they give you your very own pair of wings...

The roaring twenties are coming to a screeching halt...actually I am going out of my twenties as gently as I came into them. I thought it would be interesting to look back on the last decade of my life as I brace to begin the next one...

People have been doing these posts on their blogs (like the lovely Kara) about what they are loving/not loving, listening to, reading, etc...I thought I'd take my own spin on that and do a list from my 20's.

A list from my twenties (or "What the heck was I...")

Reading:

I remember feeling like I was on-fire reading this book well into the night and early morning of 2004. It's still one of my top 5: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, read in 2008...I am as in love with Oscar as a narrator as I am with Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird).

I read the Twilight series in 2009 and it catapulted me back into the feverish type of reading for pleasure that I needed post grad school. (Plus they were pure unadulterated fun).

I also read a slew of Women's Studies books in my early twenties while I was struggling to define how I felt personally and politically when it comes to being a gal. My favorite to this day is Sister Outsider, by Audre Lorde, specifically The Transformation of Silence essay.

Listening to:

I am more than a little boring when it comes to music I suppose. This is mainly because I can listen to the same album for an entire decade if I like it. My tastes are rock solid, they don't change. The artists that I've loved throughout my 20's were (are)

The Counting Crows (I saw them in concert twice in my 20s, This Desert Life & Hard Candy tour...in St. Louis both time)

Ani Difranco -- moreso in my earlier 20s, but even now

Patty Griffin (she is going to be like the crows and be a forever-type of love)

I loved listening to K's Choice, when I would take long spring afternoon naps as a college freshman at Cloud County and in my dorm room at KSU as a sophomore, and Dashboard Confessionals spent a lot of time on my car cd player during grad school.

Quirky soundtracks: Clueless, Elizabethtown, Garden State, In Good Company, (500) days of Summer

New things toward the end of the decade are Missy Higgins, Kate Nash, Regina Spektor & Rufus Wainwright & Ryan Adams

Thinking: things that rocked my world (in a loosely time-specific order & completely honest fashion):

my first "heartbreak", that awful 2000 election, a terrible car accident, my 21st b-day, losing my uncle Dave, Annika, Georgia the dog, getting close to my sister, 9/11, co-organizing a peace rally, when Mindy died, my 22nd b-day, my 23rd b-day, getting my bachelors degree, Bre moves to Salina, my 24th b-day, going to the Broncos game in Denver for Monday night FB where the slaughtered the KC Cheifs, my 25th b-day, getting engaged & then married, my 26th b-day, my first niece,starting a blog, writing a play, my divorce, my friends beautiful marriages, the tragic deaths of two of my hs classmates, going brunette going to graduate school, meeting Martha, Jemmie, Lisa & Sarah (among others), producing the play I wrote, my 27th birthday, my friends beautiful babies (Haley, Kaden, Brie, Adam, Greyson, Hannah) getting my masters degree, meeting keenan, the tour, my 28th b-day, Philly, Maxx, Vegas, moving to kansas city, the election of Barack Obama, my 29th b-day, going to NYC, losing my Grammy, earning my RDT, getting close to my dad, my first nephew, my grandpa being dx'd with terminal cancer, cutting bangs, still leaning on Kate, Whit, Em, Nellie & Bran as much as when I was 18...

Desperately Wanting (all that stuff I had to have):

President's Honor Roll, a camera, new running shoes, scrapbook supplies, a computer, Bogey's cheesecake shakes, Chipotle veggie burrito bowls, a cell phone, a new car, a big love, a raincoat, a phone call, a career, time with my family, a 4.0 GPA, Willow Tree angels, things emblazoned with my initial, things emblazoned with Bre's initial, anything with Audrey Hepburn on it, good water pressure, hot boyfriend, girlfriend time, planning the perfect baby shower for friends, Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate, a vacation, books, empathy, smart boyfriend, a puppy, a laptop, the right words, a new digital camera, Autism Awareness, an IPOD, owls, new running shoes, sweet husband, little baby, beautiful career, being published, time with my family, compassion, a newer car, cupcakes, consideration, as ever, world peace...

Watching on the small screen:

Six Feet Under * House, MD * LOST * Grey's Anatomy (the first season) * Desperate Housewives (the first season) * Guiding Light * Survivor * Big Brother * Medium * The Office *

Loving on the big screen:

Almost Famous * The Contender * A Beautiful Mind * Chicago * Mystic River * Pieces of April * The Aviator * Hotel Rwanda * Million Dollar Baby * Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind * The Life of David Gale * Finding Neverland * Capote * Junebug * Walk the Line * Elizabethtown * Notes on a Scandal * 21 Grams * Babel * Little Miss Sunshine * Gone Baby Gone * Little Children* Juno * Milk * Slumdog Millionaire * The Dark Knight * (500) Days of Summer * Julie & Julia * Brothers * A Single Man

title courtesy of Counting Crows: August & Everything After