3.28.14

it's my birthday, and i want to write
i want to spill out words all over the page to tell everyone how amazing, how hard, how blessed, how difficult, and how wonderful life has been since the last time i wrote in this place
and at the same time, i feel like it would be ridiculous to
that year (almost) is done
and i feel like even though we did so much living during that time
if i couldn't find the time to chronicle it then, well...there's really no reason to write about it now.

so here's the very short version of life since last july: it happened
i laughed (a lot), cried (not as much) and the majority of the time was amazing.
truly.
i am very blessed to live this life.

i'm not saying i'll never tell you anything from the past few months...in fact there are some posts aching to be written about recent events. but i will have no regrets if i don't get every word out. after all, i was living my life...

but this blog is a part of that life. which is why i'm here.

i do hope that this post will launch me back into blogging. i miss it. i miss the connection across the screen and the way there is really community between posts. i plan to begin the rounds again, visiting blogs i love and have missed almost as much as i've missed writing here. i plan to write here, the good, bad, ugly and beautiful that i have always spilled out in my little corner of the interwebs.

but i know that life, it happens.
i know that i won't be here as much as i'd like. even if i'm here daily.
i know i won't comment on every post that moves me, even when i desire to.

but i'm not done here. by any stretch of the imagination. so if any of you are still reading this little blog, i'm back...in some capacity at least.

i miss you all, and can't wait to visit your lovely blogs soon :-)

it's a great day to put up my saturday post a day late!

so, we celebrated my birthday and anthony's awesome new job at the pub friday night with friends & family

slept in on saturday morning, then went to see one of the youth group kids in a play

and then anthony told me that he wanted to take me shopping for my birthday

he knew what he wanted to buy me, but knew that i would want input.

he wanted to buy me a north face jacket (which i've wanted for YEARS but haven't justified the money spent)

so we went to a couple of stores, and ended up finding a triclimate jacket on *clearance* for a hundred dollars off normal price...and a light hoodie on clearance as well.

i ended up walking out of the store with two jackets -- and a pair of reef flip flops that ALSO happened to be on clearance, all for well under the amount he had budgeted and set aside for the original jacket.  

i'm spoiled, blessed and happy :-)  

today is church, lawn mowing, and once upon a time/gcb with natasha.
i'm kind of not wanting this weekend to end!


happy sunday, all!

thursday's ten: about turning 30

so by the time next thursday rolls around, i'll be 30. my birthday is monday. that SO does not seem possible! entering a new decade seems like it should be a bit more monumental to me, but i guess because i've done so much living since turning 20 that it really isn't fazing me.

here ARE 10 things about turning 30 in a few days though...things that i've learned in the last 10 years.




1. i love an excuse for celebration. especially when that celebration includes a pub night ;)
2. i'm much more comfortable in my own skin than i was 10, 5, even 1 year ago.
3. that biological clock just keeps ticking along!
4. i'll make my own birthday dessert to share just because irish cream brownies are that good.
(i'll post the recipe here tomorrow. ish.)
5. there are some things and some situations that just aren't worth my time. and i've learned to recognize them a bit more readily.
6. some days don't contain enough caffeine. this gets truer as i get older!
7. there really ARE more aches and pains in my body than there were when i was 20. i'm not imagining that. but i don't have to dwell on them, and i don't have to let them define me or how i feel.
8. taking a few moments to sit on a porch swing or lay in a hammock is time well spent. so is the occasional afternoon nap.
(my 20 year old self is SCREAMING that this statement can't possibly be right...lol)
9. kids really do want structure and boundaries. they crave them. and there is a healthy way to create and enforce these things.
10. you really CAN get used to wearing a piece of jewelry 24/7 :D

how about you? what have you learned or done differently in the last 10 years?

Monday's Memory: the one with hailey's birthday

anthony's littlest sister turned 13 shortly after we started dating

and anthony, his other sister kat, kat's boyfriend tony and i took her out for lunch to celebrate

which means she's 15 now

is that even possible??

yes.  yes, it is.

it's a great day to party

head over to cate's place where we celebrate 6 word saturday...



birthday celebrate -- party all night long!

we're celebrating our friend andy's 40th today, and while we (probably) won't actually be staying up all night long, we will be crashing there! no worries about driving with a bit o'alcohol in our system, and sleeping until the last possible moment before church tomorrow :)

i'm driving us there in my sweet new ride, which i shall return to tell you all about on monday. ish. you know me ;)

hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

So...I'm 29

my 29th birthday was sunday
i'm now officially as old as i can possibly be and still check the box for "20s"

it was a good day
i received cards and a package in the mail the day before (because i suck and check the mail approximately once a week. i also had my census form in there. so it may have been 2 weeks...)

i woke up in someone else's house
no, not because i was partying the night before
i was babysitting for the dogs in anthony's family
while they were in kentucky for memorial service #2 i took care of the 5 poodles that his parents, grandparents, and two aunts own.
it was actually a blast.
adoration takes on a whole new form when there is food involved and 5 pairs of eyes are begging you to just.drop.a.noodle.

sooo, i slept in because there had been a weather radio incident at 2:48 am, followed by about 30 minutes of barking from 4 of the 5 pups who were apparently still a bit concerned
went to church
treated myself to thai food (yum) and thai tea (omgosh)
performed with the chorale that afternoon
went home to get ready
because anthony was taking me to dinner

and he came
bearing a large package
and after i opened my card
*which was hilarious and a total inside joke*
he plopped said package on my lap
it was HEAVY
and he said "open it!"
to which i did
and found a brand new
WII!

so on the next rainy day
i will be purchasing a wiifit
and shall go to town on it :)

after i opened my present
we went to dinner
at the pub
where they had placed us at the very front table
which was uber-cool

it was slammed when we got there
but by the time they stopped playing
it was just a few of us
and it was lovely

all in all
a very low key event
(but don't worry...there's a birthday celebration at the pub the weekend following Easter...and that will not be low-key)
:0)