With each aging year, I get this paranoia that at some point, there's a singular moment of transition, where I'll officially become mature, and begin to resemble this embodiment of what an "adult" is supposed to be.  That at some point, it'll be no longer be acceptable to wear Dragon Ball Z shirts, collect action figures and have a drink at 8am.

That paranoia eventually subsides, especially when I'm among friends who are not only older and wiser than me, but are also effortlessly cool and free spirited.

For me, the significance of my birthday, is a mere excuse to interrupt the busy lives of family and friends, to gather, eat, share stories and laugh.

So, as I sip on my second Irish Coffee, for breakfast, in no particular order.. here are 34 thoughts now that I'm 34.  (HOW AWESOME is it that the Buena Vista is now at SFO?)

34.  People meandering through airports are much more polite and considerate than once they're on the plane.
33. 90% of my travel plans, meeting with people plans and life plans surround the consumption of food
32. I've seen  the quality of my work, both in photography and design, increase immensely, purely because I had good people willing to tell me when my stuff was pure shit.
31.  The older I get, the more I realize that a lot of the good stuff about me, came from my mom.
30. I still find it weird, how crazy people go over free stuff.
29. I should hand write letters to my friends more (sorry friends)
28. Every so often, I get awkward rude awakenings of my mortality, and express to my friends my fear of death.. sometimes over a dessert or after a movie.
27. I can't believe how incredible some of the people in my life are, and the equally incredible life experiences they have had.
26. I know I'm not old.  But I swear I'm being honest when I say my hip and knee hurts :P
25. My mom was right, I don't enjoy clubbing anymore.
24.  I still love electronica music and I probably do listen to my music too loud.
23. Social media is amazing, our phones are amazing, tech is amazing.
22. I miss working on my own car.
21. I'm thankful to have learned how to travel light.  3 weeks w/ a carryon, beats lugging around a giant luggage.
20. Learning to love and trust was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
19.  Sticking to my guns on what I wanted to do in life, truly paid off.  I've met the most awesome people.
18. I thought fixing my deviated septum would fix my snorting and snoring.. it didn't.
17. I never thought I'd love squats almost as much as I love deadlifts.
16. There are very few things in life, that being strong doesn't fix.
15.  A lot of what I love about lifting, is a metaphor for life struggles.  Doing something, that was thought to be undoable before.
14.  When I write about food, It's usually less about the food and more about the stories behind the people that eat it and the people that make it.
13. To me.. success isn't how much money you make, it's the freedom to love what you do and do it out of choice.
12. Popcorn and bubble tea are still my favorite foods.
11. It's a beautiful life, and none of us make it out alive.
10. I feel really fortunate to have parents and step parents, that love me the way they do, and all to have taken part in raising me.
9. Loving somebody is the most exhilarating and also frightening thing.
8. This is my first time traveling with my American passport
7. I will vote.
6. Every year, including this year, my goals are to eat new things, travel to new places and see more things.
5. I summit my first mountain this year. It was small in comparison to many, but to me, it was monumental.
4. Waking up at 7am is too early.
3. Most hate it, but I love seeing people in love.
2. On to the connecting flight, and am glad for this moment of reflection.
1. Someone told me, that so many of the great things in life, happen because we said yes to something.  (get your mind out of the gutter :P ).

To everyone that took even a second out of their day to wish me a happy birthday, thank you so much! It really does mean the world.