Vescapades: Birthday #35

How does it feel to be 35 years old?? The short answer is GREAT! The long answer is that I feel like I don't really know where the last 20 years of my life went, but a lot of really crazy shit happened and now I'm here!

I truly feel that I am more centered and able to appreciate the day-to-day goings on of my life. It's unfortunate that it took me so long to get here, but there is a saying that goes something like, "youth is wasted on the young." I would say that my 34th year of life brought lots of changes (new job for the hubs, house fire, adjustments to hotel life and then readjustment to home life), but the one I've noticed the most is that I've become ridiculously laid-back.

I would say that I was never really the most high strung person, but I definitely liked things a certain way at a certain time in a certain order. I made list after list after list. I felt like I had too much "stuff" to manage and never had time to slow down. When I went grocery shopping I looked through every store's weekly ad, wrote down what I needed from each store, and then mapped out in which order I would make each stop. I had a binder dedicated to coupons and lists and shopping plans. I felt organized, but really I was micromanaging my life and causing myself unnecessary stress.

No more of that nonsense.

Now that we eat more whole foods and less processed stuff coupons don't really matter. There aren't a lot of coupons out there for organic produce. I make a menu plan (well, sometimes), and I buy what I need for my plan. Sure, my grocery bill has gone up, but I feel a million times better about what we eat. I don't stress out about grocery shopping anymore, and that feels really good.

I've stopped worrying about if Soren's clothes match in the morning. If she thinks it looks good, then who am I to judge? I don't make the kids clean their rooms everyday. I make time to have lunch with my friends and lead free yoga classes and deliver diapers to people who can't afford them. I send lots of texts to loved ones.

I've stopped glorifying busy. Heck, I rarely even put makeup on anymore. There was a time when I would go to the gym with makeup on. Seriously.

If only I could get Colby on board. That's my goal for year #35. He needs to take some advice from Disney's Frozen and "Let It Go."

For my annual birthday get together this year we kept it pretty low key. I invited some people over to invade my friend Brynn's house since she has more room than I do. We ate, played games, had a few drinks, and stayed up later than 11pm. Her husband grilled meat while the rest of us polished off a few bottles of wine.

Brynn and me with games and what looks to be one of the wine coolers Brynn thought, "must be good because Nicki Minaj was on the commercial." Oh, Brynnie.

Mask from New Year's Eve that I didn't get to wear because Brynn's kids got the stomach flu, so we couldn't go out. She got them out for this special occasion instead.