thirty.

Thirty means I'm no longer in my 20's.  Thirty means I've gained some perspective on my life.  Thirty means I'm comfortable with myself.  Cheers to thirty.  I think I'm going to like this decade :) 

finishing up the list

Lots of pictures in this post.  Tomorrow I will be 30.  My 20's will be gone and I will be left with lots of sweet memories of way too much fun and reflections of a decade of personal growth. 

I might not have conquered everything on my list, but I'm looking forward to my 30's to continue setting goals for myself. 

Findlay Market

Saturday morning on the 9th we loaded up and headed to Findlay Market.  It was a beautiful and HOT day.  I was fighting some kind of stomach bug so our trip was short which makes me sad.  But, we did manage to get some awesomely delicious asparagus and a sweet watermelon.  Kate enjoyed the sights and really enjoyed her orange soft drink :)  We'll be back again Findlay!

 

Family Photos

Humidity is NOT a girls' best friend.  Especially if your name is Kate, you are 3 and happen to have ENORMOUS curly hair.  When Brittany of Brittany Brown Photography sent me a text with a preview of our shoot, I almost fell off of my chair from laughing so hard.  Her hair was SO BIG!  Ha!!!  But, nonetheless, the pictures were perfection. Brittany really captured our family.  We laughed a lot that day, like we do everyday.  She captured the sweetness of Kate, and the craziness too.  I still am having a hard time believe that this adorable little thing is 3 years old already.  We love you our sweet Kate. 



P.S. I also want to wish my love a very happy anniversary.  Kate and I love you so much!  It's been an amazing 7 years and I look forward to many, many more anniversaries with you!

 

mimi's baby shower

I want to share with you some of the details from Misty's (aka Mimi in "Kate speak"!) baby shower that I hosted a few weekend ago. 

I had sent the info over to my pal, Jessica, at Pen n Paperflowers who has a beautiful blog and is so crazy talented it hurts my head sometimes.  I shared with her Misty's story (with Misty's permission) and Jessica was anxious to share Misty's story with the world. 

Her post was so incredibly touching, elegantly written and inspiring!  Go straight over there to view her post.  http://www.pnpflowersinc.com/2012/06/inspire-real-party-baby-shower-hosted.html

While I'll let Jessica and Misty share those details, I wanted to share some other details about some good friends who stepped in to help me make this day as special as possible for Misty.



I finally got to meet this lovely, lovely lady, Deanna, at the Birds of a Feather Fair.  She was one of our vendors and I wish I could have stayed all day and chatted with her.  She is so super talented and creative and awesome.  As I began making my email rounds letting our vendors know that we would be holding off on the Fair while Misty recovered, Deanna emailed me back asking what she could do to help.  I had told her that I would love for some of the vendors from the Fair to help me with some items for Misty for the baby shower and she offered to create the printables (invitations, signage, etc.).  We ran with some ideas based on Misty's bedding she had picked out.  Deanna is so easy and fun to work with!  So next time you need invitations or party printables head on over to Mirabelle Creations!  To Deanna, thank you over and over again for helping me make this day so special!



I also wanted to send a special shout out and thank you to Cristin of Hazelnut Designs.  I also met Cristin via a craft show that Misty and I did a few years ago.  We've stayed in contact and she's always my go-to girl for my sewing needs!  I'm sure everytime she gets an email from me she cringes because I've always got some crazy project up my sleeve :)  She produces gorgeous work and she shares my love for the bunting banner.  You know, a real quality I look for in a friend! Ha!  I sent the bedding Misty had picked out and of course Cristin knew exactly who the designer was and even had scraps to make a bunting banner that matched!  Misty was SO excited about the banner to put in the baby's nursery!  To Cristin, thank you so very much for your unwavering support for me AND Misty through the Fair and now through this.  I really hope someday soon when you are visiting your sis that we can spend some more time together! 



This is Cristin with her stash of fabric. Raise your hand if you are jealous.  **both hands raised**

I have a couple more post lined up before my birthday on Tuesday!  We finally got to Findlay Market and got some family pictures/Kate's 3 year pictures taken over the weekend.  I only had 1 entire year to get this stuff done :) 

5k

I did it!  It was almost a year ago that I told myself sometime within this next year, get your butt up and get outside.  I had told myself from the beginning I didn't care if I walked all of it, ran all of it, or a combination of both.  Just do a 5k.  So, last weekend that's exactly what my friend Jill and I did.

 

I'm NOT a morning person by any stretch of the imagination.  Unless its A) Christmas morning, B) the morning of a party, or C) an awesome yard sale you will find me still yawning and carrying on until probably close to 11:00 am.  But, Saturday the 2nd, I was up with the birds.  Even up before my hubby and Kate were up.  I snuck out of the house to meet up with my friend. 

Jill's 5k attire (sunglasses and iphone case) compliments of her teenage sister!  Ha! 

Let me tell you about my friend/5k buddy Jill.  She is this BURST of sunshine and energy.  The funniest person I've ever met in my entire life.  She can have me doubled over in stitches laughing and crying and unable to breath from laughing so hard within seconds of seeing her.  Sometimes even just thinking about some of the crazy stuff we've done together makes me laugh out loud.  She's just one of those kinds of people that just make your day when you see them or talk to them.  Now my funny little friend Jill has worked her @#$ off this past year and has really accomplished some AMAZING fitness goals that I only wish I could/had the motivation to do!  She is a total 5k pro.  I couldn't have asked for a better person to have my first 5k experience with! 

We headed across the river to Cincinnati to our 5k destination.  This particular 5k was in honor off a little gal named Becca.  (More on that in a bit)

It wasn't a huge 5k, but just enough people that I didn't feel overwhelmed or super intimidated.  They already had burgers cooking for the after party and that certainly motivated me to get back there as quickly as possible! 

We started with the walkers and headed on our way.  The course winded through a lovely, lovely neighborhood.  We had almost as much fun talking about the houses we saw along the way as we did walking!  We walked fast and ran some.  My friend beat her personal best time, so for me that was a win! 

At certain markers in the course, like at every .5 miles, they had yard signs with encouraging messages to the 5k participants.  They also had some statistics about Becca's fight with Leukemia.  Heart breaking to see the numbers on what that brave little girl went through and made you pick up your pace and take your mind off of your feet pounding the pavement. 

It was a fun morning and Jill and I were proud to support childhood cancer research here locally at Cincinnati's Children's Hospital.  You can watch Channel 5's story on the event here.  Race For Cure Inspired By Young Cancer Patient | WLWT Home - WLWT Home

I thought a lot about Misty that day too.  I hosted her baby shower that evening. Finishing that 5k couldn't have been a more perfect way to begin the day with helping raise money to find a cure for cancer and to end the day with such a fun celebration with Misty! 

 

Only 9 more days in my 20's!