i celebrated turning thirty-one over the weekend with some quality garden time, farmers markets, good food, friends, and crafting.  and as a special gift, the pools closing coincided with my birthday weekend, meaning that saturday was dog days of summer!  (we go every year, here are last year and the year before)

the markets are vibrant and lively - you can feel summer coming to an end.

 bella helps with the harvests and then the sowing of cool weather veggies.  it looks like we're going to be eating a lot of pesto this winter.

^^a cross stitch i made for our new nephew, emil.^^  we got out to colorado for a couple of days to meet the adorable new addition to the family, and this project was so perfect for relieving flight anxiety.  i think i'll do one on every trip from now on.

 dog days was a blast, as usual, though belle didn't do a lot of leaping into the water like she normally does.  it's hard to believe she's almost ten.

 ^^my pick for best in show this year^^  must. eat. all of the water!

 we even managed to get some swim time in, ourselves!

 a few nights ago we were lucky enough to spot this cicada molting in our back yard.  its wings came out in ridiculously vibrant colors.  i've always loves collecting their shed exoskeletons, but have never been able to see it happening.  really cool.  a few days later a praying mantis kept following me and trying to land on me.  i'm taking both of these encounters as signs of positive transformation, rebirth, and inner calmness/inner strength.  all things that will be very helpful in the coming months ;)

while 30 was a fantastic year, 31 is shaping up to be miraculous!

mexico.  can we please move to mexico? please? it just feels like home.

we've just returned from a very relaxing family vacation celebrating eric's mom's birthday.  i've been to mexico a few times, but never to a resort or touristy town.  this trip to mexico was all-inclusive and in the riviera maya, both firsts for me, and, admittedly, i was pleasantly surprised.  i've always been a little snobby about it.  like, if you're going to spend money to fly somewhere and stay somewhere, why don't you experience their culture and wildlife instead of just drinking by the pool in a fancy hotel - you can do that anywhere.

well i'm here to tell you that i finally get it.  boy was i wrong.

not only is drinking/eating whatever and whenever you want, by the pool or at the beach, wonderfully easy and fabulous, there is still plenty of culture and adventure around to experience if you want to.

what is a truly relaxing vacation meant for if not to completely escape and relax?  no decisions or thoughts are required past check-in; it's the time to check-out of reality.  perfection.  and, for me, a truly new experience, which in and of itself is something to be appreciated.

...at the same time, you know we can't go too long without needing to get out of the hotel and explore; do something local.  we succeeded big time by going on a couple of cave dives in the cenotes, something we've both been wanting to try for a while.  i think i'll save the dives for another post soon.  they were literally out of this world.

overall the trip was perfect.  i love eric's family, the food, the hotel, the beach, the weather; the people of the yucatan peninsula were wonderful.  we've always thought our expatriation would be in puerto rico.... now we've got another option :)

thank you patty for including us in your fantastic birthday celebration!

^^sisters^^

^^hand-rolled cigars every evening^^

^^before and after braiding fun^^

last week was my birthday, and not just any birthday, this girl is 30!

i'm 30 years old, i'm not one of those gals whose afraid to tell her real age, and i like to kick! stretch! and kick! ... i'm 30!

i've always thought women at 30 are their most beautiful. if this is true for me, it's because of happiness, gratitude for my life, love, and family and friends. i don't know how i got so lucky.

 

i think a lot of people have a hard time with big birthdays: 30, 40, 50, 60. it's easy to compare your age to others in society and to reflect back on the times that you were youger.
 

the biggest lesson i've learned about looking back and feeling envious of those younger than me came from a paragraph in tuesdays with morrie by mitch albom.  if you haven't read it, morrie is an older man dying of ALS giving a class about life to a former student of his (mitch albom).  at one point mitch asks morrie if he's envious of him sitting there, young in his thirties, with full use of his body and a life ahead of him.  and morrie responds:

“Mitch, it is impossible for the old not to envy the young. But the issue is to accept who you are and revel in that. This is your time to be in your thirties. I had my time to be in my thirties, and now is my time to be seventy-eight. You have to find what’s good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue. The truth is, part of me is every age. I’m a three-year-old, I’m a five-year-old, I’m a thirty-seven-year-old, I’m a fifty-year-old. I’ve been through all of them, and I know what it’s like. I delight in being a child when it’s appropriate to be a child. I delight in being a wise old man when it’s appropriate to be a wise old man. Think of all I can be! I am every age up to my own. Do you understand? How can I be envious of where you are – when I’ve been there myself?”

 

 it's such a perfect perspective because it gives you so much power over your own age.  why would i wish to be twenty when i can own twelve, and nineteen, and any age until my age of 30?  i can be all of those numbers anytime i choose!  but a twenty year old can't be thirty.  and i can't be sixty-three.  (well hopefully someday)  and we can all have our own numbers and our own experiences to go with those numbers.  so what is there to be jealous of?  "age is not a competitive issue".

 

and man there is such a great list of things to associate with the thirtieth year.

- we got married!

- went to fiji and swam with manta rays

- eric got his phd

- we both got exciting new jobs

- we spent our summer hanging out with dolphins in australia

 

i'm so excited to be thirty.  right now, in this moment, eric and i have our new marriage, our families, our health, our dogs, and a plan for an exciting life.  thirty = happy.

 

the theme of allie's birthday was "bobby flay", but bobby has got nothing on this girl.  we ate so much for lunch, i didn't have to eat again until the next day.  it was pretty much the best food i've had in a year.  if chris hadn't spoken for her, i'd ask her out myself.

this is my second full plate. 

i guess we should give chris credit for the bbq'd chicken, it was perfect.

eric and i brought ramen noodle cole slaw.  it's one of my favorites and i've put the recipe at the end of this post.

baked brie with almonds and cranberries.

i didn't get a picture, but allie made some fried catfish. o.m.g. so good.

we were also introduced to duck dynasty.

and we played some taboo and ate cupcakes.  big surprise the girls won :)

happy birthday allie!

Ramen Noodle Cole Slaw

• 1 Package of cole slaw mix (cabbages and carrots)
• 1 Package Ramen Noodles, dry and broken up
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup raw almonds, chopped or slivered
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tsps. lime juice
• 1/2 tablespoon sriracha (change for your own spicy preference)

Whisk the following and set aside: oil, vinegar, ramen seasoning packet, sugar, lime juice, and sriracha.

Mix the following in a large bowl: slaw mix, dry noodles, green onions, almonds, sesame seeds, and cilantro.

Right before serving, pour the liquid over the coleslaw and mix.  Enjoy!

somehow twenty-nine feels like the number that crosses you over to the antipodal point of life that you were just in.  you're no longer a youth, youngster, twenty something, or even young adult.  because let's face it, thirty is thirty, but who sees twenty-nine coming?  it's then that you begin your thirtieth year of life.  and it's kind of a weird one.

so maybe thirty is the new nineteen or whatever, but at this point you are fully expected to have a job, support yourself entirely, and probably be at least married if not already having kids.  you are now just an "adult", grouped together with every other adult out there who has not yet reached "senior" status.  you'd better know how to take out a loan, pay your mortgage, and the difference between a roth ira and a 403b (does anyone really know this?).

while a year ago, on my twenty eighth birthday, i was at the literal antipodes of DC, swimming with crocodiles and pretending as if i was on another planet, and while, since then, we have been living a very domestic lifestyle, somehow the twenty ninth birthday just didn't feel like an arrival at some opposite metaphysical place in life.

i often ask older people what it's like to age.  the answer is always somewhere along the lines of "i feel exactly the same as i did when i was twenty-five...except [insert physical ailment]".

sneaky sneaky passing of time.  you really can't think about it for too long or it will blow your mind like the spacetime continuum or how neuroscientists use their brains to study their brains.

well i'm going to look at the bright side.  obviously every year has something new to offer, some wisdom or insight that can only be gained with its passage.  as long as there is always somewhere new to go, someone new to meet, some new experience to be had, then i'm cool with whatever number represents my years of life on earth.  apparently it's always going to feel like twenty-five anyway.

bring on year thirty. i have many plans for you.  hopefully God will laugh at them and provide me with some great entertainment, per usual.

we celebrated my birthday tuesday night at wolftrap.  ben harper performed a solo acoustic show with nature as his accompaniment.  he said it's the first solo performance he's done since he was starting out.   we watched the sky change, listened to the crickets and cicadas singing along, ate and drank, and caught the occasional scent of people burning one down.  it was kind of like the early days of college, except we weren't surrounded by 20 year olds and full of youthful angst. 29. ugh. it'd sound so bad if it weren't so good.

"we'll never be younger than today"

-ben harper

just like we're all going to in the next year or so.  let's hope we all have as fun a 30th as maggie :)