Happy Birthday To Me

I'm hopeful that anyone that reads this blog also knows that today is my birthday. If not, then it may creep me out a little that a stranger is reading this. Either way, I'm officially 34. I've been rounding up for awhile so I'm used to the number. The thing that's odd is that I'm actually in my 35th year. It is weird to think that I'm in my mid-30s.

Please know that what follows is by no means a pity party - I'm actually quite happy with my life and have a lot of great things going for me. But I know that many people (including myself) may not have pictured that in my mid-30s I'd still be single and not have kids or any other societal expectation placed on a woman my age.

I remember in high school, that a friend of mine (in fact a few) guessed that I'd be the last one to get married. Turns out they were right. What was it about me, even back then, that meant I'd be likely to marry later in life?

I'll be honest, though, I've often worn this as a badge of honor - something that meant I wasn't going to settle easily (not that I think my friends have settled....). And, don't get me wrong, I'm still happy that I didn't marry any of the exes of my past. But, believe it or not, I do wish for some of those things. I don't like feeling like the odd one - who hasn't followed the traditional path of getting married or having kids. But if I'm ok with it, I sure hope those that love me are as well.

I've had a lot of great things happen in my life in the past year or so - I've become an aunt, a homeowner, a dog owner (again), promoted at work and all in all continue to have a great life. So, despite the soliloquy above, I promise I am happy. To all my friends who may be concerned or want me to 'hurry up and have kids', just know that I'm very happy. I feel so lucky to have such great friends, family and a job that challenges me every day.

So I welcome my 35th year wholeheartedly. How can I not after the lovely, spontaneous poem my friends wrote for me at dinner tonight:

For translation:

Mellie, we love you

This is a day good for flan

Love her like Anthro

Wow, the way she looks tonight

Good night sweet Mellie

I Heart Organizing

If being organized was an addiction, I would totally have it. Wait, I guess it is? It's just that it's not a bad addiction? Or is it? I'll admit, sometimes I get paralyzed from moving forward until I've organized things. Sometimes I can't even think straight unless I have a to-do list. So maybe I am addicted? Oh well, I'm ok with that.

This weekend's project was about organizing my utility/laundry room. Exciting, huh?

Since I moved in, it's just been used as storage, hodgepodge and other such things. I have some leftover shelves from my closet build out so I went back to the Container Store and cut them to size and asked Ken to come over and hang them (I still don't own a drill).

This project also forced me to get rid of some things. Even though I'm organized, I tend to hold onto things too long - for good and bad reasons. One thing that I've had for more than half my life is a bookshelf that my brother built for me. I was on vacation with a girlfriend for my 16th birthday and came home to a newly constructed bookshelf that was built to fit my stereo I'd also gotten for my birthday.

It's held so much sentimental value and has been one of the few items that has moved with me the most - to Boston, back to DC and finally to Austin (and multiple moves here). But it's time to let it go. Not because I don't love it anymore but because it simply doesn't fit - both physically and emotionally into my life anymore. It represents my past and I'll always love and appreciate the fact that my brother made it for me. But my future is clearly in Elfa shelves. I'm such a grown up!

Needless to say this bookshelf was in my utility room. Ken helped me move it to my curb (not only b/c people will take anything in my neighborhood but also b/c tomorrow is bulk pick-up day). After he successfully hung the shelves, I got to organize them and the rest of the small (but important) space in there.

So while it may not look exciting to you I'm thrilled. Now I can put my recycling in there and get my suitcases without injuring myself.

Thanks, Ken!

Triathlon Season

That's right, it's triathlon season. Why this season occurs during the hottest months is Texas is beyond me but I suppose we're not the only participants. For the past few years, I've been participating in triathlons, as the relay running leg, with different friends. Devon is always the swimming leg and I'm always the running leg (no pun intended) but we have various friends who (when not participating in a full triathlon by themselves) are our biking leg. This summer, we're off to a bit of a slower start but I'm gearing up for a busy fall of events.

I haven't run much since the half marathon in February. I tend to take time off from running after training so much and as it got hotter out, my desire to run dramatically decreased. So I've been swimming and taking pilates and still feel in pretty good shape. But, the time was coming. Training time.

For some crazy reason, I decided to do two more half marathons this year. Does participating in 3 half marathons in one year mean I've run a marathon and a half? Probably not.

The Ulman Cancer Fund (founded and named after LIVESTRONG's CEO, Doug Ulman, who is a 3 time cancer survivor) is hosting the Half Full Tri on October 3 in Columbia, MD. Devon, Haley and I are competing as a relay team and the running leg this time is a half marathon. This is the furthest relay event we'll have all competed in together and I'm excited! But, I'm also nervous. I started running last week and had a really hard time.

First, because it's so hot out that even if I run first thing in the morning it's usually already 80 degrees and, second, b/c I've been battling horrible allergies for weeks. I haven't been sleeping well, I'm congested, coughing and this past weekend my ears started to hurt. Knowing I'm getting on an airplane in a few days I finally sucked it up and went to the doctor yesterday.

Turns out, I have an ear infection. So I'm now on tons of meds and already sleeping a little better. And it was worth it. Today I went for a 3 mile run and felt great. While it was slow and I'm already a little sore, I did it and I felt really good the whole time. It gave me hope that I can get through these events.

So for those friends who live close to Columbia, MD, come on out and cheer us on in October! I can't promise I'll be as well trained or 'fast' as I was in February but I'll be there. Until then, I'll be looking for ways to train in Texas somehow avoiding the heat.

Warranties

How does everyone out there feel about warranties? I mean you can get a 'warranty' or 'guarantee' for just about anything out there. For most of my life, I've been too cheap (or poor) to invest the extra money in warranties and just opted to take my chances. But now things are different. I'm not just investing in a camera or DVD player. I'm now responsible for a home and all of the expensive appliances (that will inevitably break) in them.

Since my home was a newly built home, the appliances are all new and, therefore, under a manufacturer's warranty for various time frames. Additionally, I have a home warranty that came with my closing. I'd never even heard of a 'home warranty' before. As far as I'm concerned is not named very well. I mean my 'home' isn't under warranty. If I decide I don't like it or it's not living up to my expectations, no one is going to fix that but all of my appliances and major pieces of equipment are covered under this warranty.

It's paid for through the end of this year and so far I've used it twice - first for my hot water heater several months ago and then this week when my AC stopped working. I looked up the cost to renew it next year and it's really not that much money and I can pay monthly. So I'm thinking this is a pretty good deal. All I do is pay a $75 service fee each time they have to come out to my home, which seems like nothing compared to the hundreds (I imagine) I'd spend if I paid for actual labor and parts.

But this week I felt like the warranty worked against me so I don't know what to do. Here's the scoop.

My AC has been working great. But I noticed an odd noise out of it a few weeks ago. The outside unit is right outside of my bedroom window and I would hear the blower going on and off quickly as I lay in bed going to sleep but the AC was still on in the house and keeping me cool. I didn't know if these sounds were unusual so I did what most of us do when we don't want to believe something is wrong - I ignored it.

Then one night, after babysitting Lucie, I came home to an 80 degree house. Thank goodness Buster was with me but clearly my AC was no longer working. It was too late to call anyone so we went to bed. It progressively got hotter over night and poor Buster and I (he was panting and I was tossing and turning) didn't get much sleep as it got up to 86 and the sun hadn't even come out yet.

I made an early phone call to my home warranty company and they came out to fix it by lunchtime. Of course there was a bigger need than the quick fix they were able to provide but I had AC, again, and was happy (and cool). The additional work required the repairman to call the warranty company to see if they would approve it. Shockingly, they said 'no', under the pretense that the issue was due to installation and, therefore, not their problem.

First of all, how do they possibly know this? Were they here when it was installed? Second of all, who cares? I've been living here for 9 months and the problem is now! But they didn't care and it would cost me hundreds of dollars to fix.

Thankfully, I know someone in the AC business and I called and talked to him. He assured me that it wasn't necessary to fix this issue (honestly it's too complicated to explain but it involves a valve that's stuck). Apparently this valve isn't necessary and he told me not to pay anyone to fix it and he would come take a look in a few weeks when things calmed down (AC companies are very busy in Austin in the summer).

So while I'm frustrated with my warrant company I'm happy to have connections that can help me make these big decisions.

So, my next (hopefully) big decision is if I want to keep the home warranty in 2011. As I've gotten older I'm much more in the mentally of 'being prepared' rather than 'taking chances' that I was before. But being prepared still costs money. Thoughts?

In the meantime, I feel like my AC is working better than ever. And with our 100+ degree temperatures I'm very grateful for that.

What I've Been Up To

My mom visited about a week ago. She tries to come to Austin every few months to see my niece, which works out well for me. We gave Chris and Missy some time off and babysat my niece, took her shopping and watched her play. I'm pretty sure she's cooler than me.....

Then I left for a five day trip to San Francisco. I was going there for work but added on a day to my trip to see one of my closest friends, Jenn, her husband and two kids. Jenn and I have known each other since we were kids and her husband, Tom, also went to high school with us. Being with them is like being with family - in all the good ways. It's easy and you feel right at home. It reminds me how lucky I am to have such great friends across the world and from all different parts of my life.

She has two adorable boys - Jack and Ben - and we made the most of being outside. The temps were in the 50s but I was thrilled! It's over 100 in Texas now so anything below 80 feels good to me.

Sadly, it took me a long time to get back to Austin. I had some lengthy flight delays and arrived home at 2am today. I'm so grateful today was a Sunday so I'd have one day to recover and get ready for a full work week. My next trip takes me to NYC. So I can't complain too much - work does take me to cool places. But nothing beats coming home (note: this awning doesn't actually exist above my home but we saw it in San Francisco and couldn't resist taking a picture).