A New Year...A New Decade Ahead...And Some New Plans...

It has been awhile since I have had the opportunity to sit down and really write a decent blog and for that I apologize, first to myself and second to any of you who have been feeling left out in reading about what I've been up to here.

For those of you who don't know I turned 30 on August 1st. It was definitely an eventful week leading up to my birthday as both my parents flew in to visit me for my birthday and before I could even get them to the hotel for their first night together in town, the rear differential on my Jeep Grand Cherokee caught fire with all three of us inside...should you care to know more about that incident feel free to read about it over on my mother's blog...just keep in mind her telling is a little bit more dramatic than what actually occurred but it gives you a pretty good idea of what took place that night.

Since my car was out of commission after that (and is still to this day) mom and dad had to rent a car for the reminder of their time here. I had to work on my birthday and so did everyone I know here in town so after work that day I celebrated at home with my parents and a few co-workers by having a 30-minute, 30th Birthday Bash...the cake you see above was made by one of my co-workers and probably the best friend I have in Virginia, Amaree pictured here with Portia.

And let me tell you this was in all probability one of the greatest cakes I have ever tasted in my life. It was a two layer chocolate with chocolate chips cake with this chocolate fudge frosting...it literally had the consistency of Christmas Fudge...no lie. Amaree was afraid that it wouldn't turn out since it was her first time making a cake like this, but as my buddy Canada would say it was: "GREAT SUCCESS!"

I will admit I have been a little frustrated this week not having my own source of transportation...Williamsburg is not exactly pedestrian friendly outside of the Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area. I suppose at this point a bicycle will be a wise investment for me and I have be searching Craig's List pretty regularly in search of the perfect road bike, although as far as grocery shopping and transporting Portia goes I am not so sure a bike is going to cut it. Here's to keeping my fingers crossed that the auto shop can fix my Jeep on the cheap!

I must also admit that I was not looking forward to turning 30 this year, nor was I looking forward to starting a new decade in life...the thing that for some reason bothered me the most was not being able to check the box 24-29 on applications or the visitor card at church...I must now check the box that just says 30. HOWEVER, I will admit now that my birthday has come and gone with very little fanfare and not as much drama as I had anticipated up until my birthday I will admit 30 isn't so bad. I have even taken the time to set a few short term goals for myself...I am not going to go into all of them at this point but I will share one that all of you can help to hold me accountable on:

As of tonight, I have applied to become a Professional Plus Member of the National Association of Interpreters where I will join the Cultural Interpretation and Living History Section of NAI. My goal is to become a certified NAI interpreter by August 1st, 2010. This is a huge step for me towards taking myself and my career as a Living History Professional seriously.

Some will say that joining NAI isn't necessary to what I do or to my career, however, if I wish to advance in my field this organization is one that will give me the tools to advance. Also, many sites that hire Living History Professionals either require NAI certification or highly desire it as part of the application process.

So as I begin this new decade of life in my 30's I look forward to the new adventures I shall take starting with this step to take my career and myself a little more seriously.