Joyeux Anniversaire!!!

 Let's talk about something amazing that just happened called :

MY BIRTHDAY!!

Praise Jesus, I love birthdays!

And what a marvelous one it was.

With an impromptu visit to see my family in Indy the week before and a week-long celebration of birthday mail, calls and presents and parties It was wonderful. John and I celebrated the day before in a very low-key way with 3 kinds of Gelato and many fun presents that were perfect. It included Fiestaware, an hour massage gift certificate just to name a couple. He did well. It was the most original birthday I have had yet.

I didn't work per the dr.'s orders on my birthday which was a blessing in disguise really.

I woke up early excited that it was THE DAY and relaxed...

then my dad called from Indy and asked if I had lunch plans.

An hour and half later this is what happened:

He lands in my town with roses in hand and takes me out for a yummy birthday lunch

My dad rocks.

I'm spoiled :)

Then, while enjoying my day to rest, I had a couple of visitors that brought babies and presents

Avery and her new friend Daphne were definitely a highlight.

complete with a birthday cake by Rebecca..

birthday cards out the wazzoo and more birthday flowers..

and

even more beautiful birthday flowers...

(Lola-Jean loves the purple ones..)

I got list upon list from my friends about the ways I am loved.

Some of the sweetest and encouraging words were spoken and written to me this day!

and in the days following I am eating my weight in cake.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Yesterday I sported a cutie-pie headband courtesy of my friend Sarah, accessories by Joan.

And the presents! Holy moly, the presents!! This girl's love tank was overflowing!

Mugs, teas, coffees, jewelry, jewelry, jewelry, Fiestaware!!, books, flowers, flowers, flowers, home decor, massages, spa gear, journals, confections, calls and cards, etc. I can't even remember everything!

Who knew!? 4 years ago when I moved here I was sure that it would be the dreariest, darkest, lonely place ever. 

 Au contraire! God sure has a way of showing me differently. He blesses me exceedingly and abundantly instead of giving me what I so often deserve. 

While I didn't wake up with that physical feeling I used to have when I was little, I went to bed feeling completely loved, treasured, pampered and celebrated.

 I'd much rather have that feeling.

 It was simply wonderful and quite humbling too.

No big to-do's, nothing formal or planned per se but an overflow of genuine friendships pouring into my day making it something to remember and cherish

I. AM. BLESSED.

A new do!

 I want to address the pretty new header that I have. 

Thank you very much to Courtney at You Will, Won't You 

for using your fantastic skills to help me out. 

I am so very thankful for precious design savvy people like her 

who make my blogging time a bit prettier than the standard ol' layouts.

Yay!

Check her out. She's great!

creep. me. out.

whilst getting my morning large decaff with 3 cremes, I saw these bug-eyed crazy dolls staring into my soul.

They look like horror movie dolls...

Gross.

Madame Alexander!?  More like Madame Scaryxander!!

Home again, home again..

..jiggety jig.

So we took an impromtu trip to Indianapolis this past weekend.

My little brother, Johnny came home from Florida to get a new car.

So we had a wonderful weekend with family full of birthday fun and celebration

(Mine is the 13th, grandma's is the 15th Johnny's is the 27th and the family dog's is the 20th)

And the weather!! It was perfect out. I got to wear long-ish sleeves and had to put a sweatshirt on at one point.

Loved that!

We were greated by beautifuly puffy sunset clouds as we crossed over into Indiana

And then the party got started..

downtown shopping day with the sister

taking in the sights

loving my favorite city delacies

getting confused by fashion per usual..

and finding..

FIESTAWARE!!!

'sure do love the new color

Heaven.

a fun birthday dinner at Buca di Beppo

AND

 fun with family

AND

my first sugar in almost 5 weeks.

This was the best picture I could find. 

Obviously I was in rare form this day..so was my triple chin.

Johnny ditches the spoon and fork and goes for it

then home for more cake and presents!

and birthday cards filled with money!

Birthday fun with uncle David's glasses

and talking with my G's

the birthday pup sleeps through her 11th birthday party. She's getting old.

That's 77 in dog years.

Minus my older brother,Jeffrey and his family in California,  we celebrated.

It's rare that we are all together anymore so any opportunity I have to spend time 

with these loves, I do.

Yay for spur of the moment visits and birthday parties!

Fill in the Blank Friday!

OH MAN! Lauren is going on vacation and so her blanks are so very inspired! I love me some vacation. It's the heartbeat of my year usually..

This first question was almost too much for me to handle :)

1.  If I didn't have to work anymore I would       isn't this the question of the century!? Oh man. Where to start!? I would enjoy tea every morning. I would enjoy the things like washing floors, reorganizing cabinets, folding laundry properly and not the quick way I do at night when I am sleepy. I would create, make and craft my way into artstic oblivion. I would make lunch for John everyday. I would try to have the savoriest of dinner made at night. Holiday baking would be a holiday in itself at my house.  I would volunteer somewhere. Probably either at my PCC or Habitat for Humanity. I would go see my family more often. I would take random trips to see my friends in other states. I think I would sleep in somedays and watch the Lifetime Movie Network while cross-stitching in my jammies whilst surrounded by my cats. I would make lunch dates once a week.  And of course, if there was a baby in this mix- scratch all of that other stuff for atleast a month! I would stare at and snuggle my baby 24 hours a day. For real, I would. In short, if I didn't have to work- I would be IN HEAVEN .

2.  My favorite thing about a vacation is     seeing new things, having lots of time with my John and doing whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it.  

3.  When packing for a trip I       try to plan outfits but it never works- I usually pack lots of random things and then have to get really creative with the stuff that I packed. Remember when you were 8 and your mom bought "outfits" that for real went together so you didn't have to pair things together in a fahionable or unique way?? That would be better for me..   .

4.  If I could go on a road trip with anyone (dead OR alive) I would choose      my friend Tricia.   , because,     We have a way of being super silly on our road trips. For real a 14 hour trip to Florida can get boring but not with us!     and we would go       anywhere she wants to go. She has 2 sets of twins under the age of 4 so..she would probably want to go far, far away to anywhere I am guessing..  

5.  My top 3 absolute travel essentials are     1) camera 2) mad-libs 3) snacks.

6.  Vacations are something I look forward to every year with a burning passion  .

7.  On vacation you must always     breathe deeply and not get in a rush to do a million things. I think it goes way faster when you do a bazillion things. Take pictures, enjoy yourself and savor the moment!    

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend!

Afternoon break..

   “Sometimes the most urgent thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest” 

{Ashleigh Brilliant}

“Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit.

 Then get back to work.” {Ralph Marston}

September means..

TO ME! (in 12 days)

I don't have a list this year. I felt kind of vain about making one since I always find myself wanting things throughout the year anyway....and buying them.  

I like the surprise element of birthdays.

I think it's underrated. I don't like making huge plans or knowing every detail of what I am getting. I know it's kind of the day where a lot of people get exactly what they want  and maybe that is the point but I am going to try and take the pressure off of myself of coming up with a list of things I want for today but may not want in 2 weeks when the actual day is here. What's the fun in that?!

I think birthdays are sometimes letdowns because people do what's expected and lose the feeling, thought and affection behind the whole day.Or B. they already know every single detail of it already= buzz-kill.

My list looks a bit different this year. It's a list of birthday qualities I guess you could say. It's not long at all.

Oh, I want presents; but the thought is for sure what counts.

Not the gift.

First, I want to wake up and it actually FEEL like my birthday.

Last year was the first year I woke up and it didn't feel different.

You know, that birthday feeling?! I didn't have it last year.It was 

a severe bummer. We did lots of fun things and I got presents but I didn't have the feeling.

 I don't know how to get the feeling back but I am hoping it's different this year! I don't want to be that person who says, "it just feels like any other day, it's not important.  It's just part of growing up"

Pish Posh!

{source}

Then I want to spend time with my love

Lots of quality, romantic, special time of him whispering sweet nothings in my ear

Time with loved ones

Eating food.

GOOOOD food with calories in it!

{source}

or...maybe at a table looking more like this...

 

{source}

I want to indulge smartly

I am still sugar free..

for 2 more weeks.

Maybe a cheat is in order?

I do love boxed chocolate cake...

scratch the smartly part

 {source}

I want to feel extra special

(this is part of the birthday feeling I mentioned above)

{source}

 The End!