talk thirty to me.

This morning, for the first time in basically forever, my Timehop app sent me a "Today's Memories" notification. I've ignored those sporadic notifications for the most part since my Instagram was deleted in 2016, as I knew that the memories I wanted to see would no longer be there. But today, I clicked in and was greeted with birthday weekend memories from the last seven or so years. One of those memories was a tweet to an old blog post summing up my twenty fifth year around the sun right before my twenty fifth birthday. It was so fun to look back on myself from five years ago and see what she was up to then, and because I'm a sucker for a long walk down memory lane, I wanted to do future Alessia a solid and reflect on my twenties a bit on the eve of my thirtieth birthday.

God, what a decade. I started it in love, canceled that love halfway through because it wasn't right, and found love again; this time for forever. I started my twenties with one tattoo, ended them with nine. I started my twenties as just a kid going to The University of Scranton hoping to teach the youth of America, and I end them as an editor at POPSUGAR who has zero desire to teach the youth of America any time soon.

So much and nothing has changed about who I am and have become in the last 10 years, but if you'll let me, I'll pull a 25-year-old Alessia move and sum up this last year with 30 things I did in my thirtieth year.

1// On the first full day of being 29, my then-boyfriend Matt hijacked my birthday party to propose.
2// I went on four bachelorette parties, to six bridal showers, and eight weddings — it was a whoooole year full of love and up next is eight more weddings, including my own.
3// Of those events, one of each was for my best friend and soul sister, Meagan, who loves me enough to have made me her Maid of Honor (then I was able to return the favor by asking her to be mine).
4// An unexpected injury last winter caused my mom to have to go off work on disability, and as a result, we've never been closer.
5// I got to take my mini BFF, Max, to his first two Islanders games — both were wins, and between both games he got to see a fight, overtime, a shootout, a jersey retirement, and took photos in front of the ice and with the mascot (he even found a dollar on the floor). They were two of the most fun games I've been to and I'm so grateful that Max still thinks I'm cool enough to hang out with.
6// Speaking of Max, I got to ask him to be the ring bearer in my wedding after six years of knowing he'd be my guy when the time came.
7// Matt and I were asked to be godparents to his 1-year-old cousin, Kayleigh.
8// I reconnected with my love for leopard print, which somehow went missing over the last five or so years.
9// I got to eat at the Taco Bell Cantina in Las Vegas, which was basically equivalent to a visit to my homeland.
10// I splurged on a Cricut machine and even though I haven't used it much yet, the endless creative possibilities have me buzzing (my favorite creation so far is these cutie cups made for a bach party).
11// We celebrated our engagement with our families and wedding party, and it was just a really exciting preview of what our wedding night will look like.
12// I really found my groove with bullet journaling three years into it (I'll likely do an update to this post if the mood ever takes me).
13// I continued to post too so many photos of my cats, despite them having their own Instagram account.
14// Matt and I had our first ever professional photo shoot with our wedding photographer, Jennifer, and my god, my life is completely changed knowing that there's someone out there who can make us two awkward kids look halfway decent.
15// I said "yes" to the dress, an event I'd been waiting for since I knew what a wedding even was as a kid.
16// Went to seven (plus) concerts, including a back-in-action show for Motion City Sountrack after a two-year hiatus.
17// Spotify summed up my decade in music and shared nothing surprising about my favorite artists, many that have remained unchanged from the decade prior (lookin' at you, The Wonder Years).
18// Got to travel to Miami, Newport, and Charleston for the first time.
19// We celebrated two years in our teeny little apartment.
20// I finally bought a photography class after years and years of saying that I want to learn how to use my "big camera," so I'm hoping 30 will mean better and more photos.
21// I missed my goal of reading 30 books in 2019, but since my twenty ninth birthday, I've managed to hit that 30-book sweet spot, so we'll call that a win!
22// I got to meet Ben Platt after his May 14 show at Beacon Theater, which is also where I saw and met Wrabel for the first time, and fell completely, madly in love (and went on to see him perform at his own shows two more times).
23// Went to my favorite place, Montauk, twice. Both times were during the offseason, which made me fall in love with it even more.
24// Celebrated my favorite pooch's second "real" birthday on the Leap Day.
25// After nearly 30 years of never being one to wake up early for anything and having the worst relationship with exercise, I started Orangetheory and so far, waking up at 6:00 AM to workout isn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me.
26// Got my ninth tattoo in my 91-year-old grandmother's handwriting with all of my cousins, something that I know I'll cherish when I, myself, am 91 and fabulous.
27// Started to work from home three days a week and really got in touch with the positive results to my mental health.
28// Finally started a calligraphy/handwriting class I bought over four years ago, and she's getting pretty good, y'all!
29// Went to a "wrecking room" for the first time with my girls and had the most fun of nearly anything I did all year.
30// Will hold a "Funeral For My Twenties" in just a few hours, but we won't be mourning, we'll be celebrating an incredible decade that made me so much of who I am. It makes the list because I already know that a night spent with my people is the best night.

Here's to living life to the fullest through my thirties. To love, to light, and to being someone 40-year-old Alessia looks back on with a knowing grin.

*Alexa, play "Tellin' Lies" by The Menzingers*