This is the year I turn 40. EEK! I’ll be over the hill. My birthday is not until September, but I already feel it coming because my husband and some friends have turned 40 or will soon. I am not looking forward to turning 40–it seems so old–four decades of life. I am sure once it gets closer to my birthday, I will be looking forward to it, but it seems like something I don’t want to celebrate right now.
I’m thankful for my life and my family. They are what keeps me going. I am fortunate to have such great people and caring friends in my corner. Life, however, does not come without struggles. These past few years have been tough for me, health-wise. As I shared in a previous post, my mental health has been challenging for me. I live life day by day. There are ups and downs, but I’m grateful to have a happy life. I can’t be happy all the time, of course, but there are more good days than bad.
I’ve been told that when you hit 40, your body starts “falling apart.” Many people experience health problems, aches, and pains not present in their 20s and early 30s. I know for me, I’ve struggled with pain for the last ten years. Sometimes it feels like my body is failing me. But I think about how it could be much worse and I’m not in terrible, excruciating pain all the time. I recently saw a meme about how when you get older and something hurts, that’s how it is now- forever. It was a joke, but it’s partially true.
I am a mom to a great kid! He is so sweet, smart, and caring. My friendly, talkative, energetic little boy. (Who at 6.5 is not so little anymore…) I quit my job after my son was born to be a stay-at-home mom. I didn’t plan on it, but I am glad I spent so much time with my little one. Now that he’s in elementary school, I am at a crossroads. What do I do with my time to myself? What do I do that excites me, fulfills me, and gives me more purpose to pursue my dreams? See my related post, “The Kids Are in School, Now What?” I want a job, but I like my freedom and the time to get things done. I have always wished to have not just a job but a respected career. I’ve never been in a high-level position before. I thought that by 40, I would be in a different place in my career and have it all figured out. One day I’ll get there.
If I get a job, I still want to pick my son up from the bus and take him to activities, play with him, and help him with his homework after school. A part-time job would be ideal. Honestly, I’m a little scared to put myself back out there. I haven’t worked in 6 years. Would employers consider me because of the large gap? What kinds of jobs am I qualified for? I have a degree in Communication, but it seems that in every job posting, I’m overqualified or don’t have enough experience. What do I want to do with the rest of my life? What do I want to be when I “grow up”? More like growing old… Time will tell. Whatever happens, it is meant to be.
Forty years of life experience. Forty is not considered as old now as it used to be. I’m happy I’m here and that I have a blessed life. Five years from now I wonder what life will look like for me.
Happy 40th Birthday to my fellow 1985 babies! And here’s to the next 40 and beyond!
I was born a Valley Girl. I lived in LA (Northridge) until I was nearly six and my family moved to Atlanta. I have spent over 30 years in the South but I don’t consider myself a Southerner. I’ve been back to California many times since the big move, mainly to LA. I have an aunt and Uncle who live in San Francisco and I’ve visited them many times since I was a kid. Recently my husband and I took our son to see them and the Bay Area. We had many fun experiences during our San Francisco vacation (and a few setbacks) but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
From touring the city to an amusement park, a county fair, a national park, and a sailboat ride, we packed it all in during our stay. It took a full day’s travel there and back, so we had five days of sightseeing and activities in the Bay Area. (and a sixth unplanned day, which I will cover later)
Day 1: Sonoma-Marin Fair We had a great time at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma. It was my second visit to this fair. I went when I was thirteen years old and visited my family over the summer. Now, I got to experience the fair with my husband and son. We enjoyed the rides. My son and I loved going on the Ferris Wheel. My husband would not get on a Ferris wheel, so he watched us from the ground. My son rode on a pony, rode his first little roller coaster, and rode all day. There were livestock shows, rabbits to look at (raised by kids in the local 4H club), artwork, and farm animals. It was a wonderful day.
Day 2: Train Town My son LOVES trains. He plays with toy trains and runs model trains. He could talk about trains all day. He knows the names of all the parts and how they work together. He loves Thomas and Friends and The Polar Express. On the second day of our trip, we went to Train Town, a train amusement park. He was in heaven. We rode a small train that went throughout the park. It was a wooded area with waterfalls and a small town similar to those used in model railroad displays. We got off the train and went to all the shops, the fire stations, the school, etc. It was so neat to look at everything. We fed llamas and goats at the petting zoo.
Train Town also has amusement park rides. We went on the scrambler and that was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. We all loved it. We then rode the roller coaster. The coaster was much bigger than my son rode the day before at the fair. He was so brave. I went on it with him the first time. It had been so long since I’d been on a roller coaster, and even though it was a kid’s ride, I still felt a rush of adrenaline, and it was a little scary for me. My husband and son went on it next and then my son rode it all by himself. He was so brave and had so much fun. Train Town has a few old caboose and train cars that have been renovated and restored. My son had a blast walking through and climbing on these cars playing a pretend game riding the train. We stopped for lunch and then returned to the park, closing it down. He still talks about going back.
Day 3: The City. San Francisco There is so much to see in San Francisco, you can’t possibly do it all in one day. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was foggy, so not a great view. We started our city day by driving down Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. It’s neat to look down from the top and see the winding road. We stopped at the bottom to take pictures and headed to our next stop, Fisherman’s Wharf. We played vintage arcade games at Musee Mecanique. This was my first time there and we all loved it. The arcade is one of the world’s largest privately owned collections of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments and antique arcade games. You can play any of their 300-plus machines in original working condition. Most games are between 25 cents to a dollar. We played some of the musical instruments. My son especially enjoyed the self-playing mechanical pianos and wack a mole. I liked the fortune teller and the mechanical carnival. They also had pinball machines and some more modern games from the 1980s. Many of the arcade games are from the early 1900s.
We then had lunch on the Wharf at Boudin Bakery. Their calm chowder in a sourdough bread bowl is the best. Afterward, we went to Ghiradelli Square and got huge ice cream sundaes. I still can’t believe we at the whole thing! Delicious! We ended our day with a cable car ride, my son’s favorite thing of the day. He sat in the front on the outside of the car and loved every second of the ride. San Francisco cable cars are the only man-operated cable car systems operating today.
Day 4: Muir Woods We enjoyed being in nature at Muir Woods National Monument, where you can walk among beautiful, huge redwood trees. It was very serene and incredible to be among the giant trees. We walked the trails and then drove up Mount Tamalpais, the mountain in which Muir Woods is located. We saw the beautiful scenery of the Bay Area. You could barely see the Bay Bridge beneath the fog. We had lunch at In N Out Burger, one of our favorite burger places on the West Coast that we don’t have at home in Atlanta.
Day 5: Sailboat Cruise on the Bay. Pier 39 My husband booked us on a sailboat cruise on the Bay, and it was wonderful! We boarded the boat on Pier 39, a touristy place with shops and restaurants. The famous seals relax on the docks at the pier, but there were not as many seals as usual that day. We boarded the boat and were very excited to set sail. Then, a camp group boarded with about 15 kids and two counselors. We were less than thrilled about all the children on the boat, but they were very well behaved and my son made friends with a little boy from the camp. They played pirates and my son tried to give this little boy he’d never see again our address, which was very cute.
The boat was a bit rocky on the bow. You could ride on the very front of the sailboat in the open air and see the beautiful views. We passed Alcatraz Island, the prison, and saw dolphins riding behind the sailboat. The boat passed under the Golden Gate Bridge, which you could only see clearly for about a minute beneath the fog. The ride was one of the most enjoyable highlights of our trip.
Baggage Issues and Flight Delays: We had 3 major bag issues on the trip. Three! When we arrived at the airport in Atlanta, we checked in our bags and decided to go on the Plane Train. We didn’t even need to go on it because we were departing from T gates, but we wanted Nathan to experience the ride. Ryan was in charge of my carry-on bag. We got off the plane train and stood by the exit to decide what to do next. We wanted to let Nathan ride on the moving sidewalk. Then, I got a phone call. An airport worker told us he had our bag and tried to return it to us. What?! We didn’t even know it was missing! Ryan left the bag on the plane train! The guy was very nice and returned the bag. We were very thankful.
Our bag struggles had just begun. We landed in San Francisco and it was time to get off the plane. I got off first, thinking Ryan would grab the carry-on bag and come behind me with our son. Well, I got off and waited for them. They didn’t come. I called Ryan and he asked if I had the bag. I said no. He told me it wasn’t in the overhead compartment. Someone must have taken our bag off the plane by mistake! He stayed on the plane and talked with the flight attendants about the problem. He told me to go to baggage claim and see if I could spot someone with our bag. I was a little intimidated about confronting the person who took our bag. I didn’t see anyone with the bag. I also got my checked bag off the baggage carousel and my son’s bag.
Ryan called me and said that one bag was left on the plane. It must belong to the person who took our bag. The flight attendant told him to take it, call the number on the luggage tag, and see about swapping bags. They said if it didn’t work out take it to bag services. We crossed our fingers that it would work. Ryan called the number on the bag tag. No answer. He texted them. No answer. Finally, they picked up the phone and said they would return to the airport to exchange the bags.
Meanwhile, Ryan’s bag did not come off the baggage carousel. It was lost luggage! What was happening to us? We have the worst luck with bags! Ryan went to claim his lost luggage. We looked at the bag tag the agent had given us when we dropped off the bag in Atlanta. It said “Greg Storm, McAllen, Texas.” What?! They had marked the wrong bag and it went to Texas instead of San Francisco.
While Ryan was handling his bag situation at bag services, I exchanged the carry-on bag with the strangers. They had left the airport and returned to meet us outside the baggage claim for the swap. I recognized our bag and we swapped. They were very apologetic. We have the bag back! I still couldn’t believe that this was happening.
My aunt and uncle took us back to their house without Ryan’s bag. It was supposed to arrive in 24 to 48 hours. We put our son to bed and then went shopping for some clothes and necessities for Ryan. We were planning to go to the city the next day and all he had were the clothes on his back. He needed something warm and we did not find anything warm for him at Target. We pushed back the city trip and bought him shorts, T-shirts, and toiletries to get him by. The bag finally arrived the next evening at 10 pm, almost 28 hours later. Whew! What an ordeal!
Unplanned Day 6: The morning we were leaving San Francisco, we got an email saying our flight was delayed and we would miss our connecting flight. Therefore, they changed our itineraries. Since we booked the flights separately, they put us on different flights! They had Ryan going to Miami, and then to Atlanta, arriving the following morning. They had my son and me flying to Dallas and then staying overnight to arrive in Atlanta the next day. What?! Just our luck… Ryan called the airline and got us all on a reasonable flight, but we would have to stay an extra day in San Francisco. Luckily, we were staying with family so we did not need to get a hotel. We were ready to come home but made the best of it by taking our son to the local park and out for lunch.
Finally, we flew home and arrived in Atlanta late that evening. Our son fell asleep on the ride home. He had the worst time recovering from jet lag. He couldn’t fall asleep until very late and struggled with it. His sleep was interrupted for nearly 10 days. It was a struggle. Kids and time change do not mix!
Overall, we had a wonderful family vacation. We experienced fun and exciting things and look forward to our next adventure.
As a teen, I dabbled in poetry. I kept a poetry book that included some poems of importance to me that I found from various sources. I wrote a few of the lyrics myself. I recently discovered the book in a box of old mementos from my youth. I was proud of my meticulously kept compilation of poems. I had a table of contents and made sure to write in my best handwriting. I chose a notebook with a space theme and aliens on the cover. Haha. My nearly 40 compiled poems spanned from 1998 to 2003, from 8th grade until my senior year of high school.
I enjoy looking back on my poems from my youth and remembering what it was like to be a teenager. I open the book and can see myself sitting on my childhood bedroom floor, leaning against my bed, writing and copying down these poems that meant so much to me at the time. I’d share one of the ones I wrote, but let’s just say the poetry was not my best work.
They say children are like sponges. Kids absorb things from their environment. They watch what their parents and caregivers do, what you say to others, how you act, their tone- everything. After becoming a mother, that stuck with me. I want to lead by a good example and teach my child how to be a good person.
I first heard the following poem during counselor training at a summer camp I worked at one summer as a teen. “There are Little Eyes Upon You,” did not resonate with me then. I remember feeling indifferent about the poem, thinking I did not need the training. It was a waste of my time. Yet, I later decided it was essential and included it in my poetry book.
There are Little Eyes Upon You
There are little eyes upon you, and they watch you every day. There are little ears that quickly take in everything you say.
There are little hands all eager, to do everything you do, And a little child who’s dreaming of the day he’ll be like you.
You’re the little fellow’s idol, you’re the wisest of the wise, In his little mind about you no suspicions ever rise.
He believes in you devoutly, and holds true all you say and do. He will say and do it your way when he’s grown up just like you.
There’s a wide-eyed little fellow, who believes you’re always right. His ears are always open, he watches day and night.
You are setting an example, each day in all you do, For the little child who’s waiting, to grow up just like you.
Author Unknown
Parents often see the world differently than children. Adults often focus on the bad, while children see the good in everyday occurrences. For example, you may think you had a terrible day. Maybe you lost your temper and yelled at your child. Perhaps you were late getting them to school, and they missed their morning activity. You burned dinner. You rushed out early for your work meeting and didn’t get to say goodbye to your child before you left the house. Whatever the reason – it’s probably not as bad as you think. There is time to change what you think is a bad day into a good one. As they say on the popular show This is Us, “There’s no lemon so sour that you can’t make something resembling lemonade.”
Your child likely does not see the day as a bad one. They remember the good things about their day, like a spontaneous trip to get ice cream or cuddles during a bedtime story. So, the next time you think you had a bad day, remember that your child probably saw it in a different light. Our job as parents is to help guide our kids along the way, but we could learn a thing or two from our kids. I once read, “If we saw the world the way children do, the world would be a better place.” I wholeheartedly agree.
I’m not a parenting expert by far. I strive to achieve and remember the advice that I gave in this post. Sometimes, I yell at my child. I try not to, but I lose my patience quickly when my son misbehaves. I’m sure this happens to many other parents from time to time. Fellow parents, we are all definitely “growing up while raising humans.”
I hope this poem and my post resonated with you. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll write another poem.
Hello, subscribers. I have been waiting to post something since this summer. If we have been chatting, you know this summer was less than stellar for me.
I have been thinking about what to post next. This post is one of the many stories I have been writing in my head all summer long:
I am a Millennial. I consider myself an older millennial or xennial: part of the Oregon Trail Generation if you will. I was born in 1985, smack dab in the middle of the 1980s. I grew up with an older brother. He basically controlled the TV in our household. My brother is an older millennial, so I consider myself one too.
Many would say millennials get a bad rap. We, older Millennials, are nearly 40. (I am about to be 36 and am super happy about it- for the record). Why do we get classified with the younger millennials? I say it is because generations stick together.
When I graduated high school, our generation was called Generation Y. We were the kids of the millennium. We had the best of both worlds. Life before technology. Life before smartphones. I am sure you have seen all seen the memes about this.
Now, we live in a world where we are glued to our phones. As a parent and as a human, this is a difficult situation for me. I talk to Google like she is my friend. My son also talks to Google, which is quite funny.
Anyways, without further ado: here is my list that I have been compiling all summer:
Signs you might be an older Millennial:
New technology is not your strong suit.
You bought your first Chromebook and still have no idea how to start a zoom call on it. (yet, you will figure it out)
You are looking at your printer (which is hooked up and plugged in) that has not worked in years.
You remember your childhood vividly, basing years on the grade you were in/what a wonderful summer you had.
You love the 80s and 90s nostalgia.
You have a memory of riding in the back of a pickup truck.
You also have a memory of riding in the back of a minivan with no seats. Seatbelts seemed optional, but you knew you were supposed to wear them.
Nickelodeon was the best. TGIF was even better.
You may have graduated college during a recession.
You are becoming a parent or raising a child during a pandemic: pandemic toddlers are so resilient.
You are a believer in social justice, at least I am.
You know exactly where you were when you heard of the death of Princess Diana. You remember who you were with at the time.
The same goes for 9/11. May those we lost live on in the memories of their loved ones. Never Forget.
You do not want to settle for any job. It has to be a career job.
You love social media: I remember seeing an actual, The Facebook at the University of Georgia. This yearbook-type publication is where they say Mark Zuckerberg got the idea for the platform while at Harvard. (If you watched the movie The Social Network, he could have stolen the idea. I guess we do not know)
You get confused by Instagram, wishing they taught you how to use it for business in school.
You did not have a hashtag at your wedding. (It wasn’t a very common thing when I married my husband in 2013.)
You may remember seeing rotary phones at Grandma’s house.
You avoid group texts. I am doing that right now, so I can have time to write this.
You prefer talking on the phone over texting.
You got your first phone at age 16 when you were able to drive on your own.
Nowadays, you hate listening to your voice mail.
You think chain letters/emails are the worst. Did you know they still exist? My friends broke the chain of a sticker club for my son once. We did not get any stickers in the mail. (but my son did get some from a friend in person)
You miss getting letters in the mail.
You still like to write things down even though it is easier to use your phone or computer.
You always have to look up how to spell emoji. Thanks, spellcheck.
Speaking of emojis, you overuse them. 🙂 ❤
Mom jeans are back in style, but they are not the ones you remember as a child.
You love skinny jeans. In middle school, you may have spent your own money on wide-leg jeans from the Limited Too.
You did not fly on an airplane until you were in elementary or middle school.
You grew out your bangs as a child. Now you have side bangs as an adult.
Your friends all have grey hair. (none yet for me, luckily)
You have tickets for Elton John so you can say you saw him before he “retires.”
Music shaped your childhood, and now you share that music with your children.
This list could go on forever, like the song that never ends…
I am sorry if you are singing that song right now. Ha!
I would love to know more about you all: my subscribers. Are you an older millennial? What else would you add to this list?
Before my son was born, I bought him a baby book. I didn’t think much of it other than I liked it because it was Woodland themed like his nursery. I knew that my mom had baby books for my brother and me, and I liked the idea of keeping track of my baby’s milestones. It is something I can look back on for years to come and even he will read it one day.
The baby book I bought for my son.
While my son was in the NICU, I started filling out the pages. Everything from my baby shower, news from the day he was born, all about his family and his first days. The book even had a page to record memories of a ceremony, such as his bris.
Every month my husband and I would sit down and fill out the page of what baby could do, what baby likes, etc. Well some months, we had to do two pages at a time because we had waited too long. It got to be somewhat of a chore to record the page each month, especially because it was always the same questions. A lot of times nothing had changed in a certain area and I’d just write, “Same as last month.”
A sample of one of the memory book pages.
Also, his monthly pictures got to be a chore as well. From picking out the outfit to the stress of trying to take the perfect picture, but I’m glad I have them. I took them on the exact monthly birthday each time. When he got older, a new challenge arose of trying to get him to sit still for a photo. Now, I’m lucky if the picture isn’t blurry because my son never stops moving and is always on the go.
After each doctor’s appointment, I would record his weight, his height, and his immunizations in his baby book. There is also a page to record his teeth coming in and pages with various other milestones. The book goes up to age five, with the focus on the baby’s first year. I like the idea of recording memories of my child because we so easily forget the little things. There are plenty of spaces to add photos to the baby book and I was very diligent on putting photos in for his first seven months. After that, life got busy and I stopping getting photos printed and adding them to his baby book. I’ll have to update the book with recent photos soon.
Somewhere along the way, after my son was born I wanted to his record milestones as they happened. When he was about five months old, I began to record them in my Passion Planner. There is a space called “good things that happened” in each weekly spread. I shifted the focus of that from myself to my son. It was a good way to remember things to record in the baby book and to have another record of it. Later on, I started recording them on a list app on my phone and then would transfer the milestone later to my planner and then to the baby book. It can seem like an inefficient system, but it worked for me in my daily life. If I thought of something, I could just type it on my phone instead of finding the planner or the baby book. I used to delete the list on my phone once I recorded it elsewhere, but now I like to keep an ongoing list because it tells you the exact day I recorded it. That’s how I know my son started walking on September 25, 2019! I record the simplest things to the biggest, such as when he found his feet to new words he learned. Some of his achievements that I recorded are not what you would call a traditional milestone, but it is something I want to remember. My son was born premature, so he hit his milestones a little later than most children, but every child is different and does things at different times.
Having lists in different places can be confusing. Because I want to have everything in one place, I decided to make a list of each month and each year and everything he did that month that I felt the need to record. I started this list using all three sources, and so far have only recorded the month of January 2019. But, I’ll finish it eventually and one day I will be so glad I did. Probably when he gets curious about the baby book or when he has children someday and wants to know what he did and when to compare.
When I have another child one day, I probably won’t be this disciplined with keeping track of milestones. With the challenges of taking care of two children, I probably will barely use the next child’s baby book. That is how it turned out for my mom. She spent so much time making my brother’s baby book, cutting out shapes out of wrapping paper and gluing them in because stickers and scrapbooking weren’t as common. Now there are so many memory-making options out there and even online photo books and digital scrapbooking.
When it got time for my baby book, my mom filled out the beginning but didn’t finish it. I don’t blame her; she was keeping up with two children. There is a list in the back of the baby book of my milestones that were never transferred. My mom kept my baby bracelet from the hospital and my first lock of hair. I’m so glad the memories are recorded and that’s probably where I got the idea to keep up with my son’s baby book. I have always loved scrapbooking and plan to make a scrapbook of my son one day. I do the traditional scrapbooking with paper and stickers. I’m still working on scrapbooking my honeymoon from six years ago, but you know I’ve made some progress.
I hope one day, my son and even my grandchildren will appreciate the effort I took to preserve these milestone memories. Are you recording memories of your children? It’s never too late to start!
2016 has been an amazing year for my family and me so far. I can’t believe how lucky we all are and how many good things we have had happened to us. Things keep getting better and better. There are a lot of changes going on, but they are all positive ones.
Earlier this year, we found out that my brother and sister-in-law are expecting! I am going to be an aunt to a sweet baby girl! Plus, the baby is due on my birthday in September. Imagine that! At least we’ll share the same birth month if not the day. I’m very excited about what this means for my family. My parents are overjoyed to be grandparents and we’re deep into planning a baby shower for her this summer. But that’s not all….
As you may have read in my last post, we found our dream home! I won’t go into that in detail, but you can read all about it here. We plan to move into the house in a few weeks. First, we need to put carpet in. We’re so happy that we found a wonderful place to live and plan to stay there for many years. It sure is a great looking house on the inside and out! It feels strange to be a homeowner but also very good. We’re really grown-ups now!
Two days after they accepted the offer on our house, we were given a huge opportunity. To give you some background information, my husband and I applied for a trip called Honeymoon Israel (HMI) at the end of last year. Honeymoon Israel is a guided trip to Israel with 19 other couples, all from the same city, mainly geared at interfaith couples. We really wanted to go, and went through the interview process. There were two trips going to Israel from Atlanta through HMI this year and we really wanted to get on the May trip. We didn’t get picked to go on either trip, but we were put on the waiting list. We thought that we would never get to go this year. But, lucky us, a couple cancelled and they offered us the spot! When we first got the email that we could go on the trip, I was very doubtful. I mean, we just went under contract on a house. But, my husband assured me that it would be OK and that we couldn’t pass up this trip of a lifetime. We got the deposit paid and registered to go. Honeymoon Israel was an amazing experience and I’ll blog about it soon. But, it was awfully strange and crazy to go on a trip like this the day after we closed on our house. You can find more about Honeymoon Israel by clicking here.
If you think it couldn’t get any better, we have more great news for my family. My dad, who lives in Texas, had planned on retiring from his job in March of 2017. He was there with my mom temporarily for a job transfer. Well, his company decided to do a voluntary layoff. That means he’ll be able to work until November of this year and then get “laid off” with severance pay for a while. My dad was very glad to be giving this opportunity, especially with the baby coming. So, at the end of November, my parents will move back to Georgia for good.
Well, 2016 has been a fantastic year, and we’re only halfway through it. I can’t wait to see what else this year brings for us and for many more great years to come. May they keep getting better and better!
I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day. Some may say it’s a conspiracy for the greeting card companies, but I think of it as a day to let people know that you love them. Although, you should also do this throughout the year, of course! My brother was born on Valentine’s Day, so it’s always had two meanings for our family. I’m sure, having a Valentine’s birthday is difficult as an adult. Everyone wants to go out on dates with their Valentine, and you just want to celebrate your birthday.
As a child, I loved going to school on Valentine’s Day. I enjoyed making mailboxes, handing out cards and candy, and getting lots of Valentines. It was always the best day. The Room Mom would come, and we’d always have a party. I continued this tradition of giving Valentines in middle school and embarrassingly in the beginning of high school as well. I had been known to give suggestive Valentines to boys I liked, but now looking back on it the thought makes me cringe a little.
At home, my parents would give me a Valentine’s Day present, usually a stuffed animal or something red and pink. We would give my brother his presents and then do Valentines presents. I usually got my parents a little something too. Now, I send them a card since we don’t live in the same state anymore.
Beautiful Valentine’s Tulips, 2009
Once I met my husband in college, I always had a Valentine. I remember our first Valentine’s Day. We had just been dating for three months. We ate at Longhorn for a lunch date and Ryan got me the most beautiful flowers I have ever received. Pink roses. He also gave me a stuffed bear that said “Hottie.” I think it sang a song too. I loved it at the time but looking back, we both think it’s pretty tacky. This is our 11th Valentine’s Day together and here are some of my favorite Valentine’s memories with my husband:
I remember:
Having lunch V-day dates in College
Ordering from Chile’s to go when we didn’t want to eat out and couldn’t decide what to do for dinner.
The year we got in a fight because he was late getting my present.
All the wonderful gifts he’s gotten me, such as flowers, the “Hottie” bear and our beloved bear from Chicago, my butterfly “designer” necklace, candy, owl jewelry, and so much more!
The time he sent me beautiful tulips to my house.
Two years ago, when we spent Valentine’s Day celebrating our friends’ marriage at their rehearsal dinner.
Last year, when we had brunch at our favorite spot, Reveille, because my husband was photographing my co-worker’s Valentine’s Day wedding later that day.
V-Day Gifts 2015
My husband’s birthday is three days before Valentine’s Day. We usually celebrate my husband’s and brother’s birthdays together since they are so close. Lately, we go out the four of us — me, my husband, my brother and my sister-in-law — to celebrate. Since my parents live in Texas, they are unable to celebrate the family February birthdays. Next year, they should be moved back and we will all celebrate together once again.
I always try to keep presents for my husband’s birthday and Valentine’s Day separate, getting him gifts set aside for each holiday. This can get expensive, especially after Chanukah and Christmas. We usually set a price limit and use Amazon Wish Lists to let each other know what we would like. This year, my husband made a BIG birthday purchase, so he said not got get him anything. I wanted to get him something for V-Day anyway, so we compromised on candy.
This year, I think we will continue the brunch tradition and dine at Reveille. We’ll do something else fun during the day as well. On February 14th, hold your loved ones close and let that special someone know how you feel. I can’t wait to see what V-Day 2016 has in store for us! Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
This year on November 11, my husband and I will celebrate 10 years as a couple. Although we have only been married for two years, we have been together forever and know each other very well. We have a decade down and forever to go. In this post, I will share memories and pictures of the past 10 years starting with the year we met, 2005.
Our First Date
2005 Memories:
We met through Greek life at Kennesaw State.
Our first date was my sorority dance with friends and then we went camping afterwards.
We started dating and went out to parties and restaurants.
We went to his fraternity Christmas party and celebrated the holidays together.
We rung in the New Year together.
Our 9 Month Anniversary Date
2006 Memories:
We both celebrated our 21st birthdays.
We started officially dating on St. Patrick’s Day.
We went to Ryan’s great uncle’s lake house for the first time together over July 4th weekend.
We went to a lot of concerts together.
Ryan met my family from California during a visit for my brother’s college graduation.
We had our first time apart when I went to Israel.
In August, Ryan gave me his Greek letters to wear, a lavaliere. I had a candle pass ceremony with my sorority.
We had a very nice anniversary date to celebrate 9 months.
Ryan’s Fraternity Formal
2007 Memories:
I landed an internship at the TowneLaker Magazine and Ryan landed his at Childspring International.
We went to my sorority formal together, the Purple Iris Ball in Atlanta.
We went to the lake house in Tennessee again. This time for a long weekend.
We also went to Ryan’s Roseball fraternity formal in October.
San Francisco and our California Coast Road Trip
2008 Memories
We both graduated college this year. I graduated in May, and Ryan graduated in December.
Upon graduation, I was hired for my first job out of college at the same magazine I interned at.
We attended our last fraternity and sorority formals. Ryan’s Roseball was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
We went on our first big vacation together. We flew into LA, spent time with my family, and then drove up the coast to San Francisco and back.
We went to our friends’ weddings.
Bahamas Cruise
2009 Memories:
In January, we went on a cruise to the Bahamas.
In February, I unfortunately was laid off from the magazine due to the economy.
In March, I started working at Life University.
In April, we went to New York City for the first time for a long weekend.
I moved out of my parent’s house and into an apartment with roommates.
Ryan started prosthetics school at Northwestern University in Chicago and took online classes.
My 25th Birthday
2010 Memories:
Ryan moved to Chicago for three months to finish up prosthetics school at Northwestern for the hands-on portion of his program.
We had a long distance relationship during that time and we got through it.
April started the Staff Newsletter at Life University.
Ryan graduated from Northwestern and started his prosthetics residency.
We celebrated our five year anniversary with dinner at Shout and stayed at the W hotel.
April got a second job writing freelance for Patch.com.
Trip to Hilton Head
2011 Memories:
We got snowed in for a week at my apartment during the big storm.
We went to Hilton Head over July 4th weekend.
We moved in together in July to the Vinings area.
We went to a friend’s wedding at Villa Christina and loved it so much we ended up getting married there two years later.
We got our first Christmas tree for our apartment and decorated for Chanukkah and X-mas.
Engagement Photo Shoot
2012 Memories:
We fostered a very cute kitty for a week. Wish we could have kept her!
We found a new hobby- archery! We shot bows and arrows at an archery learning center.
Ryan became a Certified and Licensed Prosthetist.
April started her personal blog here on WordPress.
We got engaged on September 12th! We started planning our wedding and set a date.
My parents found out they had to move to Texas the next year for my dad’s job.
We spent the Christmas holidays with my in-laws in Florida and went to the Florida Keys.
Our Wedding
2013 Memories:
We continued to plan our wedding and registered for gifts.
My brother and sister-in-law got engaged! We attended their engagement party in Baltimore, Maryland.
We had our engagement photo session.
My parents moved to Texas and we moved into their house here.
I had two bridal showers and a bachelorette party.
I totaled my Camry in an accident and then we bought a Volvo station wagon for me to drive.
Ryan got into photography and videography.
At my brother’s wedding in Cancun
2014 Memories
My brother and sister-in-law got married in Cancun, Mexico. What a fun destination wedding!
We survived Snow Jam 2014. Ryan got stranded overnight in his car.
We attended and were in a lot of family and friends’ weddings.
We went to San Francisco for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah and then went on our anniversary road trip to Vancouver and back. We stopped in Napa, the Redwoods, Portland and Seattle.
We celebrated our first wedding anniversary!
Ryan started his photography and videography business.
April was hired as a freelance writer for the Atlanta Jewish Times.
The Baslers do the Grand Canyon
2015 Memories:
We both turned the big 3-0 this year!
April wrote a cover story for the Atlanta Jewish Times.
Ryan published his website and his photography and videography business grew.
We went to Las Vegas in April for the first time. We also went on a Grand Canyon tour.
Ryan made a short film and entered it into a contest.
We bought a new car and swapped vehicles with family, so we’re both driving different cars now.
We celebrated our second wedding anniversary at a museum and had dinner where we got married.
We have travel plans to go to Texas soon and visit my parents. We are going to Florida for Thanksgiving with Ryan’s family.
And much more to come!
I’m looking forward to many more decades of happy memories with my husband, Ryan. Happy 10 years babe!
“Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet, Give me Something good to Eat.”
It’s something most of us grew up saying on Halloween. I always loved Dressing up into costumes and going trick or treating. My costumes were hardly ever scary though. As a child, I loved the idea of ringing my neighbor’s door bell and then getting free candy. This post is a tribute to Halloween’s of the past, in a more simple time when kids could trick or treat without their parents and not worry about anything bad happening. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, so I have a lot of fond memories of Halloween back in the day. I looked all over my mom’s old photo albums to find pictures of my costumes from when I was little. Here is some of what I found:
A bunny for my first Halloween
Me as a clown at 1 year old. My brother was Charlie Brown
A clown, yet again, 2 years old
Bobbing for apples at the neighborhood party
Cheerleader
Bride
Arabian Princess
Here are some of my favorite Halloween memories:
When I was in Kindergarten dressed as a Rock Star and went to the Halloween festival at my school, Topeka Drive Elementary in Northridge, California
Being a pumpkin for who knows how many years in a row. I put a pillow in my stomach!
All the neighborhood Halloween parties at our friends’ house in the neighborhood I grew up in. We bobbed for apples, decorated pumpkins and one year we tried to make a haunted house with a graveyard. Didn’t work out so well…
The year where it snowed on Halloween and instead of being a fairy princess, I had to trick or treat around the neighborhood in a heavy jacket with my face painted.
Going trick or treating in huge neighborhoods with our parents driving us around in their minivans. One time we took the seats out and sat in the back. My friend’s dad opened the trunk and my friend fell out and hit the pavement! (She was OK though).
In seventh grade, I was Tin Woman and went trick or treating with my friends who were all characters from the Wizard of Oz. I duct taped my old Jeans and wore a silver shirt and we painted my face silver. I also had a funnel and an ax. That year, we went out in one of the nice neighborhoods and I was so excited that they gave us full size candy bars.
In ninth grade, I went to a lot of Halloween parties and dressed as a French Maid as well as went trick or treating.
Well, in tenth grade, I didn’t think I was too old to trick or treat, but actually was. I went as a devil and got tricked on. Some guys drove past me in the street and threw an open container of cottage cheese at me! I cried. That was the last time I went trick or treating lol!
Over the years I was a bride, a cheerleader, a bunny among other costumes.
In college, I went as angel freshman year and went to a sorority mixer at a bar in Athens, when I was attending the University of Georgia.
When I attended college at Kennesaw State, I went to a lot of fraternity Halloween parties. That next year I was a fallen angel. Aka sexy angel. After I met my boyfriend, now husband, we started doing couples costumes. One year, I was a playboy bunny and Ryan was Hugh Hefner, but in his dad’s robe he looked like Ward Cleaver!
The next year we went as Doctor Basler and his sexy nurse. The year after that I was having trouble finding a good costume so I ended up just picking whatever I could find that fit and went as a fairy with wings. Ryan reinvented his costume and went as an Army Doctor in his camouflage scrubs.
In 2010, after college, we dressed up as a Flapper and a Gangsta. That was a really fun year. We went to a Halloween party at a restaurant. No more college parties for us…
Now, for Halloween, we don’t really do much. One year, after my husband and I moved in together, we found out some very sad news on Halloween. My husband’s cousin has passed away. That was a very sad evening for us. Ronny you are missed.
We live in my parents’ house while they are in Texas and we do have a few trick or treaters who come to our door. We decorate a little bit, and since it is a small neighborhood, there are not that many door bell rings.
This year, Halloween is on a Saturday, so I will be re-doing my Day of the Dead makeup and being a sugar skull when the kids come to our door. We bought pumpkins and will decorate them by painting them. Carving is not my thing. See below for my inspirations.
At my work, we are allowed to dress up for Halloween. Since it has to be professional attire, I dressed up in a skirt and blouse with my bunny accessories.
What will Halloween have in store for us next year? We should be living in our new house by then, so hopefully a new location will bring more trick or treaters.
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