As you may know, I often refer to myself as 20-something. I like the way it sounds. And frankly after 21, birthdays don't matter half as much as they used to. You're in your twenties and really what's the difference between being 25 and say 27 years old? Not much. If you ask me.

Then I started getting older and older. In <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/to-live-within-your-leva/" target="_blank">January a reade</a>r, reminded me that maybe I am not a twenty-something  considering the fact that I am almost 30. Yep. It's true. I am nearly 30. Though for the record, in January I was still just 28 years old.

In May this year, I celebrated my 29th birthday. And frankly I feel great. I think that I might even feel better, younger, fresher than I did at 25 or 26. None of this, however negates the fact that on May 18th next year I'll be 30.

Except for this:

[caption id="attachment_3319" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Already 30 in Moda"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01930.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3319" title="Already 30 in Moda" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01930.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>[/caption]

Yep, according to Moda, magazine, I am already 30!

It's wrong. I am 29. Only the thing is I kind of like it. <!--more-->I am not scared to turn 30. I've been joking around about staring <em>down</em> 30--trying to figure it out. But now I am staring <em>at</em> 30 in Moda and I think it looks pretty great.

Sure it helps that I am <em>in</em> Moda again. <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/moda-my-magazine-debut/" target="_blank">Unlike in February</a> where I was interviewed about being a foreigner in Bulgaria this time I've written a short piece for the September issue on life in Sofia.

But I should probably come clean, I didn't write the piece in Bulgarian. That's still a little bit much for me. Maybe next time. This time I wrote it in English and it was then translated.

[caption id="attachment_3320" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Moda and Sofia "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01929.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3320" title="Moda and Sofia " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01929.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>[/caption]

Yeah there's a whole issue devoted to Sofia--from the main interview to the fashion shoots which are on the streets of Sofia and a number of vignettes about life in Sofia. It's beautifully done.

I had a hard time knowing what to write. I didn't want to write something too cliche, too trite, too silly. I wanted it to be honest, a little funny and slightly self-deprecating--that is after all what I do on this blog--but it's not an easy balance to strike.

So I wrote about feeling lost. The kind of lost that is both actual and imagined and the disorientation that results. Reading it again, I don't love it. But that happens. I am too self-critical and after the fact, I can always see what I could have done, what I should have said to make it that much better.

This said, I had a lot of fun writing the piece this summer and if you get a chance to pick up the magazine or flip though it--look for me. I am in it.