So, you know how I mentioned that last week I said goodbye to my 20’s and I was…a little bummed about it? On my actual birthday things didn’t really improve. I worked as usual, picked the kids up from school and then on our way home, we were stuck in an unimaginable traffic jam that brought our commute to a total of two hours door to door. Two.hours. As a result, I missed my hot yoga class, and well, after two hours in the car with tired, hungry kids (and tired, hungry me), it just wasn’t the greatest day. It’s okay though. It got better.
The next evening, Ben arranged a dinner with my brothers, their better halves, and a few close friends. He packed the kids up and drove them over to the babysitter’s house while I had about 40 glorious minutes in the house to myself – such a rarity. I did glamorous things like sort mail, clean up the playroom, and take out the recycling. Ben finally returned and said he had picked up one more birthday present for me on the way home. Into my kitchen walked my amazing friend Courtney. All the way from Richmond, VA. I was floored. I am supremely difficult to surprise but somehow everyone involved pulled it off and it was amazing. All sorts of unintelligible shrieks and squeals poured out of my mouth as I jumped up and down.
So, we had a wonderful night out that evening with my family and friends. We stayed up super late talking while we baked my birthday cake. The next morning we woke up and did what we always do together – decided to cook something awesome. Though normally indecisive, it didn’t take long for us to settle on this heck of a breakfast dish. Eggs in a ranchero sauce with black beans, topped with lots of melted cheese, freshly baked tortilla strips and a mouth-watering lime crema. Yowza. Basically, my perfect breakfast, made even more perfect by Courtney’s company.
My already phenomenal weekend was made even more perfect when another of my BFFs hosted a rockin’ birthday party for me the next evening. She thought of every little detail (hello, margaritas in mason jars!) and added so, so many sweet personal touches. My other great friend and the best art director in the world Ryan covered a massive chalkboard wall in semi-snarky, tongue-in-cheek graffiti – oh, how he knows me. (Also, like that center design? Good, because it’s about to be a t-shirt you all can wear – minus the 30, obvs. Details soon…) Tons of my friends came to celebrate and they all contributed dishes made from this very site. My sweet friend Shanon made the trip all the way from Milwaukee. The sweet and inspiring Alex and Sonja were there too. It was truly amazing to have so many people I love all in one place. So yeah, I’m feeling just fine about 30 now, in case you were wondering.