It's My Birthday and I'll Party If I Want To!

My birthday is a week from today and I LOVE birthdays, especially my own. My mom always made sure my sister and I felt extra special on our day. When we were little she would bake cupcakes for us to take to our class, and sometimes even come have lunch with us at the school cafeteria. As we grew up we’d have a family dinner where we choose what was on the menu. Sometimes it’s my grandmother’s enchiladas, my husband’s vodka penne pasta or my mom’s egg flower soup with chicken stir fry. I haven’t made my choice yet for this year, but I’ve been into turkey cutlets lately so maybe I’ll have mom bake some of those with sweet potatoes sprinkled with cinnamon on the side.

For dessert my mom always makes me yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Don’t worry, we don’t forget to have ice cream on the side. There’s always the joking “oh, that’s a lot of candles – can you blow them all out?” I just try to not catch my hair on fire.

Every year I’m met with the question of “What do you want for your birthday?” The last few years I really haven’t wanted much. When you are younger there are so many big ticket items you want for birthdays and Christmas but I’m pretty satisfied with what I’ve received or bought for myself that I really have to think hard.

Last month we spring cleaned our way into getting rid of a substantial amount of stuff. For me it was mostly clothes that I’ve had since my college days, you know skirts that really will be too short to wear as a thirty year old and “skinny” jeans that really weren’t that expensive in the first place so when I do fit into them I’d might as well just buy a new pair. I tried on every single piece of clothes that I owned. If I didn’t like the way it fit, wasn’t comfortable or didn’t fit my style any more it went in the Goodwill pile.

It feels really great to turn thirty with just the right amount of want. Here’s a short list of what my husband and family shouldn’t make me live without.

Doris Design petticoats are all over the place. I see their petticoats on the blogs I read, on Facebook and in my dreams. I LOVE the grey petticoat and would probably wear it every day if I had one. What I love about Doris is that you can wear their petticoats under dresses or on their own as a skirt. They are versatile and beautiful. Plus they look like they’d be super soft. I have a tea party to attend later this summer where Doris would fit right in!

The first time I fell in love with Seychelles I was in Santa Monica at a shoe boutique. They were a beautiful stacked heel in soft blue leather. And they were on sale. Sadly they were too high for me to walk in and a tad too big in the size they had in stock. I have a hard time walking in heels so I’m grateful that Seychelles has a 2.5 inch heel shoe and the higher heels are nice and thick so I don’t have to wobble. The vintage inspired styles are to die for too. So far I’ve added three beautiful pair of heels to my small but (fingers crossed) growing collection. The pair that tops the list is the “CouldaDanced All Night” in tan.

Recently my subscription to Vogue expired (which I’m not planning on renewing) and noticed high waist shorts all over the ad pages. Now tell me what main stream store is actually carrying these retro inspired shorts? None. I’ve checked. Pin Up Girl Clothing sure saved the day with their high waist shorts in lots of fun colors like white, red and royal blue. I’d settle for black and denim.

Here’s a confession. I’ve always wanted a beach cruiser.  Since I was a kid I’ve had geared bikes up until a few years ago when Jeremy accidently gave my bike away by leaving our garage door open overnight. During the holidays I saw a purple Schwinn cruiser with gears! How thoughtful of Schwinn to make a hybrid bike so that I can enjoy the best of both worlds! While checking out Schwinn’s full line I discovered the Gateway; it’s teal, has room for a picnic basket on the back and a comfy looking seat. This one just needs a cute basket up front so I can finally return all of my checked out library books at once. Now if they could figure out a way to not get helmet hair…

***Keeping it real: My birthday wish list is of lovely objects that I really do wish for. No compensation has been received for including the above items or dropping names. All photos used were with permission - please take advantage of the links back to their site. Maybe you will add them to your birthday wish list.