twenty-nine

I turned twenty-nine last week. I'm usually a pretty quiet birthday celebration type of gal... but this year I felt different. This year, I wanted to celebrate! It felt like a huge relief to me to have made it through these awkward and hard, yet most joyful decade of my twenties.

I realized this year that I have little traditions that I keep repeating each year on my birthday and this year was no different. I always love to start my mornings at mass giving thanks ultimately to God for blessing me with life and the rest of the day is pretty simple...my favorite foods with my favorite people, a few rays of sunshine, a blue ocean, many smiles and laughs, and ending the evening with a blow of candles. To me, a day like this is worth a million bucks.

And, I don't know why...but I always still get surprised each time my phone rings or I receive a text from a friend that I haven't talked to in a while that just called to wish me happy birthday. It puts the biggest smile and warm feeling in my heart and I feel so grateful. Grateful for this life. Grateful for this friendship and love. 

Grandmom and granddad came into town this year for the birthdays (mine and Zaylee's :)

and there were uncles too :) 

Cheers to twenty-nine!