Happy 30th Birthday to ME!!!

Happy Birthday to ME!! Today I turned 30 years young. It really crept up on me. It's almost funny how unprepared I was for my own birthday. One would think that on such a big birthday occassion as this, I would be ready to celebrate and make a big deal out of the event. The truth is, it surprised the hell out of me. I made no real plans other than dinner with my sister & brother-in-law. No parties, no gifts... no real celebration of any kind. But I am not at all bummed out. I will be celebrating for teh next 3 1/2 months as I travel around the world. I'm going to think of Semester at Sea as my birthday present.

In a sense, I did get a gift in the mail today. I got notification from Semester at Sea that I got all of the trips I applied for. I am SOO stoked b/c I was really specific and careful about the trips I selected. So now I know I am going to be checking out Rio for Carnival, going on a tented safari in South Africa's Kwazulu-Natal Game Reserve, visiting Cambodia & Angkor Wat when I visit Vietnam, and checking out some awesome sites in Puerto Rico. How lucky am I?!?! Now I can start planning my sky diving adventure in Cape Town. That's my real 30-year old present.

I'm only 5 days away from boarding a plane and beginning my journey. I can't believe the time has almost arrived. I've spent the last few weeks obsessing about all the details and worrying about so many aspects of the trip. Somehow, this past weekend, I stopped freaking out about everything. I'm juuuust about ready to go. All the stomache butterflies must have crept out my bellybutton while I slept, b/c I'm starting to feel pretty zen about everything.

My dining room table is practically breaking under the weight of all the things I need to somehow fit into my luggage. I am going to start praying to the travel Gods to help me get everything to the Bahamas. Heck, if it can snow in Arizona (as it did in Tucson two days ago) then I am sure that I'll get all my chonies to Nassau!!

Love to you all!
-D