phew. take this in small doses.

jennie tagged me a bit ago, prompting my response to the following list. no better time than a slow, friday afternoon to work through it :)

10 years ago: 24 hours away from turning 15, i was preparing to say goodbye to my sister, sarah, in her last month before she left for college, and getting ready for my sophomore year of high school ahead. that summer, our family traveled from minnesota to ohio and up and down the east coast, visiting all sorts of friends and family, but i remember our stop in washington, d.c. best. there's a photo of me and sarah parked on a bench near the lincoln memorial, chugging water. if i remember correctly, i was wearing a banana republic logo t-shirt (really, that's all i wore in those days). also, in those days, i listened to jeff buckley's "last goodbye," material issue's "valerie loves me," and jill sobule's "karen by night" on repeat. mmm, sounds good. where IS that tape?

5 years ago: 24 hours away from turning 20, i was living in madison with my friends laura and jenny in a sublet on the corner of west washington street and bassett. the girls who lived there during the year left us their furniture, so we had a very heavy, mirrored crack table and some lovely leopard print cushions for the futon. nice. i began work at the UW hospitals in the neurology clinic, a job i kept for my junior and senior year of college. my journals will tell you that 2000 was one of the most painful summers of my life, but i remember things much differently now. because god is good at both helping heal hard times and giving you the opportunity to - if not quite laugh, then at least - chuckle to yourself a bit about days gone by. wow. i still can't believe that's 5 years ago. and still no gray hair to show for it!! argh ...

1 year ago: 24 hours away from turning 24, i had just recently moved into my second apartment in chicago. i had two new roommates, erin and kat, who i adored (and continue to adore). i was entering into my third year of work at the same place i'd been since i moved, so the change of apartment came at a good time. i hit a real low that year with god - something i think began developing 5 years earlier - and it wasn't till this past october that the smoke cleared. last year was one of those years where you have to choose. you know ... the kind when you make the decision about who you really want to be. and though i absolutely loathe the phrase, it was indeed a "hard but good" year.

Yesterday: i moved into my new office (still feels weird to say that) and tried to ignore the felt urgency to buy a lamp and correct the lighting in the room immediately (what can i say? i am obsessed with lighting) . i came home from work with the intention to go to the gym, but kat and i went for a walk instead only to find ourselves in the line at taco bell (you can never go wrong with a bean burrito - no onions - and a regular hard shell taco. mmm, maybe i should stop there again today). we came home, cleaned a bit, and then kat, erin and i all worked on a crossword puzzle together. seriously, an ideal day.

Today: 24 hours away from turning 25, i woke up at 5 am, took erin to the airport, drove back in traffic to my office, parked out front of the breakfast joint where i had a meeting at 7, ate, went back to work, came out at 8:40 to feed the meter, found the car being hoisted up on to a tow truck, ran to the tow man in shock, totally flabbergasted. he told me it was a rush hour zone. yeah, rush hour my ***. but my horrific look of shock evidently shook some pity in him and he told me he'd take it down, no problem, and let me off the hook. still have a $50 fine, but that's a lot better than spending the day searching chicago lots for erin's car. phew. went back to work, left at noon, came home and will find out what the rest of the day holds in a bit. am feeling very thankful regardless.

Tomorrow: my 25th birthday. my cousin mike is in town so i hope to hang out with him. and then dinner with a few folks at 8. tapas and sangria. the perfect way to ring in the quarter century.

5 snacks I enjoy: archway lemon-frosted cookies, carrots, oyster crackers, french bread & nutella, and dried cranberries.

5 bands whose songs I know most of the lyrics to: u2, over the rhine, ben harper, tim mcgraw, counting crows ... this list could go on and on and on.

5 things I would do with $100,000,000: give first. then, i guess i'd put some aside for kids if i ever have any. i calculated the price of raising a child from birth through college in a city or suburb in the midwest, and i'd be spending $471,646 on the basics for one child. that's a big chunk of money. so i guess it's: 1) put aside some dough for kids 2) donate to food for the hungry and, yeah, i really can't do this. that much money could eliminate so much poverty, so much hunger. i'd really have to pray about it.

5 locations I'd like to run away to: prince edward island (canada), salamanca (spain), the virgin islands, sonoma/napa valley, and greece.

5 bad habits I have: incessantly checking my email, jutting my stomach out like i'm pregnant (if you don't already have this bad habit, don't start. it's addicting), heavy reliance on tall skim toffee nut lattes, pulling the hair out of my brush and letting it fall where it may, and clipping my fingernails in the presence of other people (at least erin says it's gross).

5 things I like doing: meeting one-on-one with people any time, perfecting the lighting of a room, seeing live music, hosting visitors, celebrating people

5 things I would never wear: tapered pants, that infamous j.lo dress, shoulder pads, white pants (i know they're cute on LOTS of people, but i'd fear sitting down too much!), and white-pink lipstick

5 TV shows I like: extreme makeover:home edition, ed, friends, and because i can't think of any others, can we count pbs's "anne of green gables" and "anne of green gables: the sequel" as tv shows?

5 movies I like: last of the mohicans, love and basketball, french kiss, reality bites, good will hunting

5 famous people I'd like to meet: paul rusesabagina, margaret thatcher, kofi annan, malcom x, jane austen

5 biggest joys at the moment: two incredible birthday packages in the mail from two incredible people, not getting towed, having a moment of clarity to see how overwhelmingly blessed i am, celebrating my parents 33rd anniversary today (though in spirit in mpls - happy anniversary, mom and dad!!), and feeling hopeful in general. there's nothing in the world like hope.

5 favorite toys: erik's ipod, my crossword puzzle book, our cd burner, this blog

5 (+2) people to tag: allan, eric j, erin, jenn, jon, laura, teresa

thanks for spending my last day at 24 with me :)