My Birthday

At this stage in my life, I don’t crave the fuss of birthday parties, gifts and a hoopla of birthday messages. What do I actually want? A relaxing evening at home. No tantrums or drama. A quiet thirty-minutes to take a bubble bath. An uninterrupted conversation with my girlfriends. Pretty much boring, grown-up ideas of “fun”.

This year, my birthday was so special because I was able to enjoy some of the things I absolutely crave and miss. A childless night out with my close friends. A pampering one-hour long massage treat. And a birthday dinner with my best friend, my husband. I don’t think I could have asked for a better birthday.

Girls Paint Night

When I was contemplating how I would like to spend my birthday this year, I just really wanted to spend it at home, with my family. And that’s exactly what I did.

But what I really wanted was a nice girl’s night out with my close friends to just do something fun. So I put together a Ladies Only Paint Night at a local art studio, Paint Fun Studio. It was a group of 20 girls, and I think the moms were extra thrilled that we had two hours just to ourselves. After repeated requests not to speak of our kids, the fact that we were childless just kept coming up in conversation. We were so excited to eat in peace and visit the bathroom alone! The paint night was so enjoyable and we got to take home our beautiful masterpieces.

Decadent Massage

My birthday is always around the time of Thanksgiving and thus Black Friday specials. And this year my email was getting bombarded with sweet black friday deals and I was so, so tempted to purchase a swedish massage for myself. But I held back, and spent the money on stuff that was actually needed. So I was pleasantly surprised– thrilled actually, when I opened my birthday card up only to find exactly what I had been wanting. My sister-in-law must have been receiving some kind of subliminal messages from me…hey she lives with me, she knows how badly I needed it. I can’t wait to use my gift card for a relaxing, one-hour massage. It’s exactly what every tired mother needs, but won’t buy for herself.

Birthday Dinner

Last Friday, my husband and I planned to have a nice dinner out and I got to choose the restaurant. We went to Uproot, a posh-y restaurant with great food, and even better tasting desserts. A relaxing, night out just the two of us had been long overdue, and it was the best way to end my birthday celebrations.

Flowers and Chocolate

Over the weekend, my Papa surprised me with my favorite flower, yellow roses and Lindt chocolate- the extra large holiday gift box from Costco that I am always tempted to purchase. It was so unexpected, and so cliche, but absolutely touched my heart.