Birthday Love

I've never felt so much love on my birthday. It has been the best birthday ever. EVER.
I woke up to kisses from the one snuggled up next to me, then realized someone was smothering me from the top too. I opened my eyes to my mom and sister taking me to Waffle House for breakfast. And that's a big deal for me! My little brother, JoJo, his daughter and his girlfriend joined us there. The whole place cheered for my birthday, it was awesome.

Came home, relaxed a little. Got blindfolded and carried away to my surprise bowling birthday party! Mark called everyone he could think of the night before and while I was at breakfast. It was so fun. And let me tell you, I'm super hard to surprise. My 19th birthday there was a HUGE surprise at my apt that my super swell roomie arranged. And that's one of the few surprises I've had in life, other than getting pregnant!

Later we had everyone over for dinner. We ordered chinese from the tastiest place around these parts and some ate pizza and we had a great time. We ended the night with a Carvel ice cream cake, a regular cake, ice cream and ice cream sandwiches. WOW!

I got my hair done, a pedicure, makeup money and a makeup gift card, a frizz control hair product, 2 jars of Vegenaise, my very own portable hard drive to store pictures (cause I have a gazillion) and a Ninja for my kitchen. And best of all, I got to be a Mom! The gift that keeps giving.

It was such a great day. I have to say, I am one lucky girl! Thanks to all my family and friends (Yep, that's you) that made my day MEGA special for me. And a super special thank you to my sweet husband, Mark. You surprised me! And I love you SOOOO much! BEST. BIRTHDAY. EVER!

Pictures to come

These are a few of my favorite things

Things are a little rough (understatement of the year) in my financial world. We have a lot coming up that we're just not ready for. All we can do is our best and realize the opportunity at hand for learning and making memories.

And while we are surrounded with "issues" my birthday is coming. At times like these, I try to do as my favorite caller Julie Andrews says and think of my favorite things.

I love makeup. And by love, I mean LOVE. The smell, the feel, the colors, the textures. I love to test new colors and combinations on my hand while walking through Sephora or Ulta or Mac or wherever.

Cruises. I love cruises. Relax when and as much as you want. Eat when and as much as you want. Sleep when and as much as you want. Play when and as much as you want. Seriously, who doesn't love this idea??

Facials. Have you ever had one? They are GREAT! So relaxing, so refreshing, so rejuvenating.

Being spontaneous. Completely and irresponsibly spontaneous. "Let's go to lunch in Orlando or Savannah" "Hey, I found tickets to NYC, want to go??" "Watch out Disney World, here we come!" "

Roller coasters: the thrill, the excitement, the speed, the screaming, the ups and downs. Wash, rinse, REPEAT!

A good night of bowling. How fun is bowling? We used to make up silly rules like "if you don't get a strike, you have to dance" or sneak into the computer scorekeeper thing and change each others' names to some type of inside joke, to encourage a strike/spare so you can see what it says. Then laugh super hard at "Guacamole with Flies" or "Imfittintagoonabootarunwhichu" flashing across the screen.

That's better. I simply remember my favorite things, and now I don't feel so bad. :)

Thanks for indulging me.

My Best Friend- The Birthday Girl

Do you know her? This is Cassie Renee Gullett Clarkson. Today (Thurs Sept 17th) is her birthday. I think I get way more excited for her birthday than I do my own. I've been lucky enough to grow up with this gorgeous girl as my sister, my right hand, my best friend. She is unlike anyone you'll ever meet. She has a huge heart, she does anything she can for everyone she loves. She is LOADS of fun. She ALWAYS takes the best pictures...And I'm going to show her off for a moment.

Look how beautiful she is! This was from our sexy photo shoot we did for our husbands. :)

She even looks great up close!

She's always quick with a crazy face for pictures!

For Halloween one year, the three amigos from our office decided we should dress up as a great trio-we were Paper, Rock, Scissors. Cassie was Rock, I was Scissors...this is her crushing me.

Here we are with our super cute mama. This was a great weekend of Time Out For Women.

This was one of our fun Memorial Day trips- we love to ride go-karts.

Here she is with some crazy hair...looks like she's snorting to me. But why laugh if you don't snort? Cause that's when you know you're having a really good time!

This was a picture she was taking to send to a guy she met online...he's now her husband.

To go along with birthdays, here she is blowing out some candles after wishes were made for her and her baby girl, GA. She's great at picking out good cakes and desserts. This cake was super tasty.

Here she is super serious about the dessert table for my family shower. There were cupcakes, a yellow cake, chocolate cake with candied strawberries and a red velvet cake cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory! She wanted nothing more than it to be perfection for me...and it was!

Cassie and I have always done just about everything together. We shared a room growing up, we shared clothes for a short period of time (when she wasn't looking), she always took me places with her even when my parents didn't make her, she taught me to drive a 5-speed when I was 12 (I won't tell Christian), she let me hang out with her friends.

As adults, we lived together again, did everything together again and each Sunday, she'd jump in bed with me until it was time to get ready for church. We vacationed together, we prayed together and we've certainly loved together. We've had the best life as best friends and today, is a super special day that we get to celebrate her!

She recently got me hooked on a show called Deliver Me on the Discovery Health channel. The theme song reminds me of Cassie every time I hear it.

When the end of the day has come and we're running out of time
You are the one who knows me and knows what's on my mind
I can't be Super Woman no matter how I try
But my strength is greater when I know you're by my side.

My sister, my right hand, my best friend
Deliver me to the bright eyes of fortune
Deliver me
I need your help to push me through
And I know you need me too
My sister, my right hand, my best friend
Deliver me.

At the end of the day and we've fought the good fight
We've given our blood and tears and it's still worth the ride
You have an insight into how far we've come
And I'm grateful for every moment and every battle won.

My sister, my right hand, my best friend
Deliver me to the bright eyes of fortune
Deliver me
I need your help to push me through
And I know you need me too
My sister, my right hand, my best friend
Deliver me.

Cassie-Thank you for always sharing a laugh, a cry and sometimes a bed. Thank you for being my sister, my right hand and my very best friend. I love you so much!

P.S. She also shares a birthday with her husband Jason...so Happy 40th Birthday UKJay!

New Shower!!

This past weekend I was showered twice. One was a family baby shower which was absolutely beautiful. The other was a new shower head! It was a late birthday present from my sweet husband. When we moved into our house, we had a waterfall type shower head and were so excited about it. However, it has totally sucked for the past 3 years.

Here it is. Once Mark installed it we had to try it out. No photos of us in the shower...we'll save those for Mark and Little Mark showering. And I promise they will be G rated.

I wanted one like this so we can rinse the shower. Mark gets SUPER greasy during the day and at night it goes EVERYWHERE. So when I clean the shower, it takes about an hour because all the pitchers of water I have to slowly fill to rinse the walls and door of the shower.

So now, we're ready for spraying down the walls, a dog or anything else that comes our way. :)

The best part, if we want to shower together, we can both rinse off at the same time.

Thank you Mark! Showers won't ever be the same again. They certainly don't have to be lonely.

P.S. I remembered my camera cord!

30th Birthday, Part 2

Saturday we woke up and Mark's belly was upset. I went downstairs to get him some pepto. While I was down there, I let them know our room was smelling like smoke and it's not us (since entire Marriott line is completely smoke-free) and they changed our room. So that slowed us down for our most important activity of the trip...this gorgeous building. This is the Orlando Temple, where Mark and I were sealed 3.5 years ago. After arriving and walking in to the calm and peace that is the temple, the sweet little man at the desk let Mark know his recommend expired last month and he couldn't go in. I can't believe I didn't look at it. I keep both our recommends in my temple bag so that when we go, we don't forget them. Well, that's a good plan if you keep an eye on the expiration dates. That being said, we walked outside, took pictures for other people and went to Beehive Clothing for some new unders.



Mark quickly needed another trip to the bathroom (still wasn't feeling great, which is why I didn't go on in the temple without him) so we went back to our hotel until my parents were out of the temple. Then we met up with them for a very special lunch....

Who doesn't love Boston Market? Can I just tell you that nothing makes me happier than their mac & cheese and their sweet potato casserole? No birthday is complete without either.

After that, Mark and I had an appointment to visit a spa. We found a place that had a great deal. We had a 1 hour couples massage, 1 hour facial, 20 minute foot massage and a parafin treatment (which wasn't the big deal part of it...but it did make for a good photo opp). This was right after our 1 hour massage, which is why my eyes look swollen and Mark relaxed. We both felt like we had paws and started acting like kitty cats...which is completely normal for us. MEOW.

We walked around old town after our relaxation time. The band started playing and these women were up and dancing. I took pictures because that is totally me in 10, 20, 30 or 40 years. I will dance like no one is watching! Maybe I should say I'll dance like EVERYONE is watching, cause sometimes we all love a crowd. But they don't call me the dance machine for nothing!

Then after eating some dinner and getting back to the hotel in our smoke-free/smell-free room I was down for the count! Mark always takes pictures of me when I'm sleeping. So here you go, this is what a sleeping 30 year old looks like! :)

Sunday we woke up, had a lovely breakfast, utilized our late check out and made our way home. We stopped at my brother's house for a birthday gathering. My oldest nephew Cody turned 21 and we got to celebrate with pizza. It was really a great weekend and I have my husband to thank for taking time off to take me away.

Now...bring on the baby stuff.

My 30th Birthday, Part 1

Well, It's official. I'm 30! Can't even believe it. But so far, so good. I can only be excited for all the new changes that will come with being 30. And for that, I'm thrilled to be 30.


Wednesday I got home late from Zumba and at my door, was this beautiful delivery. Grandma Rita (Mark's G-ma) is a wonderfully sweet little lady that I adore. She's got to be one of the nicest, sweetest, most kind hearted women I've ever met. She's always so thoughtful of us. Thanks Grandma! The flowers still look great.



I had a Dr's appt Friday morning, came home and there was a package at my front door. Inside there was a birthday card from my first roommate in Utah, Becki. Her daughter's handprint was in the card and I loved it. Hadley just turned 1 last week. She's a mover and Becki had a hard time getting her hand outlined. It says "her hand is normal. this is not an exact duplicate" and that made me laugh pretty hard.



After Mark got some work done, I was whisked away to Orlando for a fun weekend. Late Friday evening we went to the Cheesecake Factory. Not normally something I would choose for a birthday but I was feeling some appetizers, cheesecake and raspberry lemonade. Mark is always in the mood for nachos, even after an hour and a half wait.

That's what nachos can do to you! That's our cute nephew Christian. He was eating a Roadside slider. Which are basically expensive Krystal burgers. I prefer Krystals but those sliders were good too.

After we stuffed ourselves came time for cheesecake. YUM. This was my birthday slice of carrot cake cheesecake.

That's Mark's finger in the picture (cause he wanted to be in my picture too) with me blowing out my candle.

Mark doesn't like cheesecake or cake for that matter. So he ordered up a brownie sundae. He was super surprised to see how large it was. Evidently he didn't realize we were at the Cheesecake Factory where everything is larger than life.

This is their new red velvet cake cheesecake. Cassie ordered it. I was completely jealous. That cheesecake was the BEST thing there. I should've sent mine back. Instead I ate a few bites of hers and then took mine back to the hotel. I never ate it...was too busy dreaming of this one.

This was right before we left. These guys were full and happy and slightly ready to leave.

Here are the ladies of the evening (except GA was sleeping) and yes, no eating experience is complete without me dripping stuff down my front. :)

Mark and I drove back to our hotel and we were so excited to find some friends there to greet us. They were looking for dinner too. I was so tempted to feed them our leftovers.

There were a bunch of raccoons around the dumpster and one inside scavenger. It reminded me of growing up and raccoons coming into our backyard Sunday nights for hotdogs.

Part 1 of my birthday was great. Mark and I enjoyed ourselves and our time together.