30.

And then I turned 30. And it was super fun.

I’ve always wanted to be older than I am. (I just deleted 3 large paragraphs about my struggle with growing up and not fitting in. It sounded

way too “woe is me” and I didn’t like the tone it was setting for a fun blog entry. HA! Deleted. I’ll try to reword and make it less lame.) I’ve

always looked forward to aging and becoming more wise. Always being the youngest in my family and in school drove me nuts. I didn’t get

my license til junior yr. You guys, I didn’t even “become a woman” till junior freaking year either. (Ya, I just announced that to the world.

Maybe another 16 yr old girl is in the dumps because everyone is making fun of her about the same thing. It’s cool girlfriend! Early

developers top out quick, I grew like 5 inches in 1yr! There’s hope!) Why is that relevant? Because I hated feeling “young” and treated like

a baby. I’m sooo not the girl who says “high school or college was the best years of my life!” Nope. Not even close, especially HS.

I don’t want to turn back time unless to see my sister in the flesh a little longer.

Then holy shit I just turned 30. 30?! And I’m totes ok with it. Full on embracing it. I’m so happy with my life right now, I couldn’t imagine

it being better. Trying not to be douchey here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still human and always struggling to discern “want’s vs needs.” But I

feel so incredibly blessed and happy it’s kind of frightening. We continue to (over)work hard for everything we have and have never been

handed anything in life. I have more and better friends now that I could ever have imagined growing up. It’s fantastic. A feeling of

contentment I guess? That word often has a negative connotation, but not for me. I finally feel good about myself for the first time in…30

yrs! 🙂 I still have plenty to work on, but the things that bothered me even just a few years ago (Stretchmarks! My size 4’s mocking me! etc)

suddenly don’t matter. I’m lying if I say that I don’t miss my pre Nori body, but my body tells a story that Adam seems to love so I’m good!

Since Ali left us, I’ve focused on the importance of life. Making stronger the bonds of those who truly care about me and letting go of anyone

holding me back. I can’t make others always be happy but I can choose to be happy. Put happy out, get happy back!

Since I’ve embraced this, it’s like a revelation. I all around just feel better. So this 30th year of mine I’m continuing to focus on letting go

and moving forward…happily. Can’t even bottle up the excitement I have for my future with my wonderful hub, kiddies and my businesses!

I celebrated a lot around my bday. Adam planned a friends party for me (he had an incredibly hard time “drawing the line” of who to invite.

I sincerely apologize for any hurt feelings. :-/ ) We missed all of you who couldn’t make it! So here I am, 30 and sucking it in.

Sorry Mom.

I meeeean…

Some of my yogis!We have a few good friends who live in Cali now. So I was thrilled Markie was in town and could make it! Miss you!

Probably about 5 times a week Nori asks me to get pregnant with a little sister for her. “But evvveryone is pregnant Mom! Why can’t you be

too?” Totes not done being preggy but the upcoming schedule does not allow for a bambino anytime soon! I’ll just live vicariously through

these gorgeous mamas.

Adam put on the invite to wear color for me. Those legs belong to Billy ^. When Nori saw this she said, “who stole your socks!?”My aunt Dale got me these amazing dyed roses!

As the night progressed you can see how people got bored with the signs and added new props.

And theeeen this grossness happened. Blechhh!

Ya. That’s slobber.

YES.

Hahahaha.

If you made it all the way through…thanks to everyone who made this bday fun! And more importantly thanks to everyone who has helped

me get this far in being successful in life. Thanks to my folks for having me and loving me even when I was a jerk the last 30 yrs. (My

mom shared my birth story on my other blog if you missed it!)  And huge thanks to Adam for loving me the last ten years and really helping me

understand his mentality of “who really gives a shit what people think!” I love all of you! To all of you dedicated readers out there

I don’t know personally, I hope to meet you one day! Heart, Melanie. :-*