Meanwhile, back at the Bat Cave...

What was I doing all that time I was away from my blog?

Well, I:

...participated in the Mighty Texas Dog Walk with 'Stache. So much fun; took my dog and Platinum - and she walked the entire thing with me! That's a long distance for a 5-year old. We turned around just a bit before the midpoint, but we still completed about 4/5 of the 5k.
...met some men. More on that later, really.
...lightened my hair to a strawberry blonde.
...broke up with someone. There will NOT be more on that later.
...ended my first year of teaching.
...decided to start saving to get a new car by December.
...turned 31. Acted like a 21 year old that night :-)
...bought some very, very nice shoes and handbags. I almost blogged about that the day I bought them - I'm that into shoes that they inspire me to reach for the keyboard, all the while ignoring any semblance of deep thought.
...went on a vacation to an island with my family.
...came back with a blistering sunburn from said island trip.
...pretended to be a proctologist named Dr. Anita Manda Cuppenpoke for a P Party. What's a P Party, you ask? Everyone comes dressed as something beginning with, you guessed it, the letter P. It was a good time for sure, but not quite the highlight of my partying month. My birthday night out gets that honor, hands down ;-)
...conquered a mild fear of the ocean, and boats on the ocean.
...was contacted by, I kid you not, 4 ex boyfriends. Well, the term "boyfriend" is used loosely here. Three of them were men that I had dated briefly (2-4 dates) last year, one was someone with a bit more significance. After talking to Christmas, I was reminded of a rather obvious bit of wisdom that I have chosen to ignore repeatedly as of late. Exes are exes for a reason, and that reason is virtually always present regardless of how much time has passed. I should tattoo this on my forearm for reference.
...met a man at a bar. I know, I know, I know...cliche and awful sounding, right? It gets worse (and yet, in some ways, better - even pretty good). I'll just let your imaginations run wild with this one. Three of my closest girlfriends know allllllll about it :-) Let's just say, Jerry Springer would have been proud of the aftermath.

I'm going to end this post on that high note. I'll expand on a few of the events another time, because they are worth exploring in order to sharpen my perspective...and, they're pretty damn funny.