some thoughts on age 28

welp, there's just about a week left before i turn 29, and i've been reflecting and all that crap because i guess that's just what you do when you're marching slowly towards death (and age 30). sorry, that was #dark. 28 was an interesting -- mostly good -- age; i've joked that it was the year of my slightly delayed quarter-life crisis, which is mostly false, but not compleeeetely false. anyways!

WHAT HAPPENED:

i ...

• walked away from a condo deal because the house had electrical issues, and the sellers (who were also my future neighbors) were insane scientologists
• bolt-bussed it to NYC for governors ball and rediscovered the brilliance of the strokes
• went to quebec city with my family and ate my weight in croissants, poutine, and bison cheek
• started watching that terrible reality show "rising star" and fell in cougar lust with jesse kinch
• took a day trip to portsmouth NH with my friend sue and bought chocolate red wine, which is simply delightful when poured over chocolate ice cream
• began dating a seemingly super-polite dude who was obsessed with the insanity workout that wined and dined me, took me to see panic! at the disco, came over for pizza and palo alto and then ghosted me
• simultaneously started dating another asshole because i thought he was really hot and had great taste in music and a chill demeanor and did a surfer-dude impression that made me giggle 
• mourned the end of my grandpa's amazing 101-year run on this earth
• conquered martha's vineyard with sue and decided i want to live in one of the gingerbread houses someday
• finished my book proposal
• got red balayage highlights in my hair
• took my first business trip for a conference in indianapolis, where i got to see mindy kaling speak, high-fived the lead singer of the script, and realized that will.i.am is nuts
• went on a family road trip to wilmington, nc and was pretty unimpressed except for the whole dawson's creek claim to fame
• saw 7,000 barrels of bourbon at a distillery in virginia and wanted to go swimming in them
• dined at a bar by myself for the first time 
• won tickets to a private concert with gavin rossdale, my first rock star crush
• missed my 10-year high school reunion because a snowstorm knocked the power out in NH on the day before thanksgiving, rendering me homeless-looking
• spent christmas with my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, watching the interview and new girl episodes and eating/drinking/laughing a lot
• went on a date with a guy who didn't listen to music :( :( :(
• sobbed uncontrollably at the parenthood finale
• nearly died trying to walk to the dunkin' donuts next door to my apartment during the 3rd snowpocalypse storm (ok, so i just fell down in the snow)
• got a tattoo of a cheeseburger
• finally won at bar trivia, and two weeks in a row at that!
• decided to be, uhhhh, *friends* with aforementioned asshole, because YOLOOOO
• felt super liberated by the whole thing until a totally fated, totally awful run-in on public transportation left me feeling like a piece of dog crap and rightfully slammed the door on that sitch for good
• met up with gleni in vegas, got wasted on chocolate martinis, and hung out with old dudes
• saw a bunch of great live music: catfish & the bottlemen, king tuff, the new pornographers, the barbazons, juliana hatfield, hallelujah the hills, and walk off the earth!

WHAT I LEARNED/WAS REMINDED OF:

• knob & tube electrical wiring is the worst. avoid at all costs.
• french-canadians are so friggin' chic.
• you shouldn't give a shit about someone who doesn't give a shit about you.
• related: TRUST YO' GUT, even when your heart/ego/loins want to ignore it.
• also related: BE BREEZY.
• while it's not ideal, you can totally experience martha's vineyard in a day.
• on second thought, snow is actually worse than knob & tube wiring.
• tattoos don't hurt. like, at all.
• vegas is magic.
• whiskey is magic, too.
• it's no coincidence that "tinder" and "terrible" start with the same letter.
• if you can't find someone to join you for something you want to do, just go by yourself! it's fine.
• the universe always knows better than you do. learn to listen to it.
• liz phair's 1993 album exile in guyville is still just as relevant to 20-something women as it was 22 years ago.
• YOLOOOO (that's right).

assuming you're not a young'n, what was 28 like for you?