This week I turn 32 years old, and I'm reflecting on what I want the next year of my life to look like. This birthday feels different than my other birthdays in that I'm on the cusp on a monumental life change: In a few short weeks, I will become a mother. I obviously don't know everything that having a baby will entail, but I've been doing a lot of manifesting with what I desire motherhood to be for me. The idea of having a kid scared me for pretty much all of my 20s. My husband and I were busy exploring the world, building our careers, moving a lot (4 times in my 20s, and then again last year - not to mention once more earlier this year) and enjoying our marriage just the two of us. It wasn't until I was around 30 that I started thinking long and hard about wanting a ... [Read More]
birthday
My Annual Solo Birthday Date
Hey, hey! Tonight I'm catching the redeye to the east coast! I'm looking forward to time with my family. I haven't been home since the holidays, which is quite awhile for me. Can you tell that I'm excited? This ridiculous photo was taken a few months ago and is too funny not to share. Earlier this week, I continued a tradition that I started years ago of dedicating a day around my birthday just to treating myself to things that I love. It's what I call my "me" day to decompress and take myself on a solo date. I think that for a lot of people, life just seems too hectic to feel like there's time to practice self-love as much as we should - or worse, maybe we don't feel deserving of it. I think it's really important to take time here and there to slow down, appreciate life, ... [Read More]
Happy Birthday to Me
Yesterday was a special day...my birthday! I know, there has been a lot of birthday talk on my blog lately. My hubby's was last week - he's a year and 6 days older than me - my cousin shares my birthday and is 10 years younger, another cousin of mine has a birthday on Friday, my uncle's birthday is Saturday, and my sister-in-law's is next week, so my family has a lot of August babies! Between all of the calls and texts yesterday, my hubby's fun gifts, and waking up to flowers on my dresser, I definitely felt all of the birthday love from everyone in my life. Besides the tons of well-wishes, my day started off in usual fashion with a long walk with Harley and getting some work done - but later in the afternoon, I took some time to pamper myself and have a little date on my ... [Read More]
Happy Birthday Dad! + Chickpea & Date Tagine
First thing's first... Happy Birthday to my wonderful dad!! I love you and can't wait to see you soon! :) Dinner Moving onto food, for tonight's dinner I tried a new recipe out from Vegetarian Times. Up until seeing this recipe, I had never heard of a tagine before. Assuming I'm not the only one, here's a quick explanation: A tagine is a North African (Moroccan to be exact) dish that is named after the type of pot it is cooked in - one that is formed entirely out of clay. It consists of two parts: a flat base unit, and a large conical, dome-shaped cover that rests inside the base ring during cooking, designed to promote the return of all condensation to the bottom: Kinda neat huh? I slightly modified the ingredients and portions from the original recipe. And one thing to ... [Read More]