Blessed

Here are a couple presents I received for my birthday:

Birthday PJ's!

I picked out a variation of this outfit. (Couldn't find the exact colors or print online.) The shirt I got looks like that with no pocket and it is purple, 3/4 length sleeves, super cute and comfy.  And I got those pants in a peachy orange color.  Really cute and loungey.

One of these, which are very useful now that I have an iPhone and have gone app-crazy.

All of my fellow Lost lovers are going to appreciate this one.  An Oceanic t-shirt - so cool!

23

Wow, I can't believe it.  I'm 23 years old!  Yesterday was my birthday, and I know I say this every year, but man it felt like a big one.  I know everybody older than me thinks I am nuts, but here's my POV*...  I've officially made it past all of the cool milestone birthdays.  
14 - driving permit.  
16 - driver's license.  
18 - legal adult, cigs, lottery tickets, porn.  
21 - drinks.  
Ok, ok, so maybe 18 didn't really do anything for me, but you get the idea.  The only age I have left to get excited about is 25 when I can rent a car without my mommy signing for me.  Big deal. 


I've gotta say though, I still feel like a kid.  I still get that "birthday feeling" all day on May 26th. Everything seems right in the world and the outpouring of love is overwhelming.  


I woke up yesterday morning and said, "Haven, it's Mama's birthday.  Can you say, Happy Birthday, Mommy?"  She responded, "Birthday, Mommy!"  That was enough to melt my heart and get my day started out right.  I whispered a little prayer that Haven would be a good girl for my birthday.  Popped in an episode of Barney and snuck away for a shower.  I whispered a second prayer in case the first one didn't get through, "If I could get through this shower without Haven interrupting that would be a really good birthday present."  And it worked!  I was so happy.  (She always comes in the bathroom when I'm taking a shower and tries to get in with me.  It's sweet, but I just want to get in and out and on with my day.)


My Grammy agreed to watch Haven while my mom and I went to lunch.  We headed out to one of my favorite sushi spots and shared three delicious rolls and some seaweed salad - a favorite of my mom and mine.  


Later, Luke took me to see Shrek Forever After in 3D for a matinée showing.  There's something special about going to a movie in the middle of the day and having a theater all to yourself.  It's nice to not have to whisper for fear of disturbing other movie-goers; to be able to put your feet up on the chair in front of yours; or to laugh as loud as you can without embarrassment.  These are the luxuries of day-time movie going.  

We then made our way to our favorite restaurant ever, Ohana Steakhouse!!  Oh man, we love that place way too much.  But we usually only make it there on special occasions.  Luke had his usual shrimp entree, and I had the scallops and a glass of my favorite, Starling Castle.  Again, this was my special occasion drink.  

Right after we ate.  I remember feeling very hot and full when this pic was taken.

After picking Haven up from Grandma and Grandpa's we headed to Mr. Movies and picked up "The Blind Side" which neither of us had seen.  And yes, it was just as good or better than everybody has been saying.  Such a good story, I could see myself buying it someday.  Luke surprised me earlier in the day by getting the night off from work so we could take our sweet time and actually go to sleep together.  It was a really nice day.  I wanna do it all over again.

*POV = point of view

Sesame Street Live

      My sweet husband asked for tickets to Sesame Street Live for his birthday!  He loves our little sweetie enough to ask for a present for her on his special day.  That's love people.  So yesterday we all ate some lunch together at home (to avoid ridiculous prices downtown), and then headed down to Wells Fargo Arena.   

      It was toddler heaven!  The first thing we did was buy Haven this shirt:

(It'll fit her until she's 6.)

      Then we grabbed some popcorn and settled in for the show.  After about 10 minutes, the show started and they introduced all of the characters one-by-one.  The anticipation to see the star performer was great!  And then finally.....ELMO!!

They sang and danced the afternoon away.

I think Daddy had just as much fun as Haven.

She was mesmerized.

        We had the perfect seats too.  Not too close, not too far away.  And she could stand up without bothering anybody in front of us.  It was a great afternoon and hopefully we can do something like it again.  I wonder if Barney is coming to town anytime soon?

Mother's Day

Got up.  (late, oops)
Went to church.
Haven was a good girl, which was a Mother's Day present in itself.
Went to Grammy's house for lunch- salads, grilled pork chops, potatoes (yum, my favorite food), and "strawberry wedding cake."  Or as my cousin's girlfriend calls it, "strawberry dating cake." 
Gave my mom her present, a framed version of this...

Scooted out of there and headed home to change.

Received my M-Day present!  SO BEAUTIFUL!

Played in our softball game.  We lost, but the other team shouldn't have been in the D league!

Went to Luke's parent's house, and gave his mom a framed version of this...

Needless to say, SHE'S a proud mama!

Came home and dropped Haven and Lukey off.

Went to the grocery store. 

Bought too much. 

Came home and had a late dinner.

Watched the Spurs lose with Lukey. :(

Sent Lukey off to the airport for the night after Haven consoled him for a few minutes.

Wrote this blog.

Went to bed.

No more mullet.

As most mommies of little girls know, it seems to take forever for their little hair to grow past looking like anything more than little uneven wisps.  Haven's hair was finally starting to look like real hair, but was unfortunately growing into a little mullet because the front hair isn't growing as fast as the back.  So, being the cosmetologist I am, I had to take care of that.  

Here's before:

During:

And after:

Cute little bob!

Daisy Garden

I have the greatest friends, named Hilary and Betsy.  Willing to drop anything to help me.  Not only are my friends the best, they are also talented, artsy, and very creative.  I'm glad that I know how to do hair so that I can pay them back sometimes.    Many moons ago (last September) I decided I wanted a mural for Haven's room and I knew Hilary and Betsy were the ones to call upon.  I told them I would buy them dinner if they would come over and use their creative minds and paintbrushes to create a toddler's dream room.  We looked online at some ideas and decided on a daisy garden theme to match Haven's bedding.  This is what we (and when I say "we" I mean "they") came up with:

Hilary hard at work.  

The Garden.

Betsy with her super cool tree.

Adding some final touches.

Coolest friends ever.