Happy Birthday to Me!!

So, I am 29 years old. My first 29th birthday. It is a strange feeling. I used to look at late twenties as this time when I would be having kids and be all grown up and mature. And I do have a beautiful little girl, a good husband, and I am grown up. Mature? Well, sometimes. I still have a lot to learn about life, even though I like to pretend I have all the answers. I talk a good game, but I get plenty of doses of humility to bring me down a peg.

I have learned that I need to surround myself with people who have a positive impact on my life. I have good friends, some of who I have just befriended in the last 2 years. It isn't easy for me to make new friends, but I have learned that I need to open my life up and be vulnerable to people. And I need to remember not to take myself down to the level of people who try to hurt me. Because strangely, they are out there, and I need to be a better person and ignore it. Because letting them have the satisfaction of getting to me and affecting how I behave is worse than just leaving things alone.

Now, off my contemplative soapbox, I am posting pictures from my last day of being 28 years old! It was a great time. Duane paid for me to get a mini-makeover. I got my hair cut and highlighted, and the last few times I have gone to get my hair cut, I have said I wanted something different. But I would always end up with the same haircut after about a week, and my hair would look so plain after a month. So this time, I told the stylist that I wanted some wispy bangs. I haven't had bangs since I was 17 years old! I painstakingly grew them out because they were annoying! But after I had Rachel, some of my peach fuzz at my hairline grew out and I had this hint of bangs that got me thinking that I might be ready for bangs again. They turned out great, and I really like the results.

After that, we dropped off the baby with my in-laws and went bowling with my friends Kim & Lawrene and their husbands and our friends Heather and Jeremy. It was so much fun, I can't even describe it fully here. I love bowling, and bowling with friends is even better. We all just hung out and enjoyed ourselves, and then afterward we went to a Sports Bar, played pool & darts, and just hung out. It was exactly how I wanted to spend my birthday eve, and it really reminded me of how lucky I am to have people who care about me.

Today, I am spending time with my own little family. I have the whoooooole week off work, and I am going to the cabin with Rachel for a few days of Women's Week. The other days, I will just relax with my girl...possibly paint our bedroom...take Rachel to work to show her off...and enjoy the peace and quiet. It has been a hectic year!