Words to Keep Me Going

No matter how tough my situation seems to get, I always lean on the below verse to keep me going. I LOVE the word "hope," particularly in this context.

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11

Party Like a Rockstar

In honor of my 30th birthday, I'm celebrating for 30 days in 30 (usually small) ways. Here's what my fourth, and final, week looked like:

Day 22: My birthday! I had lunch and dinner at two of my favorite restaurants (Cool Greens and Iguana Mexican Grill) with some of my favorite people (Lauren and the Willards). Sarah even bought me a cupcake, so I'd have cake on my birthday. Such sweet friends.

Day 23: Joe and I had a date to celebrate our birthdays together, just the two of us. We went to Boulevard Steakhouse for a fancy meal and capped the night off with a cookie cake. It's our family tradition to split a cookie cake on the day between our birthdays.

Day 24: Joe's birthday! Unfortunately Joe had class the night of his birthday, so I spent the evening eating cookie cake by myself (ha!).

Day 25: I can't for the life of me remember what I did to celebrate on this day. My track record has been pretty good so far though!

Day 26: Today, I had lunch with one of my sweet friends from the sorority - Fransen. It had been a while since I had seen her, but we had such a wonderful time together!

Day 27: Melissa and family came into town to celebrate her birthday and we got treated to dinner by Martha and Mike. It was wonderful spending even just an hour together. Plus, we ate at Cafe 501 and it was delicious. Joe surprised me by buying a package of tropical tea that I had been eyeing.

Day 28: I had bought Joe and me tennis rackets for our dating anniversary back in July, and we finally put them to good use tonight at a neighborhood court. Neither of us were that great, but it was fun to get out and exercise. Flip joined us on the court too!

Flip Gets Groomed!

Yesterday, Flip got groomed for the first time. Since I love before-and-after makeover shows, I treated Flip's pending spa treatment in similar style. And I say spa treatment with all seriousness. The groomer liked him so much she gave him the "touchdown spa package" for free! It included a football charm for his collar. So, so cute.

Flip BEFORE



Flip AFTER



Hilarious! He looks naked!

And here's just a cute pic of Flip's sweet face.

It's My Party

In honor of my 30th birthday, I'm celebrating for 30 days in 30 (usually small) ways. Here's what my third week looked like:

Day 15: I'm trying to eat more natural, so on this evening I attempted to make my own hummus. It was a success, as I actually used the right ingredients this time (had to go to a fancy grocery store to find tahini). Plus, my friend Cianne had given me some super nice olive oil, so I used that for flavor. I also made my own pita chips. Yum!

Day 16: Brownies are my absolute favorite so I allowed myself to pig out on some brownies I had made for pizza night the night before. They were dark chocolate, topped with M&M's. Delicious!

Day 17: Out of the blue, Joe called and asked if we could go to lunch together. I actually didn't have lunch plans that day, so it was such a treat. We met at Saturn Grill, one of our favorite spots. I wish we could eat lunch together more often!

Day 18: Some of my sweet friends who were going to be out of town for my birthday party planned a happy hour for me. A bunch of us met up at Republic for a few drinks. It was wonderful to get to celebrate with that group of friends!

Day 19: Tonight Joe and I went over to Ramsay and Megan's and babysat their kiddos. We LOVE their family, and it was nice to get to spend some focused time with them. To the right are two pictures that Mallory took of me. She's actually a pretty good photographer! She is also, apparently, great at drawing with a marker in her mouth. LOVE her creativity!

Day 20: I had such a fun day today! We started by taking Flip to the dog park; our first real time there. He did fantastic, and several dogs (particularly one large black lab) were really enamored by him. That evening we had my birthday party at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. A group of friends went to dinner (at the Museum Cafe) and a movie (Midnight in Paris). They surprised me by going in together to buy me a Debbie Curtis Barbie painting. I have been wanting one forever - such sweet and thoughtful friends!

Day 21: After lunch with Joe's parents at Upper Crust, Joe and I headed to the new outlets in Oklahoma City. He bought me a fabulous purse for my birthday. I am seriously in love with it!

Week four to come soon!

Love to Celebrate Joe!

Today's Joe's birthday and I love any excuse to celebrate him!

Since he has his MBA class tonight, we celebrated last night with dinner at Boulevard Steakhouse. It was wonderful to have a long, nice dinner, just the two of us. I also got him a pair of running shoes, a subscription to Golf Digest magazine and a tie.

And, I found the below quote the other day and thought it would be perfect to include in his birthday card. It's so true.

"Grow old with me! The best is yet to be." - Robert Browning

Party All the Time

In honor of my 30th birthday, I'm celebrating for 30 days in 30 (usually small) ways. Here's what my second week looked like:

Day 8: On this day, I started my blog. It was so fun to brainstorm a name and incorporate Flip. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect background though.

Day 9: I'm really getting tech-savvy this week. I celebrated today by opening up a Pinterest account. It's totally up my alley - and will hopefully cut down on all of my magazine clippings. I stayed up entirely too late creating a board of hair inspirations for my upcoming hair appointment. My fave inspiration is to the right.

Day 10: Joe took me to Bill's (a local jeweler) to return some earrings and pick out something new. It was fun brainstorming, although I think I might have brainstormed too big!

Day 11: I LOVE shoulder and neck massages from Joe. He's as good as any pro. Sometimes I have to guilt trip him into giving me a massage. I used my 30th birthday as an excuse tonight.

Day 12: I took the day off and spent it helping the Parks move in Norman. It was so fun to be with Lauren the whole day! It made me miss college.

Day 13: I had my mini-makeover today. I went to fancy salon, showed them my hair inspirations (pulled from Pinterest) and they worked their magic. I love the way my hair turned out - a richer brunette shade with an ombre effect.

Day 14: This is terrible, but I can't remember what my celebration was on this day. I know it was something wonderful though!

It's My Birthday!

I turned 30 today. Thankfully, I've been practicing saying my new age to people for a while now, so the number doesn't sound so foreign.

I've also been thankful to have so many friends to celebrate with - and so many celebrations! I thought I'd document them all on this blog, so I remember this special day.

Below is a sweet surprise Dawn, Jared and baby Wright sent me at work today. I LOVED the creativity! It sits so perfectly on my desk (those are flowers if you can't tell!).



And a few age-related quotes that made me smile today:

"Old age is fifteen years older than I am." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Age is an issue of mind, over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." - Mark Twain

"The years teach much which the days never knew." - Ralph Waldo Emerson