My 30th Birthday Weekend

There was a moment this past weekend when I was sitting at my birthday dinner with all of my girlfriends, everyone lost in conversation with one another, where I took a step back and took it in. And what I saw kind of hit me all at once, and I realized that in my 30 years, I've never been so lucky. I was surrounded by women from every part of my life. My oldest friends of over ten years, girls I went to high school with, those I attended college with, girls I lived with in the dorms, in our sorority house, and after. There were a couple new friends too that I've met along the way, those special women that I just clicked with the moment I met them. And there we all were, meshing into one group, and I can't even describe what an emotional thing that was for me, to be surrounded by so much love, by all of these people who mean so much to me. Growing up I've always been blessed with great, solid friendships, but like anything, it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what both makes a good friend and how to be a good friend. There have definitely been times in my life I've spent learning and relearning both of those things, so I think I am even more grateful for the friendships closest to my heart after all this time. So on Saturday night there I was, about to turn 30, surrounded by these amazing, inspiring, positive women, who know me and accept me for everything I am, and I was just blown away by it all.

The rest of the weekend was awesome too- on Friday Andy flew in from Seattle so we (Anita, Andy and myself) went to dinner at LGO, then went back to Andy's room at the Hotel Valley Ho and ate way too many sweets. It was a late night filled with girl talking and fun, and it was the best way to kick off my birthday weekend.

The next morning I woke up and got a good workout in, then headed over to the nail salon with my sister to meet up with all the girls. We all got mani/pedis then headed over to The Phoenician.  We spent the whole day out by the pool, lounging on chairs on the lawn, enjoying summery drinks (they have a great strawberry banana smoothie) and talking for hours. It was so much fun, and especially awesome because a few of my girlfriends had yet to meet until that afternoon!  After our day in the sun we all went back to our rooms to get ready, then met up in Shirley and Alana's room for a mini-celebration before dinner. The girls gave me some of the sweetest gifts, and we enjoyed some Sprinkles cupcakes and other treats while we hung out and talked for awhile.

We did dinner at Citizen Public House and because it was Restaurant Week they had a special menu featured. I got the corn salad (delicious), chicken, and ended the meal with a "coffee and doughnuts" bread pudding. All of it was excellent. Afterward we went back to the hotel, hung out for a bit more, then went to sleep.

Sunday was full of friends and fun- Pita Jungle and Rita's with friends, a birthday celebration for our friend Danny at Thai Basil, quality time with my sweet Erin, and some great family time with my parents.

On Monday Hank and I shopped in the morning so I could pick out some birthday goodies, then came back to my parents' and celebrated with them. They of course made a huge deal (see below for the silly "Over The Hill" caution tape they made me walk through), and it was really wonderful. And then we ended our whirlwind long weekend by seeing our friends Broadway Calls play a show at Chaser's. They played so much old stuff, and I was the happiest birthday girl in the entire world to spend the last hours of my twenties seeing one of my favorite bands, enjoying Shirley Temples, and hanging out with some of my oldest and dearest friends.

I couldn't imagine a better start to a new decade. Thank you to Hank, Shirley and Autumn for planning such a wonderful weekend and all of my girlfriends for making me feel so special, whether they were there in person or sent love via flowers (Emily!) or phonecalls. I love you!

And thank YOU all so much for all of your sweet birthday wishes here on this blog, Twitter, humoring me as I over-Instagrammed the past couple of days, and always being so sweet. I feel lucky to have all of you in my life too.

Here are a million photos from the entire weekend, mainly taken with my iPhone. Enjoy!

Dream a little dream...

While I was pregnant I had these ideas in my head of certain moments, these particular instances that I daydreamed about again and again. I thought about bringing our baby home from the hospital on that very first day, I imagined what it would be like to hold him in my arms and rock him to sleep, I thought a lot about reading books and singing songs and just looking down at that tiny face I hadn't yet met. There were so many little dreams- dreams of first laughs, first steps, and even just visions of simple, quiet moments.

But daydreams and preconceived notions aside, nothing prepares you for those moments actually coming to life. The sheer beauty and magnitude of the feelings that overwhelm you when you do hear your baby laugh for the first time, the excitement of seeing those first steps, the first words, the feel of the peaceful, dim room as you rock your baby to sleep, putting him to bed, in disbelief that you could ever love him more...and that daily surprise as you wake to that sunshine-face the next morning and found that your heart has somehow doubled in size overnight, again (and again and again).

The other afternoon Hank and I went into Henry's room to check on him. It was the end of his nap and he was sleeping so soundly, curled up with his bum in the air, mouth open. Hank and I stared down at him, smack dab in the middle of one of those little moments in life that you know will always be something special to you, the kind you try so hard to file away in your mind. There he was, our sleeping Henry, half of me and half of Hank, a perfect mix of us both. And I thought about how somehow in this crazy universe, two people from two different places were in the same place at the same time, fell in love and had a baby. And now, almost eight years after that first summer date there we were, looking down at our son as he slept. It one of those times as a parent that you do daydream about - one of those times I absolutely envisioned the moment I got pregnant- and there we were in its reality, reveling in its beautiful simplicity, whispering, "we made this, this is our son." And so I pressed pause for just a second, taking it all in, thinking about how crazy it was to be right here in Henry's room, living this little dream I had always wished for.