GRATITUDES + BREAKTHROUGHS // APRIL 3, 2018

Gratitudes

Last week I moved the final boxes and closed the door to a chapter in my life. I’ve always gotten attached to places that I’ve lived. When I moved out of my first apartment that I got on my own and lived in alone – I cried. There were so many memories, lessons and comforts within that tiny place. This house was no different in the memories, lessons and comforts but this time I was ready to leave. I was ready to say goodbye to the adorable house with stained glass windows that reminded me that love does exist, that bringing a puppy home is a challenge but also a reward. It taught me that relationships are hard and even when you fight hard for them sometimes they just don’t work. It slapped me with a big business lesson as well that I’m still learning from. It opened my eyes to hunt country and a place that I never thought I would want to call a permanent home. It strengthened my dream to own an old house with charm and character. Like I said, a lot of stuff inside those walls.

Friday night my family celebrated my birthday. If you’ve followed my blog for any period of time we are usually about a month late on birthday celebrations so to be one day ahead was a shock! We gathered on Friday night for a mexican fiesta that included Chrissy Teigen’s Skillet-Charred Fish Tacos! THEY WERE SO GOOD! As well as an assortment of appetizers and a homemade pistachio cake made by Grandma Jean! My parents and sisters surprised me with a new gold band. It’s a braided celtic knot in yellow gold! My Mom already had one and I had been eyeing it for a while! It’s so pretty! They also got me a yoga tank top and 3 different OPI top coats to try out! Grandma Jean + Grandma Ron gave me tiny triangle purple tanzanite earrings. I lucked out with all of the jewelry!

I have the funniest engagement session story to date. Saturday was my birthday, but I didn’t want to tell Stephanie and Brian for fear they would feel guilty making me work on my birthday. You see, these two traveled up to see their families and celebrate Easter, their engagement and to have their engagement session. The best date for the weather ended up being on Saturday morning, even though we planned for Monday. When I arrived these two brought me a cup of coffee (#beatclientsever) and I was so grateful. We started their session with a breakfast themed picnic with coffee, bagels, donuts and cinnamon rolls. It was so cute! As soon as we moved on from the breakfast, we were greeted by the kindest and super energetic golden retriever. As you know I’m a dog person, so I was happy! What we didn’t expect was for this pup to find the sweets on the picnic blanket and go-to-town on the spread. In one gulp she ate a full donut. We started to hear her parents yell for her but she was already in the zone. She circled back around and was able to swipe a full bagel with cream cheese. I couldn’t stop laughing. At this point her parents were scrambling to stop her, but she played keep-away while trying to chew and swallow the bagel as fast as possible. In about 2.5 minute this dog ate one full donut and a whole bagel! Thankfully the picnic was over and Stephanie and Brian were also laughing! Fast forward, Stephanie changed into a beautiful dress with a silk scarf. I complimented her on it because I love scarves and obviously silk. She mentioned that Brian gave it to her for her birthday… which was today! WE SHARE THE SAME BIRTHDAY! We couldn’t believe it! So together we celebrated our birthdays with their engagement session!

Sunday was for rest. I slept in with the pups and watched the Golden Girls. I was able to do a few loads of laundry and paint my nails before I had to help prep for Easter dinner. Again for the second time that weekend our family was together with a holiday feast! I made Trisha Yearwood’s crockpot mac ‘n cheese. If you want a super easy side dish that’s savory, this is it! After dinner we watched the women’s NCAA national championship. That game was wild. It was won with less than 3 seconds on the clock with a 3!!!

Fingers and toes for this week have a punchy periwinkle, You’re such a budapest. I had this little gem hidden away for the winter and it was just the time to break out with April here. It is a little thin, so I had to go with three coats. I also tried my new Plumping Top Coat by OPI that should give the impression it’s a gel manicure. So far so good! I love how thick and shiny it is. I’ll report back to see how durable it is.

Breakthroughs

I mentioned last week that I wanted to list the things that I learned at age 32. I thought it might be important to write these lessons down to remember or to share. I had them outlined over the weekend and I planned on sitting down to write them yesterday. Monday was definitely feeling like a Monday so I wasn’t able to really put into words what I wanted to share. I’ll do that on Saturday. One week after turning 33.

I also wanted to say thank you for keeping this a safe place for me to open up and share about my daily happenings, feelings and so much more!

As always, thanks for reading. xoxo.