Skip to main content

On turning 31

Twenty eight and thirty one.  Those are the years that stand out to me as "older sister years".  As in, everyone's older sister is 28 or 31.

Until I turned 28. And now 31.

I feel like all my career idols were this age, and now I'm that age and I certainly don't feel as though I should be idolized! Ha!

In fact, I think this year I am more aware than ever that I know very little and I am greatly in need of fine tuning in all areas of my life.

I am learning to be okay with asking for help.  And to confident in dishing out a little advice now and again.

There are many days when I feel like I've accomplished little to nothing in life, but then I realize it's only because I have had more-or-less the same career for 9 years and there is no room for advancement at my current place of employment.

But when I look at other areas of my life, I am so proud of the choices I've made and things I've learned (many, the hard way)!  I'm married to an incredible man who makes me want to be a better person. We paid off 50k+ of debt in two years. Bought a house with 18% down.  Gave birth to a beautiful, well adjusted little girl.  Admitted to an eating disorder and working to over come it. Discovered new talents and spent intentional time developing them. Traveled for pleasure and for mission work.  Purposefully changed my prayer life for the better and regret not doing it sooner. And the list goes on....

So while at first, turning 31 seemed like something I was too young to do, at second glance I am proud of my age, my accomplishments and my future.

What does a 31 year old do to ring in the "new year"?

The day before my birthday I had to work, but my Confirmation class didn't disappoint. They brought me a Birthday Princess button and sang happy birthday.  Nothing like bringing in 31 with 85 10th graders singing to you!

I spent the eve of my birthday with my husband, daughter, and both sets of our parents out on my parents boat.  The parents prepared a delicious dinner and we cruised around the lake enjoying dinner, wine and the sunset.  It was absolutely perfect.


(I'm clearly not very good at selfies)

Monday was my actual birthday.  I had a (free!) massage scheduled but it fell though last minute so I ended up putting in a full, but needed, day in the office.  My mom came in to keep me company as the office-volunteer-of-the-year and help get some work done for me.

Evie and I had a typical afternoon.  Eric came home early. We had a simple dinner and I opened my two presents from them.  Eric got me a new top of the line camera memory card (yay!) and Evie made some Christmas ornaments with her hand prints.  Eric had given me the immersion blender we'd both accidentally bought for me for my birthday over a month ago.  We keep birthday gifts simple around here.

After dinner we met up with my parents for some frozen yogurt (I don't do cake!)

It was a hit!

Super low key birthday filled with all my favorite things and my favorite people!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Where has she been?*

It's been a while, friends. Hi! Where did we leave off?  Ah yes, the roach .  He's still alive.  It's been over 10 days.  Though, he's slowing down and looking a little skinnier than when we first found him.  Maybe I'm making it up. I've started my new job with my friends lawn maintenance company.  Most of my time has been spent learning all the new (to me) software, moving the office to it's new locations, and just learning what the company does and offers.  Chris and I have had a great time working together so far.  I'm really enjoying learning new things.  Chris has already taught me a lot about great customer service. This weekend was my last retreat with middle school kids.  It was bittersweet. We had a spirit filled weekend full of lots of laughs, low ropes, rock wall, ultimate frisbee, prayer, and learning about Jesus. Our theme was "You Never Let Go" and we discussed three parables:  The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, ...

Nathan: Six Months

Measurements: Weight:   16lbs 15.5ounces  Length:  27.5 inches Feeds:  nurses 5 times a day; about 10-15 minutes each session. Diapers:    Blueberry Simplex and Smartbottoms size 3 in disposables Clothes:   9 mos and 6-12 mos Shoes:  none Teeth:  two bottoms Firsts & Milestones: Dec 25 - First Christmas Dec 30 - Tried carrots Jan 12 - flu shots + rolled over Likes: Thumb attention from sisters chewing on anything he can baths Disikes: Tummy time realizing he's alone wet diapers  Nathan continues to be a dream baby.  He lives by his schedule. I can almost set my watch to it. 7-8 wake + nurse 930 car nap  10:30 nurse 12 cradle nap 2 nurse 3 cradle nap 5 nurse 730 bath 8 nurse and bath His six month visit didn't go as swimmingly as expected.  Nathan still isn't putting a lot of pressure on his feet (a 4 month mile...

Baking with Betty: Dunwoody Dip

You're probably asking yourself, what is Dunwoody Dip? And it's a great question! It's easy to make. Melty. Cheesy. Meaty. A little bit spicy. And everyone LOVES it!  The origin, though, it's a more difficult to nail down.  My grandmother, who is from Dunwoody, Ga, actually heard about this dip when she was visiting friends in Denver.  Urban legend has it that some guy brought the dip to a party in Denver and when prompted for a name he stalled and said "Dunwoody Dip." Because, apparently he was from Dunwoody.   Who really knows? All I do know, is that this dip is yummy, very easy to make, and is always the first gone at a party or family get together.  Also, Eric might have married me because of this... Dunwoody Dip Ingredients: One tube of Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage Two cans of Rotel Tomatoes - Hot Two bars of Cream Cheese Big bag of Fritos Scoops Directions: Preheat oven to 325. In a large frying pan over medium-ish heat, brown the sausage. ...