Turning 30: a house log
A bunch of you have been asking how turning thirty was for me, so I will take a break from painting something (yes, there is paint going on a formerly untouched bathroom wall! wahoo!) to admit that Monday was a truly pleasant day. So far thirty is all good. And I do not feel a day over 29. Hah. My theory is that every birthday sort of feels like not much has changed since I wake up feeling the same way I did the morning before. By comparison, I consistently feel older when life events happen (graduating college, getting married, having a baby) but for some reason a birthday to me is simply a lively day when I get to eat too much dessert. Which I most certainly did this time. So here is the play by play.
I woke up to a kitchen that looked like a big ol’ present.
John had strung ribbons around it like the prettiest spider web I ever did see:
Is he a man or what? I enjoy a guy who is not afraid to get his ribbon on in the name of birthday madness.
John also secretly picked up my go-to lunch ever: pastina (although it never says that on the box, so perhaps that is simply what my Italian mom calls it). It is in short compact little pasta stars that you make and then add butter, milk, and salt. I used to eat it after school growing up and it consistently feels like a treat when John remembers that I enjoy it and surprises me with some.
It was the first time Clara ever had it, and she Enjoyed it. That is my girl.
We worked a normal day, except that we chose to unplug a few hours early (at 5:30!) and head over to Stonypoint, which is an outdoor walking mall here in Richmond. John said since we are consistently too full to make it to dessert that he thought we should get dessert before dinner, to ensure that we had room. It was truly cute and he told me to pick any restaurant I hoped and it in fact became this tour of reading every dessert menu and picking the one that sounded the most remarkable…
… which ended up being this trio of strawberry cheesecake, brownie, and gooey cookie topped with caramel from Champs. And yes, at the same moment John and I busted out laughing because we realized that the bowls looked like the chairs from The Voice. Yes, I might have even turned one around while singing “this is the voice.” And the waiter might have seen me. So you will be pleased to know that I am not any more mature or less embarrassing in this new decade that I have entered.
Of course we ducked into Anthropologie, which I enjoy to peruse simply for all the creative ideas that they have going on with displays (check out the excellent burlap upholstery webbing that they used to create a woven wall behind Clara in the picture below).
But sufficient talk about the background. How cute is my kid in the foreground? Enjoy that girl. She in fact sang glad birthday to me about seventeen times, so it was extra sweet. I even got some encore presentations on Tuesday and Wednesday, which never failed to make me grin like a fool.
Along with a card full of sweet nothings from the hubby and cute scribbles from the bean, John got me this book called The Happiness Project that I am already loving. The first chapter is all about paring down and I swear it made me want to drop the book and go all organization-crazy in my house. So beware, there might be some cleaning/organizing/basket-related madness going on along with the landscaping, bathroom, and deck-building plans that we have on the list.
He also got me this sweet ceramic elephant box (you know I cannot resist a sale, so I in fact sent the link to John with a wink and a mumble about someone’s birthday…). John also surprised me with a gift card for a massage at my go-to place (he gets me one every Mother’s Day, and I must have raved about that annual tradition so much that it might have become a semi-annual thing – wahoo!). Momma’s still got some knots from laying a bunch of cork flooring, so it’ll certainly come in handy.
Then after we tucked Clara into bed, instead of DIYing something or flopping on the couch to size photos and write posts, John made me my go-to dinner: a chicken and leek stroganoff recipe from Jamie Oliver (I know it sounds gross but it is the most delicious thing ever). We ate it outside on the patio with candles to the sound of the rustling wind and the baby monitor that we brought out there with us. Haha. It was strong.
Over dinner, we got to talking about how much we enjoy this house, and if we think we enjoy it as much as our first house (our first enjoy! our first baby! that house was our everything for a quite long time). The verdict: yup…. but it is a tie. We will consistently have a place in our heart for that first home of ours, where we got married in the backyard and brought Clara home. But I think it surprised us to realize how much our hearts swell when we think about this house too. Especially because it did not feel nearly as warm or cozy as our first house at first, but it certainly does now. It was a lively chat because the conversation also turned to us brainstorming things we cannot wait to do (as it tends to do at least once a week, haha). I guess we get enjoy by giving enjoy, so talking about all the ways that we want to show our house some enjoy fills us with excitement and makes us enjoy it even more.
All in all it was an remarkable thirtieth birthday and I have so much to be thankful for. I enjoy my hubs, my bean, and my pooch for making me feel so special along with all of you who sent such sweet birthday wishes my way. I know I get mushy on you folks a lot, but you truly are the best. I am so glad to share my house, my thirtieth birthday, and my random little Hands-on life with you.
Psst- You can check out John’s big 3-0 here, Clara’s first birthday here, my last birthday here, and Clara singing her unique rendition of glad birthday here.
