Bring it on thirties!

This is a long post, more for me and my recollection of the monumental event, so feel free to skim on down to the pictures...

It's official. I'm 30 years old.  I can't believe how amazing I feel and how happy I am to be welcoming in another decade.  My 20's were great...

College, skating, dancing, parties, friends, roommates, meeting a boy in a band, falling in love, being a groupie, buying my own dog, turning 21, getting my first "real job", getting engaged, focusing on my career, moving to Seattle for my career, getting married to the love of my life, starting our own traditions, cooking Thanksgiving all by myself, traveling with my soulmate, taking chances, leaving everything we know, moving to Philadelphia for my husband's career, starting a whole new life, new job, new friends, our first purchased home, my first pregnancy, my adorable baby girl, leaving my career behind, my new life as a mommy and now moving back west.  It's been an amazing 10 years and I am so grateful for all that life has given me.  I feel like I've lived my 20's and I'm so ready to take on the next decade beginning with our big move to California.

My 21st Birthday with Mike in Vegas.

I have to say the best thing about my 20's was meeting my husband.  Mike is hands down the most incredible person I know.  He worked really hard to make my 30th the most memorable birthday of my life without having all of our friends and family near us.  Here's a recollection of the events... and warning, it's not quick.

Friday I went out with my girlfriends here in Philly.  We went to this amazing new restaurant on the top floor of one of the largest buildings in the city, R2L.  The view was amazing, the food was great and the company was delightful.  Thanks to Lauren, Meghann and Leslie for kicking my 30th of right.

Mike had originally planned to do a small something on my actual bday (the day before Thanksgiving this year) and do a bigger celebration over the weekend.  But, we were fortunate enough to have my brother and his family come for Thanksgiving and they arrived on my birthday.  He had an entire theme thought out.  30 years over 3 days, 30 gifts at 10 per day and each of the 3 days signifying a moment.  The past, the present and the future.  So, Mike and I did his mini celebration on Tuesday, focusing on the past.

1. Flowers were delivered
2. A card from Mike
3. A card from Stella and
4. A pair of Toms from Stella too.
5. Nerd Ropes (my fave in college)
6. A coconut (which we cracked, baked and made chips out of, like the chips we ate on our 5 year anniversary along the road to Hana)
7. A box of Bisquick (which we made crepes with, like Mike did the first time he cooked for me)
8. A box of Macaroons (our favorite Parisian treat)
9. A bottle of wine (the first "nice" bottle we ever bought)
10. A beautiful Chocolate cake

 

On Wednesday, my actual birthday I enjoyed phone calls and surprise packages from friends and family throughout the day and celebrated that evening with my brother and his family.  They sang to me and we ate my chocolate cake, it was AMAZING!

Saturday, was the second day of Mike's celebration focusing on the present.
1. At 11:30 am, Mike and I went to run a few errands, but instead he dropped me off at a spa and said, "I'll be here to pick you up at 4:30."  I was in shock, so excited and so unaware.  I have never had a "spa day", although I must say I've always wanted one and imagined what it might be like.  It was everything I had imagined and maybe even more... Facial, Massage, Lunch, Manicure, and Pedicure.
2. When Mike picked me up, he had a hot Eggnog Latte from Starbucks, mmmm. My favorite.
3. I got home and was told to quickly shower and get ready for the evening, when I walked into the bathroom there were more flowers.
4. and a card.
5. As I was reading the card, Mike walked in with 2 glasses and a bottle of champagne.  The card talked about enjoying the present and I was thinking about that day, how amazingly lucky I was, when Mike closed the door behind him and there was...
6. A bottle of new perfume and...
7. A beautiful black dress from my favorite designer that Mike had picked out and bought for me to wear along with...
8. A pair of charcoal booties.  I was stunned, amazed and started crying at how incredibly thoughtful, creative and romantic my husband was.
9. Once I was dressed and ready, the babysitter arrived (all set up by Mike, unbeknownst to me) and we drove to the city and enjoyed a lovely dinner at Buddakan.
10. Once we got home, we cozied up and rented a movie (Grown Ups) one of our absolute favorite things to do.

 
I couldn't believe it could continue, but it did.  And on Sunday, we celebrated the future...
1. Flowers
2. A card
3. A new pair of flip flops (moving to Cali and all)
4. New sunscreen
5. A pair of sunglasses
6. Dwell - A design magazine, to inspire design ideas for our future home in Cali
7. A new sweater/dress
8. New Running Shoes
9. Registration for the 2 of us to run in the Huntington Beach 1/2 Marathon in February.
10. A day of shopping at King of Prussia Mall.

It was truly the best and most memorable birthday of my life.  I'm so happy, so lucky and so grateful to have the amazing family and friends that I have.  Thanks to everyone for remembering me on my special day and most of all, thank you Mike for being... well, you.  I love you.

Thanksgiving, The Baltz's come to Philly

One of the things that we'll miss most about being in Philly is the fact that my brother, CJ lives in DC (about 2.5 hours away) and we've been able to spend a lot of time with them over the past few years.  So, the Baltz's decided to come and visit Philly one final time and I LOVE cooking and hosting Thanksgiving dinner - so we were thrilled and so excited for them to come.

They arrived on Wednesday evening (which also happened to be my 30th birthday!), so we had a mini birthday celebration, gave the girls a bath, put them to bed and spent the evening catching up and enjoying family.  On Thursday morning, the girls woke up early with me and watched cartoons while I began preparing not only breakfast, but the feast of the evening. 

Once the turkey was in the oven, we felt the kids needed to get out and spend some energy so we headed to the ice rink and did some Turkey Day skating.  It was Hannah's first time and she was great.  She was comfortable on her feet and enjoyed it so much she wants to take lessons now - Sorry CJ! It was Stella's first time too and it was so much fun to have her on the ice.  She wasn't too sure about gliding or standing on the ice, but she loved when mommy skated while holding her in her arms.  Whenever I'd pick up speed or spin, she would yell "mo, mo!"(which means "more, more!")

The dinner turned out delicious and it was such a great holiday.  I loved having CJ and his family with us, we're going to miss them like crazy.

Looking for a home...

Well, the past few weeks have flown by.  We finally got approvals on our move and then decided to jump into action - no reason to delay! So within a week, we researched the area, found a Realtor, found a mortgage broker, hopped on a plane and headed to Orange County. 

Stella was great on the first flight to Phoenix, which was amazing because we were stuck out on the runway for 1.5 hours before we could even take off.  She was a a champ, but it all came to a head when we were in the airport in Phoenix waiting for our second flight.  She was hysterically screaming, it was so bad that we had 2 different women come up and offer to help us.  Yikes.  Luckily she fell asleep once we were on the plane and slept the whole flight to Orange County.

The first day, Mike and I drove around South County and the different areas we were considering... Aliso Viejo, San Clemente, Ladera Ranch, Costa Mesa, Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel.  That afternoon we met with our realtor and walked through 15+ homes.  It was so overwhelming and honestly a little disheartening.  We knew OC was expensive, but we were pretty disappointed in the types of properties we could afford. 

But, after our first day, we decided we definitely wanted to live in Aliso Viejo, our Realtor got a better sense of who we were and what we were looking for and day 2 was a complete 180.  We saw great homes, great neighborhoods and at the end of the day, we had found at least 3 homes we were considering putting an offer on. 

We decided to take Tuesday off from house hunting and just enjoyed the day, got to know the neighborhood, hung out at the beach and went to our friends' daughter's 4th Birthday party at a petting zoo.  Stella loved it, and it was so fun to spend time with Sierra and Chase - I can't wait to be close to them!

Laguna Beach

Petting Zoo

On our final day there, we moved forward and put an offer on a house! We LOVE the house, but it's a short sale, so it's very likely we won't get it and even if we do, it could be 6-8 months before it's ours.  We are still amazed that we were able to accomplish so much with such a quick trip across the entire country.  But, we're so happy with what we found and fingers crossed we actually get it!

Our home (hopefully!)

At the Realtor's office, signing the offer!

Stella - 16 Months

Free scrapbook generated with Smilebox

California... get ready for the Days!

Yep, that's right. We're outta here, so long Philly... hello California!  We are so excited to be moving back West, closer to family, friends and well, a place we'll be so happy to call home.  More details to come...

Happy Halloween!

Wow.  Trick-or-treating is so much more fun with a kid!

This year we decided to make it a family affair and stick with a theme.  It began this summer when Stella was stung by not 1, but 2 bees.  The first... in the mouth, after she picked it up and put it in there and the second, on her finger when she tried yet again to pick up a bee.  Our house was bee haven, I must have killed dozens, they were everywhere.  Finally, an exterminator came by and found a GIANT bee's nest in our ceiling. Ewwwwww. I always have hated the little buggers, but after this experience it seemed appropriate to dress up as them to make up for killing them all and destroying their home.  Oh, and well... it's a great homage to our homeland, Utah... the Beehive State.

It began on Saturday with Mall-o-ween at the King of Prussia Mall.

Then a costume party for the adults (Stella and her friend, Tyler went to bed shortly after we arrived.)

And, ending with the real deal.  The family of dressed-up trick-or-treaters.  We went around our little "community" and we were the only ones! I was shocked.  I miss the days of Utah and the bazillions of kids running around on Halloween.  But of course, Stella could have cared less.  She LOVED it.  She enjoyed ringing the doorbells, and standing there with her bag while it was filled with candy.  And, we found out this weekend, she loves candy.

The holiday ended with Stella's Halloween PJ's.  The skeleton glows in the dark and totally freaks us out when we put her to bed and go check on her at night.