woke up this morning, was given a proper birthday kiss, and many birthday wishes. just before he is heading out the door, he looks at me and says, (already smirking), “you do look a little older today, babe.” at which point, i look at him and say, “i’m sorry for what i’m about to do,” and promptly punch him in the face.

after checking the mirrors for wrinkles, gray hairs and any other signs of old age, i tried to go back to sleep. after numerous attempts, i had to get up. every time i fell back asleep, i kept falling back into the same dream. i was back in high school social studies class taking a test.

and apparently i know nothing about the egyptians.

i was on the verge of repeatedly failing my test. so obviously, i had to start cheating. failure is not only unacceptable in life, but apparently also in my dreams. and then (in my dream, and in real life) i started sweating. then just when my best friend was secretly providing me all the answers i didn’t know, i’d wake up. again, sweating. (side note: if i’m going to wake up sweating, i prefer it to be for something worthwhile).

so anyway, i dont know what significance this dream has, if any. but i really hope it doesnt mean im gonna get stranded in egypt next. because i’m clearly out of my comfort zone there. to my knowledge, volcanic ash has not been reported affecting any regions in egypt. however, this knowledge did not stop me from checking to make sure my layover in the states hadn’t been switched to somewhere in egypt. it didn’t.

first lesson as a member of the 25 club: if you ever get on “who wants to be a millionaire?”, make sure your phone-a-friend is someone who has a vast knowledge of the egyptian culture.

so one of my fav bloggers is in charge of judging this contest: 

enter the shower april with colors contest to win your favorite pair of hunter boots! www.beso.com

once you get to the site, you have to choose your color, and then tell them why you picked that color. the explanation: “color is inspiration. it can liven up an outfit or a mood in an instant. it can also reveal so much about someone’s personality.” i found this to be wildly more interesting than just any old internet contest. and some of the responses were really good. i chose the beige hunter boots, and here’s why:

I can understand why some would think beige is a dull color, and similarly, why they’d think that anybody who would choose beige is a dull person. However, I think of beige in a completely different way, and therefore have no problem with people putting myself and beige in the same “category,” if you will. Beige is a color that literally goes with anything. I like to think that my personality is like the color beige. Like beige, my personality tends to go with anything…any situation…any conversation…any change in plans…and most importantly…any outfit. Beige, like myself, has the potential to make a really bold statement all the time, but instead chooses to do so carefully, and thoughtfully…so as not to “wear out its welcome,” unlike hot pink, turquoise or perhaps a bright hue of purple, where standing out in the crowd is much more deliberate and obvious, and takes very little effort to pull off.

Where others argue that beige is boring, I would counter that argument by saying that beige is the balance to any situation.

even if i don’t win… this exercise of thinking about things in such an obscure way was strangely liberating amidst a crazy day filled with a million straightforward (read: boring) details at work. i guess it just goes to show you…sometimes things are strictly black and white. and sometimes things are beige.

is it starting to make sense yet? the status quo. the way things are now. the condition or state of affairs that currently exists.

people participate in documenting “the status quo” all the time. and they do it by answering some very basic questions. in conversation, they answer, “what’s up?” on facebook, they answer “what’s on your mind?” on twitter, they answer, “what’s happening?” facebook and twitter are tools meant to collect and report back on the status quo. the way things are now. for millions and millions of individuals. who, perhaps without realizing it, are living in the moment. the moment when they stop everything they’re doing and tune out everything around them to report what they are doing. in the now. in that moment. to report how they are living life.

when you think about it, there is a strong connection between the status updates of an individual and the days of a person’s life.  there are millions of status updates. there are millions of people. there are people who clearly put time and thought into their status updates. there are people who clearly put time and thought into every moment of their day. but the next day, the previous status updates are gone. the next day, the previous day is gone. a whole new wave of statuses appear. a whole new day of opportunities appear. you are the one who has to look back and evaluate if the time you put into your status update was worth it (how many comments, likes, retweets did it yield). and you are the one who has to look back and evaluate if you got the most out of every minute of your day. if what you put into your status update, your day, was memorable.

for some, the status quo changes. with every status update. with every day. because they put in the time. they make the decision to live life. differently. better. with each word they type, and each day that they breathe. and people are living their lives. hopefully different than the day before. and different than tomorrow. that’s interesting stuff.

so after much consideration of this connection with the days of your life and status updates, this blog seemed like the way for me to talk about all the ways i’m learning to embrace “the more routine, the less life” approach. how i’m learning to break outside the status quo. because the status quo cannot simply be decided against; action must be taken if it is to change. if your life is to change. if your life will be everything you want it to be. everything but ordinary.

but a lot of people are doing this on their blogs, right? so i thought… my life, my stories, might be more interesting when told through the status updates of myself and the status updates of so many others. people that i see taking the time to live each moment of every day to its fullest. and let’s face it, people who invest the time to write a status update that is representative of living life, not complaining about it.

simply put, this is my life. told through the in-the-moment memos of myself and many others. the status updates that make up the status quo.

enjoy the ride… i know i will.

i live a pretty random life. a pretty crazy one. and a lot of people think so. but the people who really know me get it. they get that my life, in every sense, is a representative for everything i stand for as a person, in the truest sense. i live for adventure. i live for new people. i live for random situations. i live for untried challenges. i live for tough choices. i live for the head-over-heels kind of love. i live for disappointment. i live. simply put. i LIVE. for the moment. for every moment. for right now.

over the years, i’ve seen so many people who are not living. and these are the people who have the hardest time making sense of my life. understandable. some people need a plan. can’t live without one. whether it’s a life plan, a five-year plan, or a plan for the next hour of the day. me, i don’t have plans. which is weird seeing that i’m an event planner by day. but on a personal level, i believe plans take the life out of living. you’ve heard the saying, “the more routine, the less life.” great saying. i know there are people out there who think i am crazy. someone once even used the word “trainwreck.” i get that. i don’t have a plan. but to these people, i say, you can keep making plans. you can keep making plans for your day, for the next five years, for your life. and meanwhile, i’ll be living mine. with no plans. and with no regrets.

some people say it better than me. like author, john green, in his novel, looking for alaska. “you spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. you just use the future to escape the present.”

and this is the whole reason for me starting this blog. because i never, not for a minute, want to escape the present. in my eyes, you should celebrate the things you’ve done in your life. take pride in them. instead of feeling disappointed because they don’t align with some plan you made x number of years ago.