My Birthday

 

Today, I turned 26 years old at 7:53 a.m. and I am enjoying it so far.

I really liked being 25.  Twenty-five was a year of growth for me...a time of acceptance of my age and the time of life I currently am in.  I even found my first grey hair.  I mean, I really accepted that as I grow older, some things are inevitable.  Some things are going to happen as I age whether I'm ready for it or not.  Things like my body filling out, or the fact that I would rather go to bed a little early than to stay up watching TV and snacking.

I have done a lot of introspective thinking this past year and I have gained a lot of self-knowledge.  I love and accept everything about who I am, but I am learning to positively gear certain things in positive directions.  I am opinionated -- but I don't need to complain so much.  I like a clean house -- and sometimes to have that, it takes sacrifice of rest and relaxation, but in the end, I will feel better.  My body is filling out -- but I need to exercise and limit my snacks, even if brownies taste really, really good.

Although 25 was a good age, I know that I will love 26 a little bit more.  I don't know if I will start dreading a new age as I get closer to 30 -- and 26 may possibly be my best year ever.  There are things that I have promised myself to do, and not to do, at the age of 26.  There are some things that I have grown up from, and as a grown adult, I get to choose how I act, every darn day.  I will embrace that.

As for my birthday gifts this year, Keane had beautiful flowers delivered to my work!  There are orange roses, orange, yellow, and green freshia, red carnations, and some little green and yellow flowers than I am unsure of their name.  They came in an adorable vase than I cannot wait to reuse.  Also, my mom, dad, and brother got me mums for my flower bed, a birthday party full of decorations, decorative cookies, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, a delicious meatloaf supper with the family, and twenty-six $1 bills inside individual balloons in which I had to pop to retrieve!  My sister got me an outfit with the shirt I'm wearing in the above photo, skinny black pants, the jewelry in the above photo along with a bracelet, new bareMinerals make-up foundation, and Bath & Body Works perfume (I asked for one of these items, and she got me them all!).  Keane got me tickets to the Cardinals' game this Saturday, along with lunch reservations at Eleven Eleven Mississippi prior to the game.  If the anticipation does not kill me first, I know it's going to be a blast!  Keane and the kids plan to bake me a cake tomorrow and I'm looking forward to the celebration.  (Update: the kids and Keane made me a delicious yellow cake with chocolate icing and 26 candles in the shape of "26."  The kids got me a new cutting board to go over the sink with a built-in strainer, kitchen canisters, some candy, and a dry erase board to keep on the refrigerator!)

To wrap up a wonderful birthday, Keane and I celebrated Taco Tuesday at a new Mexican restaurant in town, Jose Jaliscos.  The food was delicious.  We then went home to start a new workout program.  Welcome, my 26th year of age!