Friends, I’m thirty! I’ve been so busy preparing for two work trips that I have coming up that I haven’t had a moment to think about how I want to celebrate this day. I’m writing at my dining table. Baby girl is asleep and my boy is at preschool. The house is a mess from our efforts to declutter. It’s cold outside. The rain from last night’s drizzle froze into thin sheets of ice on our car, yet despite this cold, I’m pretty adamant about wearing loafers so my feet freeze every time I step outside. I have a habit of not dressing my feet appropriately for the winter well, because style over function. Some things don’t change. I was reminded about the little ways in which I haven’t changed when I went to the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago for an early birthday celebration. My sister was with me and once we walked in, she started quoting The Factory Girl. We watched this movie dozens of times when we were in high school. We laughed at the memories. We trash-talked Edie Swedgwick’s friend Chuck Wein. Some things don’t change. 

Whether it is the fear of physical changes or the change of a woman’s image in society, many women fear leaving their twenties behind. With my turning thirty, I’m looking forward to the changes that are ahead and my experience at the Warhol exhibit reminded me that I’m still me. My obsession with Warhol’s work and collecting everything Andy Warhol began in high school. I had numerous Andy Warhol totes, hardly used. Two years ago, I Marie Kondo-ed my stuff and said “Thank You” and “Good-Bye” to my Andy Warhol totes. At the Art Institute museum shop, my eyes were on a tote and I felt my 18-year-old self eager to purchase it. It had black and white stripes on one side and the “Velvet Underground” banana on the front. I left the Art Institute with a tinge of regret but I also had in hand a Campbell’s Soup Can Memory Game that I was excited to play with my kid. So my Andy Warhol obsession is still healthily intact, but it’s no longer just about me. That’s what I’m looking forward to being in my thirties. The things that I care about: my work, my faith, my family, my hobbies and obsessions, the service I’m involved in, the space I occupy on this precious planet… all these things that make me who I truly am aren’t getting lost as I get older. As I grow and expand and care more about others, I’m finding that the changes only refine and increase my love for the things that have stayed the same. I’m looking forward to this decade and I’m so grateful you're on this journey with me!

I love the variety of colors when your scene changes. Which of these color palettes are you loving? I’m digging the third palette — love that foam green with the orange! Click on the image to see in full scale.