The First Annual 29th Birthday

I've never down played the intensity of my excitability. I've even gone so far as to warn people about it, a type of disclaimer upon meeting me... you know, something along the lines of direct contact may result in a rush of blood to the brain, dizziness, nausea... to the best of my knowledge I haven't been directly responsible for loss of life or limb.... yet.

It get's exponentially worse around annual events like Christmas and My Birthday. However, I've already blogged about my deeply rooted love for everything Christmas, so now you will get a glimpse into the unfortunate world Kevin has pledged to love (for better or WORSE) that surrounds my birthday!

It generally starts roughly a month before my actual birthday. A slight glint in my eye catches when I remind those that we're 3 weeks, 2, 1, days... from my Birthday. This year was slightly different as I did forget the actual day it would fall on, an unprecedented event, and started to make plans of my own for a happy hour with a girlfriend. A slip I am now thoroughly thankful for!

My big day didn't start off so hot.... a 5:30am wake up call from the boys left me trying to snooze on the couch hoping they were watching "Nemo"... only to have Caleb call 'Hey mom', and rise to find Logan playing in the toilet bowl water... yes, solid mommy moment (it was 5:30, cut me a little slack). I clean him up, and come out to find Caleb had turned the entire box of cheerio's upside down on our carpet, I bend down to pick those up and half way through turn around to find an all too quiet Caleb now coloring crayons on the hardwood floor. Exasperated, I plead for him to 'just stop moving', so I can catch up to the next mess.

The day started its dramatic improvement as I was overwhelmed with Facebook love, texts, and calls celebrating me on my day. EVERY SINGLE comment/call/note brought a smile to my face as memories flooded in about the experiences I've shared with them..... High School, College, Texas, Work, Virginia, Family... notes literally came in from all around the World, and I felt SO incredibly blessed to have SO much love and friendship in my life.

The aforementioned slip in scheduling for the evening of my big day had evolved into what I'd expected to be dinner with Kevin and Tonya... What it turned out to be was WAY better!!! Sneaky Kevin and Tonya had colluded on a surprise B-day dinner for me, it was AWESOME!!! I walked into the restaurant totally unaware, and caught a glimpse of one of our small group couples. I still thought it was just a coincidence that we'd chosen the same restaurant until I turned the corner to say hi, and saw 8 more of our friends at the same table with presents and flowers!!!! Saying my excitement hit fever pitch, is still an understatement, I'm not even sure I made intelligible speech for the rest of the evening, I couldn't sit still!

29 is going down in the books as one of the BEST BIRTHDAYS EVER! I LOVE Surprises, and the ones I got on my B-day were so unexpected and SO over the top amazing that I'm still glowing with excitement 4 days later!

I know the big decade turns are when you are really supposed to amp up the excitement/party plans... but given I was let in on a little secret by some of my girlfriends out here that, really, I've now just entered the '29 club' and next year will simply be my 'second annual 29th birthday'... I think the awesomeness that was my day was perfectly fitting to kick off a decade of 29th birthday's!

Thank you everyone for making my first annual 29th B-day flat out amazing! I've been blessed with the most amazing family and extensive circle of friends anyone could ever ask for!!