Celebrating The Big Three-Oh. Yes, I'm 30!!??!!

This birthday was significantly less difficult than I thought it would be. First of all, I'm not a big fan of my birthday. Celebrating others'? Absolutely! My own? Meh... But this year was different. I truly felt ready to be in my 30's. I was like you know what? I earned this. Just thinking back on the last decade I was like wow.... a lot of shit has gone down. Graduating undergrad and grad school, moving to Atlanta, teaching at Auburn, getting a "real job" in a new city with "work clothes", trying out loft living, getting engaged and then married, getting one pupper and then another, becoming a home-buyer and car-buyer, becoming an aunt, getting into cooking, running, spinning, strength training, being 'healthified, paleo - lots of fitness and food fun, visiting places I'd never been before (Vegas, NY, Chicago, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, etc.), getting into skiing with the family, seeing Auburn win the National Championship Game, celebrating so many of my family and friends' birthdays, engagements, weddings, babies, promotions and awesome life events... and the list goes on. My 20's were great, I definitely feel like I did them right and to their fullest,  but i'm excited to enter a new era so to speak - a time of an increased focus on my family and friends, a continued focus on my career, more travel, less building what we have and more enjoying what we have... I guess i'm  just looking forward to and hoping and planning for a slower pace. I'm hoping to read more. Relax more. Blog more. Just take it easy and give myself a break. I don't feel I gave myself a lot of breaks in my 20's!

No, not ALL of this has do with my 30's, but I think it's just where i'm at/where I want to be and it happens to coincide with  this milestone birthday.

Speaking of the birthday - it was such a wonderful family-filled weekend. Yes, my birthday is a weekend. My mom came in town two days prior to visit, and Friday at work my boss/team celebrated with an edible arrangement. I worked late, which sucked a bit, and prompted me to post this on status update on Facebook:

I can officially report that I spent the last day of my 20's working late whilst munching on an edible fruit arrangement prior to meeting my 10 p.m. bedtime. When did I become such a rebel?

When I got home from work, my day did get better. Not only did I come home to Austin, my mom and the pups, I came home with a pineapple and strawberry only edible arrangement from my mother-in-law! So thoughtful. It came with a balloon and big pineapple 30. I kid you not, the balloon is STILL floating around the house - helium lasts forever.

Saturday, July 7, i.e., the big birthday, started with sleeping in, then making breakfast, then hopping in the car for 'Girl Day' with  my mom and sister. Of course this meant shopping and decorating. Duh. I found some GREAT stuff for the house (pics coming!). The hours flew by and before I knew it was time for dinner with the boys - Austin, my bro-in-law Zach and my nephew Dane! Here's some pics:

Such a great day with my two favorite ladies!

This guy made my birthday weekend so special! He got me a great gift, too, he had an iPhone adaptor installed in my car so I can play things off my phone through the car - man, I was missing out and didn't know it!

My favorite little family - Zach, Devie & Dane

This kid is even cutely perfect on a quick iPhone snap - LOVE HIM

With that, I was 30. My mom left the next morning, and I was back to work on Monday, motivated to spend LESS time at work and more time planning (it's what I do). Planning what I want the next month, quarter, year, and decade to look like - SO EXCITING.

Q: Are you a fan of birthdays?!


Q: What was your last milestone birthday - did you love it or hate it?!


Still gathering pictures from my second birthday celebration with my in-laws and several of our friends - another fun-filled weekend - hope to post tomorrow!