When you find pieces of your childhood in an antique shop

This past weekend, Scott and I were perusing an antique store in Greenville, in pursuit of some small, unique decorating items. I'm not usually a big fan of antique stores, but we've recently found some good finds and I'm all about reusing things, rather than buying more stuff.

As we were looking, we came across the old book section and the black-and-white checkered spine of one book caught my eye. I pulled it out and - to my disbelief - it was a book of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes...the same exact copy I had growing up as a child. I used to love that book - with it's black and white cover, colored illustrations inside, funny rhymes. I was so close to purchasing this copy.

We kept looking and came across the toy section - and there, on the shelf, was the same Fisher Price musical box I had as a kid. You turned the dial and it played a song, as a window showed a revolving picture of bears on a picnic. They say smell is one of the strongest senses, but I would argue so is sound. I haven't heard that song in probably 25 years, but I immediately began humming along with the tune.

So when do you know you're officially old? I would say when you find pieces of your childhood in an antique shop.

A hop, skip and a jump over the pond

Today I leave for London and Paris! While most of the week in London will be spent doing actual work, we should have some time to enjoy the food and sights. Paris is purely for fun. I figured I flew 7 hours to get to Europe, I might as well enjoy things while I'm there.

The exciting thing is that the Tour de France will end in Paris on Sunday. I'm sure it'll be a mad house, but I'm thrilled to be able to watch it. We'll be squirming our way through the crowd, with cameras held high to catch the bikers on their final push home. Hopefully I'll get some good shots.

It's amazing, but it's been 7 years since I've been to Europe (wow, that makes me sound old). When I graduated college, my friend, Lindsey, and I backpacked for about a month through Europe, starting in London, circling around, and ending in Paris. My French has definitely rusted since then so I'm a little nervous about navigating around Paris, but I'm also excited to be back in two of my favorite European cities!

Enjoy the week!

When did I become old?

Reason #6: I was reading CNN.com today and came across the following story: New Kids on the Block Reuniting. In a nutshell, the NKOTB (New Kids on the Block) are getting back together, creating new music together. That, in itself, wasn't such a big deal, but the following statement in the article turned my blood cold:

The boy band New Kids on the Block, which sold 70 million albums in the 1980s and early '90s, has reunited and plans to release a new album and go on tour. The reunion comes 20 years after the release of the group's multiplatinum album, "Hangin' Tough."

I bolded the phrase in question. Twenty years? They had to be mistaken. So I quickly did the math...I'm 28 years old (going on 29), which would have made me eight or nine when the album came out, which would have put me in 4th grade. Yep, that's about right.

Twenty years? Seriously? I feel so old.

Babies, babies everywhere and not a bite to eat

Why is everyone suddenly mating?

Two of my high school friends had the fruits of that mating come into the world recently, and I have to say, they are pretty cute babies. First came Martha and Patrick's baby (and who even knew that she was carrying a baby because she gained, like, 0.56 ounces during her entire pregnancy?). Here's a picture of Baby Owen:

And then came Baby Xavier, Jeff and Karen's baby. He's pretty precious, too, wouldn't you agree? My friends make pretty cute babies.

Too bad I'm not around these little babies, because they are so cute, I want to eat them up (see previous post). Yes, they are that yummy.

And now my friend, Alison, just told me that her sister is pregnant!

That brings me to reason #486 that I'm getting old: What is that wise proverb? Oh, yes. First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes the baby in the baby carriage. The wedding crush is peetering out, and now the crush of little babies is making its way. Pretty soon, we'll be getting graduation announcements from these babies!

Congratulations to X and O and to the four proud new parents!

When did I become old?

Sign #5: We are doing some research for American Eagle, whose target market is girls ages 15-25. Part of the study required the girls to test some new underwear fabric and they had to go online to rate the different undies that they tried. In order to increase the number ofrespondents who took the online questionnaire, we gave them a call to remind them about the study and to encourage them to go online.

The first number I called didn't ring. No, it played. That's right, I finally got to experience the new cell phone hype of having a song play to the dialer, instead of a ring tone. Avril Lavigne was the artist of choice. I almost hung up, totally confused, until I suddenly put it all together. Then I dialed another number. This time, a message came on, at least warning me to "enjoy the music while we connect your call." Then a band came on that I never even heard of.

Ah yes. The digital age, where not only do we have to wear our ipod headphones while walking from the car to the mall entrance, but we also get to hear music while we dial our friends' cell phones.

When did I become old?

Sign #4: I totally don't get the new Sprite Sublymonal ads. I just saw a new one in the movie theatre last weekend (when did they start showing non-stop commercials in the theatres?) and it felt like a bad acid trip. It was "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" meets "Eyes Wide Shut". I just don't get them.

Click here to see other signs I'm getting old.

When did I become old?

Sign #1: "Death Cab for Cutie" (one of my favorite bands) and "Franz Ferdinand" (one of my new favorite bands) came to Duke a few weeks ago. My hubby and I went to the concert, possibly being the only two married people there, and had a great time at the concert. Yeah, the bands were really good, but the best part was the running commentary between us about the college-age girls and their wardrobe. I'm not being catty, but either college girls have gotten a lot larger since I was in college (which wasn't THAT long ago), or they're wearing skimpier things today that show off their fat rolls. Back in my day, girls didn't dress so slutty.

Sign #2: At this same concert, during one of "Death Cabs" slower songs, the entire stadium filled with light. Light from lighters? No, light from cell phones. Hundreds and hundreds of cell phones. When did this become a trend? I can't wait until the day when it'll become cool again to use the lighter...it'll be so retro then!

Sign #3: As I've written before, I'm on a softball team, comprised of about 12 grad school students. Within the four weeks we've been playing, we've had groin injuries, arm injuries, and baseball-in-the-face injuries. Either we're all out of shape, or our bodies are getting old...or both.

I try to stay hip. I try to stay on top of the latest trends. I don't want to be the old mom one day that doesn't know how the work the ipod or know what TiVo is (both of which I've had to explain to MY mom). But slowly, I'm starting to see signs that I'm getting old. I need Ponce de Leon to come through for me!