Scenes from a celebration weekend

There are too many photos and way too much goodness to share from this weekend so I will try and keep it short. 

I didn't want anything too crazy for my birthday. Though I'm turning thirty next weekend and it's a big milestone I wanted to keep it sweet and low key. Celebrating with my fave peeps doing something that would be able to bless others in the process.

So what better way than having a Sole Hope Shoe cutting party. 

Micah and my girlfriends planned everything, took care of the food and details so all that was left for me to do was show up. I wanted to help plan but was asked from Micah to just let him handle it. He said because I wasn't wanting a huge blow out party the least he could do was handle all the deets for this shindig. Of course him and my friends still went over and beyond in making me feel so very loved throughout the entire weekend.

It started off Friday morning by having my hair did by my girl Miss! She did a fab job on bringing my natural dark locks back  to life only to add a slight twist! I had been wanting color on the tips for awhile and she didn't disappoint!

Then Friday night Tricia flew in from Northern Cali and surprised me. We stayed up until almost 2:00 am catching up and scarfing down Del Taco.

Then Saturday morning she was instructed to get me out of the house so they could set up and so we could just hang out and not have to stress about the party. 

So we went and grabbed some Starbucks and then went shopping for hours until it was time to get our party on. 

I walked in the door and was greeted with cheers and the smells of yummy food and tasty treats! Everyone had already started tracing and cutting shoes and so the party was already off to a good start. It was such a wonderful group to cut shoes and spend the day with! (even some hubbies came to help cut and celebrate)

I laughed so much and felt so much love throughout the day! 

Of course what party is complete without a cake and Oh what a cake it was! Micah had it created by a delicious local bakery and I was floored at how awesome it turned out!

After the party winded down the girls and I sat and finished the last few sets of shoes that needed to be assembled. I was so excited that even at a party with lots going on we were able to cut forty pairs of shoes! Forty little ones will be blessed with shoes because of the selflessness of my friends. I was so blessed by everyone who came out to help celebrate my birthday but even more so because they all participated in tracing, cutting and assembling these shoes for Sole Hope.

The party didn't end there because Micah had booked me and the girls a hotel room for the night so I threw some stuff in a bag and we all headed to our suite. We snuck all seven of into our King suite and stayed up til' the wee hours playing Mall Madness (remember that game) and eating pizza and cannolis! 

Though I woke up feeling like I was hungover from lack of sleep from the last few nights it was so worth it. All the girls headed home in the morn except I grabbed breakfast with Nat and Trish before she flew back up North.
After breakfast I came home and crashed on the couch until the babies woke up from their naps. Micah looked at me and said I can't think of a better way to finish off this great weekend other than heading to Disneyland... I couldn't have agreed more.

So that sums up my weekend. Good fun, great company, great food and so much Love.

Oh so much love. 

Thank you all for celebrating my birthday and kicking off my official birthday week with a bang. It's countdown time to the Big Three Oh people! Let's do this!

some thoughts

This morning I woke around 7:30 to find two very energized little people screaming and giggling as they ran into my room to wake me.
I looked at Micah who was all dressed and ready to leave for work and asked how long Vernon had been up for and he told me since 6:00 am.
This was at least an hour too early for any of us and I had no idea why Elsie was up and at'em either?
Because Micah and I decided to pull a late night tv show watching marathon until 1:00 am, we were both feeling a little remorseful of our choice to do so. As I used every ounce of my being to get out of bed to wash my face I knew I wasn't going to have the strength to muster up playing and grocery shopping this morning, so what would any mama do in my sitch? That's right I put on my swim suit, put the babes in theirs, threw sand toys in the car and then drove through our donut shop for treats and coffee and made our way to the beach.
It was already 80 degrees when we arrived there at 8:30 and so I was grateful I decided to come to the ocean to have that beautiful breeze blow through my hair.

As the kids covered themselves with bucket loads of sand, I sat there sipping my coffee and taking in all that was going on at the beach. Though we were the only family sitting and playing on this quiet beach spot there was lots of different things taking place.
There were paddle baorders in the distant who seemed to be gliding over ice, groups of kayakers rowing and working on their fitness, to the left of me there was a swimsuit model having photos taken near the tide pool rocks, there was an eldery couple in their eighties (maybe older) walking along the sand hand in hand. Every now and then the gentleman would stop and scoop up what seemed to be a seashell or maybe beach glass, he'd show it to his sweetheart and if she'd nod he'd tuck it in his pocket and if she gave a slight shrug he'd skip it back into the ocean's tide. 
Spear-fishermen walked out of the ocean with their morning's catch strung along their waistband. They came over and showed the babes the fish they caught and told me about their mornings adventure. Dog walkers walked to and fro along the shoreline while a good samaritan walked along picking up some trash and placing it in a bag tied to his shorts.
Young surfers were out being taught this new sport and their enthusiasm with each wave caught had me wanting to ask to borrow a board and try it out myself.
The pelicans would form their v-shaped formations only to have one swoop down to the ocean to catch it's breakfast. 
The sailboats in the distance were soothing to watch as I took my last sips of coffee. After pointing out the boats to Elsie she asked where the pirate boat was, which had me laughing out loud as we all walked hand in hand to the water. We splashed and played and collected smooth rocks (or treasure as Elsie called them) and made our way back to our spot so we could build sand castles. Elsie wanted to build her own and Vernon was more interested in eating the sand rather than build and so I sat back to watch them play for what seemed like hours.
I thought about the morning at this quiet and quaint beach spot and how there were so many various things and different outlets of enjoyment that were being taken from it. God made such a beautiful place for so many to enjoy in their own way. Photography, water sports, romantic walks, dog walks, family time in the sand. All different agendas, yet enjoying it all the same.

Then everything about the morning sights had me thinking about a comment I received last week on this blog. I had forgotten all about it because I had been so preoccupied with the baby shower when I received it that I sort of dismissed it, so when my thoughts started to wander off about the beach in all it's beauty, how it was created as a spot for people to come and go, to be enjoyed differently by each of us, I suddenly remembered that comment that read something like, (of course I deleted it so I don't remember the exact verbiage) "what is with all the giveaways lately and when are you going to get back to doing what you do?"
It was annonymous, with no reply email so there was no way I could ask what they were talking about or what they meant exactly when they said, "get back to what I do."
I realized we all may have our own space, maybe here in the blogoshpere, our homes, our cubicles or offices at work where people stop by and come and go as they please. I thought about my space here on the interweb (ha I said interweb) and how it's sort of like this little spot on the beach. Many people from all over stop in for their own reasons of enjoyment. Some may be family or friends just checking to see whats up with me and the kids or it may be a fellow blogger seeing if I posted about a conference we may both be attending. It may be someone looking for encouragement or another a good laugh. Some may be browsing for ideas and others for things they don't like. Whatever the reason, it's their own. As this space is my own.
I want to continue to strive in making this little space a happy space where it truly is an extension of who I am in real life. I may share about a hard day with the kids in a post or a fabulously fun outting we took in another. I may share about a date night I had with Micah or maybe tell about the things I see in my heart that God is working on. I may make a new friend who has an awesome shop who wants to share a product with all of you or maybe a new orginization or cause that has pulled on my heartstrings and want to tell everyone how they can get involved too. There may be a scripture that spoke to me and so I will share it just as if I would to any of my girlfriends in real life.

With that being said this month is my birthday month. My 30th birthday to be exact and I talked about celebrating it with all of you HERE. I actually went back and forth about doing giveaways because I knew if I did do a month long celebration I would have to actually schedule these posts and be on top of getting all the necessary info to make those posts happen and I'm normally not a scheduling kind of blogger. I don't have a recipe each week on a specific day nor do I have a fashion post on another. I totally would love to but that is just not how it works for me right now.  I'm kind of sparatic and post when I do and when I don't post it's probably because nothing happened since the day before that's worth sharing.
When I thought about this September approaching I sat and made a list of some of my favorite things. My favorite blogs and my favorite shops were included and I wrote out how I could incorporate all of that goodness into one fun month to bless all of you with! Plus having the opportunity to spread the word about some of these awesome peeps I love so much was a bonus!
I didn't view it as just having giveaways but including all of you to take part in this new milestone of my life. I'm also excited to share with you some rad shops and some truly talented people in the process. 
So to Mr. Annonymous who asked when I will get back to what I do, I never stopped dong what I do... I'm sharing a part of me just like I always do. You're right about there being more giveaways than usual but come on, we're celebrating!
We're celebrating a year that has come and gone. A year of change and growth. A year of failures and accomplishments. A year of a new me forever and ever amen. 
God has done a work and transformed my heart so much that when I look back and see where I came from I'm ecstatic to move forward into this next chapter of my life. 
You don't have to join in, don't worry I won't be mad atcha but please don't be rude or try to rob me of the joy I have in this space. The Lord has blessed me with so much through this little place I call my blog and in return I want to bless all of you.
So I hope you'll join me as we countdown the end of my twenties!

and with that I'll end with reminding you all to make sure to enter the Everyday is a Holiday giveaway HERE. Only one day left!