Here's to 36 years!

Well it is that time again, the time that some dread, others look forward to, and most just ignore. Today is my birthday! Yes, here I am a grand ol' 36 years old. Often I refer to that number as "29 again" but really, I don't look my age so it does not really matter except in a joking manner.

As I reflect over my 36 years I have to reflect on the triumphs, experiences, and mistakes made. Some of the best and worst still are effecting my life today. My choices in life brought me to where I am today and made me the person I am. I have to say, I really do love myself! I do not say that in an egotistical way, but in an appreciation to everything I have done to get me to this point.

While I have been blessed with a mostly awesome family (a few need to pull their heads out of their asses and realize some things about life and family), I have also been blessed with some really awesome friends too. Some have come and gone over the years. Some have left and I am glad, others I have been blessed to reconnect with this year (thank you FaceBook!). All in all, the people surrounding me are a blessing to me. They help to shape who I am. They help to keep my in line. They shoulder my needs at times and give me wonderful, uplifting words of wisdom. They accept me for all my faults and all my good attributes. Thank you to them!

Major things I have accomplished and done in the past 36 years? Well, here are the highlights of some of the coolest and most interesting and life-shaping things I have done:

1. Kindergarten - Yes, lame as it is, I learned to tie my shoes there (which I still use today unlike Algebra), socialize there, play well with others, and paint. MAJOR things I took from that first year of school.

2. Family camping trips - I learned (the hard way) what plants not to touch (like poison ivy/oak) and began a love for the outdoors and what it had to offer. You can probably couple this to my move to Utah which only enhanced my love of the outdoors and hiking. It too away the beach, but gave me Zion's National Park, one of my favorite places to spend a day to this day.

3. Cooking with mom and grandma - Yes, it all began there. My mom use to let me make my own scrabbled eggs after kindergarten as my lunch, a skill I still have today! LOL While I never progressed to open my dream restaurant (mind you I was like 13) Stephen John's, the foodie in my is still cooking and loving trying new foods and learning new skills. This year, the goal is to learn to make the things I love, but in a healthier way.

4. My mission - Odd as it sounds to some (and to others it is a surprise that such an anti-religious gay man did that), my stint as a Mormon missionary was one of the best experiences in my life. I learned so much about myself, other cultures, life outside the U.S., other religions, and keep many friends from that experience. I miss my other home of Slovenia and the people I love there.

5. College - Probably not in the same way as most. My college experience started in 1995 at the University of Utah. I completed exactly 5 classes there, dropped out, came out moved to Las Vegas, continued there off and on until graduating from UNLV in December of 2007. Not only did it teach me to not procrastinate, but also to follow through with things I start and that if I want to accomplish something, I can do it even in tough times. There I learned to voice my opinions no matter how unpopular they were because others can learn from it. I learned to listen and learn, but also to challenge things as part of the learning process. Who knows, maybe a Masters Degree might be in my future. We will see.

6. Hollywood Parties - Yes, thanks to a dear friend (which I won't mention in case he could get in trouble even after all these years), I was able to get into the Miramax parties at the time of the International Film Market 2 years in a row. It was awesome. Great food. Stars everywhere. High up industry people. I was even able to share it with my little brother. It was great times and awesome to remember.

7. Travel - maybe I have been blessed, or maybe I made my own destiny, but I have been blessed to see amazing places through travel with friends, family and on my own. Here is a quick rundown of places I have been in order from childhood (not including small domestic towns and not repeating multiple visits): LA, Las Vegas (lived there too), Alberta/Canada, Australia, Tahiti, Germany, Austria, Slovenia (lived there too), Italy, Croatia, Chicago, England, Scotland, Hungary, NYC, Hawaii, Dominican Republic, Austin (live there now). Places I still really want to go...Greece, Egypt, India, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Toronto, Alaska, Peru, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, Czech Republic, Turkey, Fiji, Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Iceland, New Zealand, and I am sure there are others I cannot think of off the top of my head.

8. Relationship - Yes, the one with Walter. While I could not tend to date anyone for more than 2 months (I don't believe in wasting my time with something I could not see going long term), I suddenly found Walter. It took 2 years for us to actually connect, but when we did well, here we are 9 year later! Can't say we have been perfect, but we have never gone to bed mad. I love him so very much and am blessed he is in my life.

9. Art - while it is a passion like cooking, like cooking, I do it mainly for my pleasure. This year, for the first time I have sold my artwork to someone other than friends. There are 2 people in the world that own something I did. It feels awesome. I need to pursue it further. Just getting the ducks in a row.

10. Jobs - while I have been everything from a bus boy, to a card dealer, a pit boss, to a sales manager, I have been blessed to have a job. Now it is time to settle in a career and that is my hunt this year. I love all the experience that makes me well rounded for all situations, but now is the time to focus. Hopefully I will be blessed with that in my 36th year!

Anyhow, just a few things that formed me over the past 36 years. I hope there are more and more exciting things I do in the future to continue shaping my being. Here's to 36 years of life!

I went to the grocery store...

OMG! I guess I have not been the a "regular" grocery store in about a year other than just a quick run in with friends to grab salad stuff and go. Last night started it and today just put me in awe again.

Walter and I have been shopping at farmers markets, natural grocers, and Costco since moving to Austin. I had not realized how long it had been since we had been to a regular chain store that is not "natural". Last night we had the task of buying dessert for a Project Runway viewing party. Not a hard request, at least we thought. We hit Randalls, a Safeway chain here in Austin. It was on the way and we figured it would be easy to find something. Oh were we surprised!

Quick backstory before I go further. For those who have not kept up with the blog, and maybe to those who need it all spelled out, Walter and I are attempting to eat better. Thanks to education from Whole Foods, Carly the Nutritionist, the crazy but fabulous Gillian McKeith, the movies Food Inc. and King Corn, we have become much more selective on what we buy. If we have a choice on the preparation of food, we avoid: hydrogenated anything, corn syrups (including high fructose corn syrup), artificial sweeteners, and pretty much anything we cannot pronounce. We have been successful especially since we read labels to determine what we will buy. We are not organic freaks, but we do believe in moderation of all things and avoiding the chemical foods that are being thrown at us. We have loss of control at times, but 95% of the time when we buy it at the store is fall under our list.

Back to the dessert. We decided to check out the cakes. OH DEAR GOD the ingredients scared the crap out of us. Sugars I am fine with, even the refined ones, but adding corn syrup and bleached flour that is "enriched"(basically meaning all the good nutrients were stripped out of it) AND hydrogenated oils and stuff, that is ridiculous! So we moved to the thought of fruit and yogurt with some granola. Always a nice treat, but the cost of the fruit was outrageous and if I wanted to spend that much on dessert for 6 I would have just hit Whole Foods (which looking back would have been the best solution to start with. Who knew! I guess I was blinded, or just spoiled). We went to the freezer section next to check it out. After aimless wandering, Walter finally had the brilliant idea of Root Beer Floats. YUMMM! So off to the ice cream aisle.

Milk, cream, sugar, WHAT...CORN SYRUP? If it has sugar in it, why do you need corn syrup too? After looking at 4 different vanillas, we finally found one that fit into our eating/buying standards. Off to get some root beer. This was something I knew would post a challenge, but I did not know how much. After searching soda after soda and finding every root beer there, finally we found Hansen's all natural sodas. I knew these were good because we sell them at Whole Foods. Root beer! Finally! Wait...it is "diet". Skim skim skim. SUCRALOCE! ICK! Still bad, so we settled on Cherry Cream Soda Floats.

Success on the dessert, now forward to today. After a long day of work and Ikea shopping, I thought I would run and get some stuff for hamburgers., YUMMM! So I headed back to Randalls. I figured while I was there I would pick up some fresh veggies and stuff too. OH DEAR GOD the search began again! Thankfully there was ground turkey breast, on sale too. I did not see any veggies that really tickled my fancy other than some broccoli crowns at 99 cents a pound. I needed some buns for the burgers and decided on the least of many evils; the one with only 15 ingredients (all of which I was familiar with) rather than the many with 20+ ingredients one of which was, yes, corn syrup. I found some organic yogurt, some Italian "boxed" tomatoes (Pomi. Delicious and all natural if you want a simple good "sauce" for your pasta), some Half and Half (the one WITHOUT high fructose corn syrup and about 5 other unnecessary ingredients. Really people, it is half and half. The name says it all!) and my attempt to buy ice cream was a bust unless I wanted the one, lone vanilla I had purchased the night before or spend about $7 for a pint of a really fancy gelato (which I get cheeper at Whole Foods). I walked around in awe and started watching people grabbing body killing shit off the shelves. No wonder we are so obese. No wonder we have the health problems that we do. How can we care so little about our lives to be so uneducated about what we are eating? Do people not read the ingredients anymore?

I am no fanatic about anything. Again, balance and moderation, but being there, watching these people made me start to feel like a fanatic and I literally felt sad.

Please, friends, family, you unknown readers out there, PLEASE become educated about what you are ingesting! Please do something about it. Please spend the extra fifty cents for the better half and half (that was a cost difference between the nasty one and the one I bought). Please share your education. I admit, I don't work out regularly, but in the past year of living in Austin I have lost 30 pounds. In the past year and 1/2 since I have become more educated about food, I have lost 55 pounds...all just by what I eat! If we all put the demand for better, non-processed, healthier food out there, they will listen! When they listen and it becomes more the norm it will become more affordable; and speaking of costs...is it worth saving the money now to only fork it out to doctors and hospitals later? Think about it.

Anyhow, that is my thought and my pain tonight. Good night

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Images are in order of a year and 1/2 ago, a year ago, 9 month ago and 3 months ago.