29

Last Thursday, I turned 29.

Getting older really doesn't freak me out at all. Mainly because I don't feel any different than when I was 18. Sure, I've grown up some, let certain things go, been through some "stuff", and developed thicker skin. But overall? Still feel the same.

Every year, God sends me a birthday gift. It's the same every year, because deep down, He knows it'll immediately make my day.

He sends a cold front our way.

Every.single.year.

On or right before my birthday.

And every year, I get all giddy turning the heat on, lighting some candles, and hanging out in warm pj's for as long as I want on the morning of my birthday.

It's the little things, y'all.

And that's exactly how I started my birthday.
No lie, it went from a high of 85 one day to a high of 65 the next.

Oh, and before I start this off, I wanted to warn you that the pictures you're about to see aren't very good. They're blurry or grainy or angled weird. But it's real life.
And I'm not above showing the less-than-stellar (technical wise) pictures or my messy house just for the sake of making myself look good. I have no shame. :)

We're a little tight this month in the $ arena. October just seemed like the perfect month for the state to be all up in our biz about our cars... a windshield replacement, taxes, and inspections. Yaaay. But Brad definitely still made my birthday special. We did our own little craft day, which y'all know is right up my alley.
First we carved some pumpkins. We didn't get to do the whole pumpkin patch thing, because Noah ended up catching a cold (from the beach) that led to an ear infection. He was a kind of a whiney-heiney and wasn't the least bit interested in the pumpkins.

I'm learning to let my "perfect family moment" fantasies go, because more often than not, Noah and Brad just don't cooperate. And then I'm left all disappointed that I don't have those perfect pictures of Noah sitting in a massive pumpkin patch, all smiles. Instead, I get a cranky kid with an ear infection and sitting in the car while Brad runs inside the local Food Lion to grab some pumpkins.
Eh. Whatever.
The point is that we do this stuff as a family, and we have a good time.
So Brad and I carved pumpkins while watching Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin and listening to Noah run around, completely ignoring the massive pumpkin we had set out for him.






(Since Noah wasn't interested, Brad carved 2 pumpkins... the 2 on the left are Brad's... isn't his Charlie Brown good??)
See, a lot of people may not know (or expect) this about Brad, but he's actually really crafty. His mom was/is... she was an incredible seamstress, making wedding dresses, curtains, Christmas decorations, clothes for kids, and all kinds of costumes. She also loved to do food crafts... gingerbread houses (from scratch), cookies, candy, etc. Naturally, Brad helped her and has a secret knack for this kind of thing. But he adds a nice, competitive-guy edge to it.
When I ask him why he doesn't do this kind of thing with me more often? He tells me he doesn't want to upset me by "showing me up". We tend to be a tad bit competitive with each other. It's actually borderline unhealthy. Because we started as friends first, at a very young age, it's kind of how we flirt. That and immature 12-yr-old teasing/put-downs. I once threw Scrabble pieces at him, because he was trash talking too much and then won the game.
I know. We're weird.
But I'm hoping I've crossed over into a new level of maturity. One where if he starts trash talking my wreath-making skills, I won't be tempted to glue glitter to his forehead.
I'm not making any promises.

Once Noah went down for a nap, Brad and I made candy ghosts... a treat he used to make with his mom when he was a kid. Since we don't really do Halloween in my family, I'd never made them before. They're cute and way too sugary to eat. We both took a bite and decided to put them down when we heard our teeth screaming for us to stop.




(Aren't they cute??)

After dinner, we hit my favorite mall. Seriously, a trip to this mall is a treat in and of itself. It's so clean, the place sparkles. Everyone dresses nice. I don't even care that I'd have to take out a separate loan just to afford a pair of shoes. The place makes me happy. It's where my dad used to take us when we were kids, just about every weekend. So it has some good memories attached to it as well.

We hit up Yoforia, which we all love.
Noah and I shared a bowl of pumpkin spice and cheesecake frozen yogurt. I added some graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips, and bananas. Heaven. (and except for the toppings, it's fat free and organic!)

We hung out at my mom's over the weekend as well.
My stepdad's birthday was yesterday, so we had kind of a joint birthday dinner.
I get my love for entertaining from my mom. It was just us, but she still had everything decorated like the president was going to walk in at any moment. Of course, they're Republican, so I'm not sure how that dinner would've gone. But I digress...

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but my Shark mop died. Apparently, you can't use tap water with it; it gets mineral build-up and stops working. It was a hand-me-down, so the warranty was out. So for the last few months, I've been cleaning our floors on my hands and knees. I didn't want to buy a new mop that I hated. I was holding out until we had the extra money to get a new Shark mop. Because I love them.
And lo and behold, my mom (and stepdad) got me a new one! And it's an upgrade. I now have extremely clean floors. I know this is incredibly boring, but for someone who has been playing the part of Cinderella the last few months? It's blog worthy.

I did finally find my baby pumpkins I'd been looking for for the last month. I guess they weren't in season yet or something. Brad picked me up a few, and I've been busy decorating with them.






My birthday wasn't super eventful, but it was perfect for me.