Adulthood Wins & Ironic Wins

This week got away from me, but that seems to happen during show week (whether I'm in the show or not). The first few GGSS productions I went to, I ushered a couple of nights, then I was House Manager for a show (there all the nights), and then I was actually in a show. For this week's most recent Winter production of "The Tempest", I was enlisted to help out with hair which mostly involved lots of curling and braiding. I don't consider myself to be that skilled with hair but, inspired by Daenerys Targaryen, I worked diligently every night this week to do hair better than the night before. I forgot how rewarding doing creative things other than work can be:) The cast was wonderful (I loved getting to know them all better backstage) and the week was filled with celebrations and reunions.

This was the very first time I tried the hair design. I can barely look at it now because it got MUCH better every night and almost looked nothing like this, but this is the only picture that I have. I was actually so proud of myself when I first did this that I had to take a picture:)

To the title of the post....Since turning 27, I've been please with all of the strides I've been making toward the elusive "adulthood". However, it seems all of my accomplishments have been tainted by youthful errors. I tried to frame one of these learning opportunities as an 'ironic win', but Mike wasn't having it. "An ironic win is just a loss." A learning opportunity is never a true loss. So here are some of the wins and ironic wins that have happened recently.

WINS

• TAXES: 2013 taxes done! (Okay maybe I just managed to gather all of the papers and Mike did most of the work on that front, but I'm still calling this a win because they got done anyway!) :) Since I am helping a lot of kids with their FAFSA submissions at work it also helps me to become familiar with all of the forms before they do their own taxes.
• DRIVING: I've had a very different (and variable) commute from my new job that I've still been acclimating to. This past week, I drove from MD to downtown DC on one street and went through about 5 traffic circles along the way. This is something that would have terrified me when I first moved to the city and I would not even have attempted it, but I'm feeling more comfortable with driving every day!
• BABYSITTING: On the babysitting gig (mentioned below as well), the baby was already asleep so I was actually just paid to do the sitting part of babysitting. I was told there was a small chance he would wake up which I was hoping would not happen given that it had been about 8 months since I last sat for the kid and he would not recognize me. Sure enough, he woke up around midnight crying up a storm and I had only been left a small amount of formula (and they had moved recently so I didn't know where more formula was). I gave him the small amount of formula that I had and then rubbed his belly for like half an hour to get him to fall asleep. I call this a win because I realized I've learned a lot from being around my nephew about baby problem solving.
• WORKING OUT: It's finally starting to sink in that, if I want to work out on any given day, it has to be in the morning AND that working out in the morning makes such a difference in my day. I've started making coffee the night before and leaving it in the fridge overnight to save time and so I can have a boost in the mornings.

One morning workout this week felt like a particular struggle, but as soon as I instagrammed this selfie, Pete replied with a "You got this!" and, since he's a personal trainer, I felt instantly encouaged.

IRONIC WINS

• KEYS: Last week I was getting out of the car and dropped my keys on the ground. I'd had a particularly good day at work so I distinctly remember pausing momentarily smiling to myself about how silly it was that I had dropped my keys. During that momentary pause, my entire keychain slid into the street drain which happened to be right beside where they fell. On the plus side, I located out local neighborhood hardware store that has EVERYTHING you could ever possibly need including key cutting services that took less than 5 seconds.
• BABYSITTING: I got a last-minute offer to babysit last week and drove to Adams Morgan where I had to exchange alley parking spots with Dad. I was feeling really proud of my parking job while walking with him into the house until he asked me "Did you lock your car?" and I realized I was just walking away and making conversation while leaving my car unlocked. Oops.
• PARKING TICKET: My job pays for my parking. All I have to do is log in to an app on my phone and confirm my location. However, this week I forgot to confirm on my phone one day and got a $45.00 ticket?!?! I was really upset because that is a lot of money and I felt so stupid. I instantly called my sister, Kim, who I can count upon to listen to my shame stories and rattled off a list of everything that sucked in my life and how dumb I was (a downward spiral I let myself fall into all because of one little ticket). Kim is so patient...and also wise. She listened to me, said that sucked, and then recommended I breathe and get myself a hot chocolate. I could have let the ticket ruin my day (sometimes I let stuff like that happen), but instead I paid my ticket immediately over the phone, threw the ticket away (and out of my mind), and got a hot chocolate. 

Flowers Mike brought me after his interview in Baltimore on Friday. It went well and he should hear back in about a month!

One of the many pictures of Ashton I get throughout the week that always make my day:) He's getting so big! (3 months old now)

And he wants to talk so badly! (my current favorite video of him with my mom in the background)