Whirlwind weekend

Whew. What a wonderful long holiday weekend I just had! I don't want to brag, but it was pretty freaking awesome. Now that it's over I feel like it flew by, but really, I enjoyed every moment and felt very present in each moment, so I feel pretty good about that.

So I mentioned previously that I saw The Muppets twice. In addition to that, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Nate's side of the family and it was nice to see all of them. We went to the gun range on Friday morning to do a little recreational shooting. I still can't believe I can do this now, I have come so far. It helps that I have outstanding hearing protection. Anyway, we had some fun there and had lunch out at my favorite deli (Nelson's Cheese Shop in Spring Lake Park). Friday was one of the days we saw the movie then in the afternoon and after that we had dinner at Punch Pizza with my parents and Nate's parents. Then we met up with Ali back at my parents house and had dessert and opened presents.

Saturday we were a little bit lazier but that was ok because the weather was totally crappy. We did venture out in the afternoon to find a beer store we've been hearing about and it's like total Nate and Beth's ultimate candy store - The Four Firkins in St. Louis Park. Holy beer Batman! I have never seen such a huge selection of craft brews. And they do "create your own six pack." Total win. The store is organized so well too as to the different types of beers. I'm mildly embarrassed to admit we spent close to an hour in there. After that we picked up Five Guys burgers and brought them home and settled in with some movies.

Sunday I got down to business and after breakfast finally set about getting my Christmas decorations up. I had done a little bit of it on Saturday, but hadn't gotten the tree up and all that jazz. Nate was even teasing me that I was "running behind" on that, but with all the birthday hoopla, just hadn't had the time to work on it until Sunday. I got all the lights strung on the tree and discovered that one whole set was burned out. Crud. So I planned a trip to Target and Nate said he'd go with because he needed a birthday card for his dad. And somehow said trip to Target involved a slight detour to the Verizon store so I could buy myself an iPhone. No big.

Oh back up a bit here....I GOT AN IPHONE! Yes I am excited. So that was pretty big news for yesterday. We did go get the lights and stuff too. Returned home and I finished up the tree, we met up with my in-laws for a short walk in the cold air, came home and made shepherd's pie and tried to unwind a bit more before getting ready to face the week and come back to reality.

All in all a great weekend. I have no complaints!!

Third decade

Well it's here. My birthday. I am no longer a twenty-something. I am 30. And you know something? It's not scary. It's not bad. I had definitely accepted it as of this month more or less, but I spent the better part of this year kind of dreading this birthday. But you know what? It's going to be awesome.

Three is my favorite number. Always has been. So, you have to figure, three decades of life? It's going to be my best year ever. And something that is awesome about my thirties verses my twenties? I spent ten years learning and stumbling and finding my way into adulthood. And now, I have emerged pretty well rounded and I think I'm a pretty awesome adult. Just saying.

So, here we go. I'm 30 and flirty and fun and I am loving it.

Off to celebrate with family today. I'll hopefully get caught up on more blogging soon, including my thoughts on The Muppets (GO SEE it. Get off your computer and GO SEE IT).

Awesomesauce

You know what is awesome? Short work weeks. I gave myself a gift and decided to use some of the massive amount of time off I have saved up (not kidding here) and only work Monday and Tuesday this week. Granted, Wednesday I might still be doing some "work" helping my in-laws get ready for Thanksgiving, but that is different.

Another thing that was awesome was our early birthday celebration on Saturday. We knew that this week was going to get crazy with family and what not, so we decided to go out just the two of us a little early and it was lovely. We had dinner at Moscow on the Hill in St. Paul, brought home dessert and watched one of our all time favorite movies. A very low key, but very nice evening. I have no complaints. Moments like that are some of my favorites.

I'm also kind of finding the snow a little awesome. Yes I said it. I know. I was whining and complaining so much at the end of last winter and I know I was still complaining about last winter into the summer. I can even probably find you all the blog posts and FB posts I made declaring war on snow. But the small amount we got on Saturday just stirred something inside of me deep down and I went all Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls TV show reference) and was just kind of...giddy? I don't know. I am glad we weren't hit with the 11 or 12 inches they got up north, but a small amount to start is kind of fun. And just makes me so ready for this time of year. I was already looking forward to it and feeling excited about it, but now I'm truly like ready for the holiday season. This is my most favorite time of year and I am welcoming it with open arms.

Thanksgiving? Bring it. Birthdays? Let's rock em. Christmas? Let's deck the halls. I even have two presents already bought. Just need to figure out our Christmas card for this year and I'm ready to roll.

So here we go! I am feeling awesome and I'm ready to make all these upcoming things just as awesome!

Just Write: Birthday Memories

So I have definitely accepted the whole "turning 30" thing that is happening next week. I really have. Well, mostly. I'm sure I'll have some weak moments yet. But I really do feel ok with it for the most part.

That doesn't mean I'm not contemplative though about it. Especially when over the weekend I realized, I have celebrated 30 birthdays. That seems like so many all of a sudden. I don't remember my birthdays real well until I was probably 4 or 5.

Each year we did a family party, usually with my grandma and my two favorite aunts and their families. When I got into elementary school, I was allowed to have a friend party as well. And of course, when I got together with Nate, birthdays took on a whole new life, because of his being the day after mine. We started celebrating them with both of our families and having parties with our friends together from pretty much the first year we were dating.

I have many memorable birthday experiences that stick out in my head as I reflect on 30 years worth of them. Some good, some not so good.

The year my dad was helping someone with their electrical work and it started snowing and he was late getting home. The party with my friends when I lost my first tooth in a cupcake but started crying because I thought I swallowed it. The year my mom dropped my cake face down on the floor and had to make a new one in a very short amount of time. Celebrating one year over at my grandma's house because we were remodeling my parents house and the downstairs was all torn up. The sleepover party I had in middle school and two of my friends took off in the middle of the night while the rest of us were sleeping because they were mad at us and my mom having a near heart attack in the morning and regretted taking Ny-Quill for her cold the night before.

Having my first ever sleepover party in 4th grade. Going on my first "grown up" birthday date with my parents to the Mall of America when I turned 11. Sorry for this one boys - "becoming a woman" on my 12th birthday(true story, both embarrassing, but yet kind of special). Having my first boy/girl party for my Sweet 16. Going out for special dinners with Nate. Gambling at Hinckley for the first time when we turned 18. Going out drinking for our 21st and let's just say we laughed a lot. Another college birthday when a fellow sorority sister stole a martini glass for me from Applebees for my present. Celebrating my golden birthday with friends and family at the bowling alley. Having birthday tiramasu from Buca one year instead of birthday cake. Going out with girlfriends for an epic night out to visit Santa and get fancy desserts in the middle of a big snowstorm. Nights of mayhem at Psycho Suzi's. Taking a weekend getaway with Nate to Duluth a couple of years back.

So many good times and even the "less good times" I pretty much look back and laugh at because they are kind of funny when you think about it.

As we've gotten older, and especially since Oktoberfest has become so hugely epic and it is one month before our birthdays, we've kind of scaled back our celebrations a bit, and I don't mind it so much. We still take time to celebrate with just each other and we always celebrate with our family. Plus, we have always had the challenge of our birthdays usually falling smack in the middle of Thanksgiving weekend. Now, when we were kids, this was awesome because you got days off from school! For your birthday! Now, it just kind of throws a wrench into planning too much, especially because Nate usually has relatives in from out of town. But at the same time, I somehow just don't mind that much. I couldn't imagine NOT having birthdays around Thanksgiving at this point in time. It just feels right.

So here I am just 10 days away from my 30th birthday and it is almost crazy to think I've done this 29 other times. It really doesn't make me sad though. It makes me smile to think of all the wonderful ways I've been blessed in my almost 30 years. That's not a bad way to look at it, don't you think?

Linking up to "Just Write" today.



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