some more of her leftover Birthday money (from December mind you) we headed straight for the Barbie aisle... much to my horror I stood face to face with this:


Now, don't get me wrong, movie toys are fantastic, I mean, come on, I love Star Wars action figures and ships as much as the next gal, but this is just going too far!!! I don't really understand the obsession with Twilight. I didn't particularly love the books, I actually liked how she modernized the vampire lore, it was pretty creative, sort of the way that Rick Riordan helped the gods of mount olympus exist in our modern society. I admire her imagination in doing that... but the books were painful for me to read. The movies, because I don't have to hear her words in my head are less unbearable for me, because like I said, I like her storyline a little bit... but really, I mean REALLY? This is just too much for me to stomach!!!

Ever need to be reminded that you aren't 20 anymore?

Okay, then go to a concert. You'll be the only one wearing earplugs, because you're finally mature enough to realize that don't want to damage your hearing, no matter how much you like the music. You'll find that when you are jumping up and down to the music, you'll start to be careful and jump a little less exuberantly when you realize that your bladder, although not full, isn't completely empty and that can be a bad combination... also, towards the end, you'll start to get tired, and eventually move towards the back giving up your awesome spot close to the stage because you are hot and need fresh air. When the concert is over, you'll suddenly realize that your feet hurt and your back's a little sore. But the worst part is that the next morning, without consuming any alcohol, you'll have what you call a tired hangover, from so much activity and staying up later than you usually do. There is an upside though... for a brief period during your favorite songs, when you are pumped with adrenaline and moving in time with the crowd... you'll FEEL twenty again, and hopefully, when all is said and done, you'll realize that it doesn't really matter that you're getting older... because you can still rock it at your favorite concert, and hey, getting older is actually pretty cool, even if that realization has to slap you across the face every once in a while.