Thirty, Flirty and Thriving

It's been such a fun week celebrating my 30th birthday with so many friends and my family! Last Friday started with lunch at my favorite place, Celebrity Bakery with my mom. Then it was off to get pedicures with the girls at my new favorite place, Village Nailery. Then we headed up to Frisco to stay at our fun hotel called NYLO. Brookie flew in from Austin to stay with us and it was such a fun girls night! We had dinner at Mi Cocina complete with delicious birthday flan brought with singing waiters. Then we had a slumber party at the hotel! Didn't get much sleep but it was so fun catching up and laughing together! Saturday, we went to Breadwinners for breakfast and then did some Christmas shopping.

Saturday night was the big party at my house. It was so fun...the only problem was I didn't take any pictures til the very end...after almost everyone was gone! Guess I'll just have to relive those fun memories in my head. I feel so lucky to have so many great friends around me who truly care about me and love celebrating this big milestone with me.

My final birthday celebration came last night, when my sweet cousins Matt and Seema took me to dinner at Rise No. 1. I hadn't been there yet, and was really excited to try all their delicious souffles...and they were absolutely divine. I will definitely be back there soon!

So, I am thirty! It feels good...not too different at all! So...there's the update, now I'll get back to this..

baking yummy pumpkin bread!

The end of an era...

Tomorrow, I turn 30. Wow, it looks weird even when I write it down like that. Weird and scary...but then again, I am also so grateful for what I have gotten to do, see and experience in my last 30 years. My life has been a blessed one so far and I know that God has so much more in store for me in the next 30 years of my life. But for now, I want to face this next decade of my life with complete gratitude for the past and a renewed hope for the future! As the verse at the top of this page says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." God knows that desires and I trust and believe He will give them to me in His timing! So, bring on my 30's!

I saw this video on another person's blog and "borrowed" it! (Sorry for the slight profanity in the title) but it really did make me smile and think about how great our God is all over the world! It combines 3 things I love: dancing, music and smiling little faces in far away places! I hope it makes you smile too!

Hilton Head Wedding Weekend

I am a little behind on posting pictures...maybe because I don't have a working camera, other than my iPhone one which isn't that great...so here are some pictures from my friend Julie.

Part of the reason I went back to Charlotte the weekend after Thanksgiving was to be at Sarah and Mackie's wedding in Hilton Head. We had such a blast celebrating with them and hanging out at the beach. We stayed at our friends' Kristy and Jake's awesome condo which was a short walk from the shore, which we took a walk to on Saturday morning. Then we played some tennis at the club down the road...fun to play with my old tennis buddies. We felt like such yuppies playing tennis in Hilton Head.

Christmas trees at the Westin hotel







The Bride-to Be watching the West Virginia game








Mel, Julie and me at the beautiful reception











The Charlotte girls (Julie, Mel, Sarah, me and Ash)

It was so much fun to catch up with these girls for those couple of days at the beach! Congrats to Sarah and Mackie as they start their new life together! Miss you already! :)

Fun times in Charlotte!

Thanks to Jake, this is the video of them surprising me for my birthday. Hopefully you can

see the shock on my face and hear the surprise in my voice when I got to Kristy and

Jake's house...(oh, and i was 30 minutes late) :) oh, and yes, i do say, "I'm glad I'm wearing

something cute"...when I am nervous or center of attention, I tend to say random, sometimes

inappropriate things. insert phrase above! :)

I did have an AWESOME time in Hilton Head/Charlotte this past weekend! Sarah and Macky's

wedding was beautiful and a blast! Since I've already had one celebration, I feel 30 already! :)

only 8 days to go til it's official!

During the 2 days in Charlotte, I got to see lots of friends and faces that I have missed the last

5 months...it was further confirmation that I am where God wants me to be, because He has

allowed me to have such great friends in both Charlotte and Dallas! I am so blessed!

Lots of pictures to come...(when I get them from some friends) but thanks to all my

wonderful friends who made time in this busy season of life to see me when I was in town!

I love you and miss you alot!!! :)

This weekend, I am off to Houston to see my friend Mandy who is in town from Charlotte

and can't wait to catch up with my girl, Cassie who lives in Houston! :) Good times!!!

I promise...pictures to come...

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

I am officially in the holiday spirit...hence my blog redesign!

It is t-minus...

6 days til Thanksgiving

7 days til I leave for the Carolinas

21 days til my 30th birthday

34 days til Christmas Eve

36 days til snowboarding in Colorado

41 days til a brand new year!

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! Embrace the celebration! :)

What I've been up to...(in pictures)

This workout is kickin' my butt...seriously! Shredding until I turn 30!

One of the best books I have read in a while...making me think about life and the story mine is telling...

This is hawaii...i wish this was true, but sadly, i was just the chauffeur to the airport so my parents could go to Paradise!

Loving this latest masterpiece by the Shanes...it is AWESOME!

I can't get enough of the NCIS marathons that have been on...get sucked in every time!

And probably most importantly, I have been looking for an LPC internship...have been narrowing it down and have some great options that I will fill you in on when I make a final decision!

That is all for now...off to watch Taylor Swift on SNL tonight and read a little of Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz before bed! Inspired to make my life/story better each new day!

A little homesick for Charlotte...

Today I am missing this little city and the people in it! :( So, if you are reading this and you are one of my friends in Charlotte...just wanted to let you know I miss you alot!!! In 1 month, I will be back up there for a wedding, so I am hoping to jam as much face time with friends as I can into a couple of days at the end of November! Here are just a couple of the things (besides a long list of people) that I miss from Charlotte:

1. Polka Dot Bake Shop cupcakes

2. Sweet Tea

3. My sweet little condo

4. Driving only 10 minutes to work/church/anywhere really in the city

5. Freedom Park

6. Dinner and Guitar Hero with the Charlotte family

7. Going to the annual USC game

8. NC Barbeque - wow, can't believe I said that!

9. Blowing Rock's cute little town with Kilwin's delicious toasted coconut ice cream

10. Sitting outside on the patio at Dean and Deluca

11. Charlotte traffic...it's no where near the nightmare that Dallas traffic is!

All that being said, things are going really well for me here in Dallas. God has provided so much for me the last few months that I have been here with a great living situation :), an awesome job at Frisco Bible Church with a staff that I am so blessed to be a part of and love spending time with, an awesome opportunity on the horizon for a counseling internship...more on that later if it works out, and most of all...sweet time with those that I was away from for 4 years! I am loving getting to catch up and spend quality time with so many that I missed while I was so far away! Now the table is turned and I feel that way about those whom I was so close to in Charlotte...