“The perfect shirt to wear while sipping on a pina colada, counting your millions!”

This is just in case you have been hankerin’ for some of grandpa’s fried chicken, Jan’s chicken salad, Julie’s carbonara, Kim’s chicken and rice, Laurie’s taco salad, grandma’s lasagna, my strawberry champagne punch or Dee’s…Dee’s…Dee’s inspiring words.

“How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.”

- Oscar Wilde

(23 days!)

I just really wanted to tell everyone THANK YOU for making my 30th the greatest birthday ever!

I’m now 30 and one day old. Still loving life! Here is how I spent my 30th birthday:

My celebrating started on Friday, I took the day off and met up with Grandma & Grandpa for lunch and then headed to Williamsburg to the Coach outlet. Yep, found a cute bag(s)! Got back into town, got flowers from Mom & Tim, went shoe shopping and hung out with Drea, Tia & Kari.

Saturday, woke up to a doorbell and flowers outside the door from The Leepers. Had lunch with the fam (Tim, Mom & Chad) at Manhattan Deli, delicious. Then I headed to my spa day that Kari planned, it was amazing. We got our own room and Kari brought awesome snacks. We (Kari, Tia, Drea & Jen) all got different services. I got a wonderful massage and an hour long pedicure. It was great hanging out and getting pampered. After the spa we headed to Derek & Kari’s house for cake and drinks. Kari got me, of course, a fantastic champagne cake. And then the boys, who just got back from Omaha, joined us and we heard about their very amazing and inspiring weekend. Then off to dinner, to my fav, Dish and I was a little turned off at first by the loud music and weird standing-up crowd, but after a drink I was singing along to Pure Prairie League too. Had a great dinner with Craig & Tia, Ando & Jen, Derek & Kari and then went to Good Sons to finish off the night, met up with Brother and his date. Headed home to find flowers and a balloon from Dad & Brenda. And that ended my birthday. A relaxing, fun and perfect Nicole weekend!

Side note: Nick was of course the amazing boyfriend, the minute he got back into town Saturday he made my birthday fudge, surprised me with awesome jewelry, a trip to Kansas City and a hilarious card.

Today I turned 30. I’m saying goodbye to my twenties and I’m perfectly ok with that. My twenties were not easy. They were full of discovery, hardships and mistakes. I was completely clueless for most of my twenties. I was such a kid. However, my twenties did have many bright spots: I graduated college (finally), I got out of debt, I got to travel to amazing places, I met and befriended some awesome people, I gained another family and most importantly I fell for the nicholas.

I look towards my thirties, hopeful and excited. It seems like each decade gets a little easier and I’m really seeing who I am and what I stand for. I’m finally starting to really like me. That sounds strange, but I’m beginning to accept my faults and love my strengths. I am Nicole. I’m not perfect, I am awkward, I hate camping, I love men’s cologne, I enjoy fruity cocktails, I laugh at my own jokes, I won’t walk evie by myself (in fear of being kidnapped) but I’ll walk around San Francisco by myself, I love puns, I love the Tudor era, I am so many weird things and I like that.

So here is one of my favorite cliche e-mail chain letters (i just love it):

“Children of the eighties” by unknown

We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak. We are the ones who played with Lego Building Blocks when they were just building blocks and gave Malibu Barbie crewcuts with safety scissors that never really cut.

We collected Garbage Pail Kids and Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little Ponies and Hot Wheels and He-Man action figures and thought She-Ra looked just a little bit like I would when I was a woman. Big Wheels and bicycles with streamers were the way to go, and sidewalk chalk was all you needed to build a city. Imagination was the key. It made the Ewok Treehouse big enough for you to be Luke and the kitchen table and an old sheet dark enough to be a tent in the forest. Your world was the backyard and it was all you needed. With your pink portable tape player, Debbie Gibson sang back up to you and everyone wanted a skirt like the Material Girl and a glove like Michael Jackson’s.

Today, we are the ones who sing along with Bruce Stringsteen and The Bangles perfectly and have no idea why. We recite lines with the Ghostbusters and still look to The Goonies for a great adventure. We flip through T.V. stations and stop at The A Team and Knight Rider and Fame and laugh with The Cosby Show and Family Ties and Punky Brewster and what you talkin’ ’bout Willis? We hold strong affections for The Muppets and The Gummy Bears and why did they take the Smurfs off the air? After school specials were only about cigarettes and step-families, the Pokka Dot Door was nothing like Barney, and aren’t the Power Rangers just Voltron reincarnated?

We are the ones who still read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, Beverly Clearly and Judy Blume, Richard Scary and the Electric Company. Friendship bracelets were ties you couldn’t break and friendship pins went on shoes - preferably hightop Velcro Reebox - and pegged jeans were in, as were Units belts and layered socks and jean jackets and jams and charm necklaces and side pony tails and just tails. Rave was a girl’s best friend; braces with colored rubberbands made you cool.

The backdoor was always open and Mom served only red Kool-Aid to the neighborhood kids- never drank New Coke. Entertainment was cheap and lasted for hours. All you needed to be a princess was high heels and an apron; the Sit’n'Spin always made you dizzy but never made you stop; Pogoballs were dangerous weapons and Chinese Jump Ropes never failed to trip someone. In your Underoos you were Wonder Woman or Spider Man or R2D2 and in your treehouse you were king.

In the Eighties, nothing was wrong. Did you know the president was shot? Star Wars was not only a movie. Did you ever play in a bomb shelter? Did you see the Challenger explode or feed the homeless man? We forgot Vietnam and watched Tiananman’s Square on CNN and bought pieces of the Berlin Wall at the store. AIDS was not the number one killer in the United States. We didn’t start the fire, Billy Joel.

In the Eighties, we redefined the American Dream, and those years defined us. We are the generation in between strife and facing strife and not turning our backs. The Eighties may have made us idealistic, but it’s that idealism that will push us and be passed on to our children - the first children of the twenty-first century. Never forget: We are the children of the Eighties.