All About Me

Did you know that on March 6, 2012 a woman in Nebraska sold a 3 year old McNugget on ebay for over $8,000. And I thought nothing interesting happened on my birthday.

Look at this little hussy! Yeppers, that’s me in my white trash outfit at 2 years old. Just call me Honey Boo Boo!

I am lucky enough to share a birthday with several buddies: Devon – the queen of funniest Facebook posts and speedy runner bud, Dawn- hottie mother of 3 girls and getting into the crazy world of running, Lisa- new Mom who takes her bowling very seriously and had her wedding in the most beautiful place, and Brad -the hubs’ boss-type person who is a new dad and their baby already out weighs Noah at 2 (gonna be a hockey player). I’m a good birthday sharer.

This year I was lucky enough to be in Clarksville TN with my family for my birthday. Jim had a conference in Nashville so we dropped him off in Nashville on Monday and headed to Clarksville to stay with my family for the week. Jim did make it to my folks’ Wednesday evening for the festivities.

In the morning (after sleeping in), I was treated to waffles made by my step dad. So, so good! Then Mom was dying to take me shopping ever since my blog post about my fashion, so a shopping trip and lunch was inevitable. Apparently that post made an impression on every other family member as all I got for my birthday was clothes or money for clothes. Fine by me! And thank you! I wanted to go for a run that afternoon, but Noah had other plans for me: a nap snuggled in with me was his gift to me. I will take it.

My Nana and Pa came over that evening as well as Uncle Jeff (he and Noah were both sporting navy vests for the occasion), my sister Tabitha and cousin Jessy came too. My baby brother Matt was supposed to be there but he was flying out to the Bahamas early the next morning so he couldn’t make it. We hung out the night before so that was okay! Now, I’m the picture taker of the family so I don’t have hardly any photos from the night but we had quite the spread (so yum) and I had such a good time visiting with everyone!

Tabitha, Me, and Jessy

36 isn’t a milestone birthday, but I was thinking about how different my life is than it was when I was 26. And not just my life, but my attitude about things. Here are the 3 things that stood out the most for me:

Life doesn’t always turn out how you think it will. When I was 26, I never thought I would be married or a mom. And now I am both. I thought I would live in a tiny little house with a tiny little garden in Knoxville, TN and jet set all over the country. I had just gotten back from an internship in San Diego and loved it there so much, I was trying to find a way to get back. My life was about creating a career, a desire to travel and experience life without being tied down. Luckily, I found someone who felt the same way I did about life and so we have been able to journey together through life, travels, families, careers, and parenthood.

I create my own happiness. I am least happy when I compare myself to others. It causes a lot of negative emotions that are destructive, so I choose to not compare myself to others and to truly be happy for their accomplishments and maybe learn something from them – it feels a lot better, trust me. In my 20s and maybe some of my 30s, it seemed I was always looking to someone or something to bring me happiness. But now, I have realized that happiness is the result of my attitude and not external factors (job advancement, recognition of achievement, the most friends, whatever it is). Happiness has little to do with external factors and everything to do with the internal ones.

Being fit doesn’t mean making yourself miserable. I used to think that I had to give up my favorite things and do things that I dreaded in order to be healthy. I would deprive myself of favorite not-so-good-for-me foods, skip going out with friends to avoid temptations, and participate in rigorous exercise at the gym that I despised, all for the sake of being fit and healthy. Pregnancy taught me a lot about life balance and creating a less stressful environment for myself (negative people and self-doubt -be gone), and what it truly means to be healthy: eating with a purpose, indulging and still enjoying, running and exercising for fitness. Yoga has taught me about finding my edges, finding balance and living in the present.

The whole day was fabulous as I was serenaded with the birthday song, funny text messages from friends, phone calls, voice mail and Facebook messages! You sure do know how to make a girl feel special! Happy Birthday to me, indeed!

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