24
Say whatttt?! I'm 24 already? That is complete and utter craziness. I wish I could go back in time and tell 10-year-old me that time does actually pass. Haha ;)
My birthday this year was nothing too exciting. I wanted it to be; I always want it to be! But I'm the worst at coming up with fun plans for myself. Everything I think of always seems so "regular" and non-birthday worthy (this is probably why Russ and I have never been on a bowling date in the 4.5 years we've been dating . . . it's such a "regular" date! But apparently, not for us. You know, since we haven't done it. [By the way, that's not me bagging on bowling, that's just me explaining my weird brain. I like bowling, even though I suck at it. And if you go on bowling dates, I'm totally not judging you. Promise. I'm just weird! Okay I'll stop overexplaining now.]) so then I end up doing nothing at all. It's a horrible cycle, and I'm COMMITTED to having a killer birthday next year for 25. I just need to start planning now. Any ideas? ;)
Anyway. Back to this year.
In the month or so leading up to my birthday, I started talking about it; I always do! I shamelessly celebrate my own birthday. But even half a week before my birthday, Russ still hadn't really said anything about my birthday. And not in a "I'm planning some sort of surprise for you so I need to keep quiet!" kind of way . . . more in like an . . . apathetic way. I had hoped that as it got closer to my birthday he would say or do anything that showed he was excited for my birthday or planning for my birthday, but it seemed that he was just planning on me planning my own birthday (probably because I complicate things by saying that on your birthday, you should get to do whatever you want to do). So about two days before my birthday, I broke down and told him I didn't feel like he thought my birthday was important, and I didn't feel like he had put any thought into making the day special for me -- no thoughts of presents or activities or anything. It was a rough conversation because I felt super sad, but I know that it made him feel bad to realize that he had hurt my feelings. We were both still sad the next morning . . . we didn't really know how to get past it. Because what I wanted was for him to view things differently, and people can't just change at the drop of a hat so he didn't know how to become what I wanted regarding birthdays. Really truly, this is something that might take us a long time to truly figure out, but I'm going to try to be more vocal about my desires and expectations and I hope he'll do the same. And don't get me wrong, Russ is amazing at so many things, and I wouldn't trade him for anyone else in the world. But I guess I'm just saying that birthdays aren't his strong suit. I claim that this blog shows my real life, and this was a pretty real life moment that was sad when it happened, but I hope it acts as a catalyst for future birthdays to work out better.
So on my birthday (which was the following day), I did indeed choose everything we did. And it was good to feel like I could make any decision without worrying whether or not it was what Russ wanted (though I love the unity that we strive for in marriage, it's nice to have a break for a day and just be a little selfish haha). So we woke up around 8 to a phone call from a guy that was coming to check out the Volvo. That was the first thing we did -- showed the Volvo (and the guy bought it! Yay!).
Next I told Russ that I wanted these banana pancakes because they only call for one ripe banana and two eggs. I wanted to see how they worked out and how they tasted. I asked him to make them for me while I took a quick shower. When I came back down, we had breakfast. I . . . didn't love the pancakes. I thought that they would be super good with Reese's spread because I love the chocolate/peanut butter/banana combo, but I maybe used too much of it, because it was just too chocolatey or too peanut buttery or something. But it was fine :)
Then while I curled my hair, Russ worked on updating our yard layout plan because I told him I wanted to go back to the sprinkler place to adjust our order. Those things took a good portion of the morning, and then I made us tasty bagel sandwiches for lunch.
After lunch, we went to the sprinkler place.
Next, we went to Target because I wanted to buy a new crib. Unluckily, they did not have the one I wanted in stock; I really wanted to see it in person before committing to it! But we spent some time wandering around the baby section, looking at all the adorable things! I wanted to buy everything, but I guess I had a lot of self-control or something because, though it was my birthday, we left the store completely empty handed.
Next, we went to Deseret Book to get me some maternity garments. My waist band had been feeling uncomfortable for a few weeks but it was just so hard to make time to go, so I said that I wanted to get that done.
Next, we went to Lowe's and got an estimate on blackout blinds. I am 100% done with waking up with the sun at 6am on Saturdays and Sundays. We also looked at some lumber because I have a shelving project that I want Russ to build for me.
After all of that, we went home. On our way home, we stopped at Krispy Kreme for a birthday donut. Random sidenote -- almost every birthday treat I got ended up being raspberry-flavored. A raspberry lemonade cupcake from Kneaders, raspberry cheesecake pizza from Malawi's, filled raspberry donut, white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory . . . the only non-raspberry one was my free cheesecake at my birthday dinner . . . they offered me a strawberry topping or a raspberry topping, and I think I just chose strawberry to break the trend! Haha :) I didn't know I was such a fan of raspberry!
Anyway . . . I was kind of satisfied because we had run all the errands I wanted to run, but I was also kind of dissatisfied because nothing was really checked off my list -- We didn't buy sprinkling supplies, a crib, blinds, or the lumber we needed; we just made plans for all of those things. Not only that, but the garments I bought didn't actually fit at all -- I'll need to be about nine more months pregnant to fit in those! So basically, nothing really got done that day. So it wasn't as productive as I'd hoped for, but I guess we got one step closer on a lot of things.
When we got home, we watched an episode of House and then went upstairs to take a nap. We were exhausted from all those errands! Russ told me he wanted to cuddle, which was sweet; I always like when he instigates the cuddling (cuddling is my favorite) haha.
When we woke up, we went out to dinner at the Art City Trolley Restaurant. It's so good. I loved every single thing we got. Then, because we were so full, we went on a little walk. The weather was nice, and the company was great :)
When we got home, we watched Penelope. I think it's such a cute movie, and I hadn't seen it in ages, though I've talked about wanting to watch it for like the past 3 years haha. I was happy with my movie choice :)
Now, at the very end of this post, I need to say that I actually did enjoy my birthday. Even though it wasn't exciting, even though I had that break down a few days before, and even though nothing really got checked off my list, I still had a good day. After our pre-bday chat, Russ started talking a lot more about how my "birthday is tomorrow" or "It's your birthday!" and he was overall just suuuuper sweet. He's always a good husband, and he's always pretty sweet, but he turned it up for my birthday, which I enjoyed :) So even though my birthday wasn't earth-shattering, it was spent with my favorite person, and he made me happy.
Here's to 24! I'm thinking it will be the best year yet ;)
My birthday this year was nothing too exciting. I wanted it to be; I always want it to be! But I'm the worst at coming up with fun plans for myself. Everything I think of always seems so "regular" and non-birthday worthy (this is probably why Russ and I have never been on a bowling date in the 4.5 years we've been dating . . . it's such a "regular" date! But apparently, not for us. You know, since we haven't done it. [By the way, that's not me bagging on bowling, that's just me explaining my weird brain. I like bowling, even though I suck at it. And if you go on bowling dates, I'm totally not judging you. Promise. I'm just weird! Okay I'll stop overexplaining now.]) so then I end up doing nothing at all. It's a horrible cycle, and I'm COMMITTED to having a killer birthday next year for 25. I just need to start planning now. Any ideas? ;)
Anyway. Back to this year.
In the month or so leading up to my birthday, I started talking about it; I always do! I shamelessly celebrate my own birthday. But even half a week before my birthday, Russ still hadn't really said anything about my birthday. And not in a "I'm planning some sort of surprise for you so I need to keep quiet!" kind of way . . . more in like an . . . apathetic way. I had hoped that as it got closer to my birthday he would say or do anything that showed he was excited for my birthday or planning for my birthday, but it seemed that he was just planning on me planning my own birthday (probably because I complicate things by saying that on your birthday, you should get to do whatever you want to do). So about two days before my birthday, I broke down and told him I didn't feel like he thought my birthday was important, and I didn't feel like he had put any thought into making the day special for me -- no thoughts of presents or activities or anything. It was a rough conversation because I felt super sad, but I know that it made him feel bad to realize that he had hurt my feelings. We were both still sad the next morning . . . we didn't really know how to get past it. Because what I wanted was for him to view things differently, and people can't just change at the drop of a hat so he didn't know how to become what I wanted regarding birthdays. Really truly, this is something that might take us a long time to truly figure out, but I'm going to try to be more vocal about my desires and expectations and I hope he'll do the same. And don't get me wrong, Russ is amazing at so many things, and I wouldn't trade him for anyone else in the world. But I guess I'm just saying that birthdays aren't his strong suit. I claim that this blog shows my real life, and this was a pretty real life moment that was sad when it happened, but I hope it acts as a catalyst for future birthdays to work out better.
So on my birthday (which was the following day), I did indeed choose everything we did. And it was good to feel like I could make any decision without worrying whether or not it was what Russ wanted (though I love the unity that we strive for in marriage, it's nice to have a break for a day and just be a little selfish haha). So we woke up around 8 to a phone call from a guy that was coming to check out the Volvo. That was the first thing we did -- showed the Volvo (and the guy bought it! Yay!).
Next I told Russ that I wanted these banana pancakes because they only call for one ripe banana and two eggs. I wanted to see how they worked out and how they tasted. I asked him to make them for me while I took a quick shower. When I came back down, we had breakfast. I . . . didn't love the pancakes. I thought that they would be super good with Reese's spread because I love the chocolate/peanut butter/banana combo, but I maybe used too much of it, because it was just too chocolatey or too peanut buttery or something. But it was fine :)
Then while I curled my hair, Russ worked on updating our yard layout plan because I told him I wanted to go back to the sprinkler place to adjust our order. Those things took a good portion of the morning, and then I made us tasty bagel sandwiches for lunch.
After lunch, we went to the sprinkler place.
Next, we went to Target because I wanted to buy a new crib. Unluckily, they did not have the one I wanted in stock; I really wanted to see it in person before committing to it! But we spent some time wandering around the baby section, looking at all the adorable things! I wanted to buy everything, but I guess I had a lot of self-control or something because, though it was my birthday, we left the store completely empty handed.
Next, we went to Deseret Book to get me some maternity garments. My waist band had been feeling uncomfortable for a few weeks but it was just so hard to make time to go, so I said that I wanted to get that done.
Next, we went to Lowe's and got an estimate on blackout blinds. I am 100% done with waking up with the sun at 6am on Saturdays and Sundays. We also looked at some lumber because I have a shelving project that I want Russ to build for me.
After all of that, we went home. On our way home, we stopped at Krispy Kreme for a birthday donut. Random sidenote -- almost every birthday treat I got ended up being raspberry-flavored. A raspberry lemonade cupcake from Kneaders, raspberry cheesecake pizza from Malawi's, filled raspberry donut, white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory . . . the only non-raspberry one was my free cheesecake at my birthday dinner . . . they offered me a strawberry topping or a raspberry topping, and I think I just chose strawberry to break the trend! Haha :) I didn't know I was such a fan of raspberry!
Anyway . . . I was kind of satisfied because we had run all the errands I wanted to run, but I was also kind of dissatisfied because nothing was really checked off my list -- We didn't buy sprinkling supplies, a crib, blinds, or the lumber we needed; we just made plans for all of those things. Not only that, but the garments I bought didn't actually fit at all -- I'll need to be about nine more months pregnant to fit in those! So basically, nothing really got done that day. So it wasn't as productive as I'd hoped for, but I guess we got one step closer on a lot of things.
When we got home, we watched an episode of House and then went upstairs to take a nap. We were exhausted from all those errands! Russ told me he wanted to cuddle, which was sweet; I always like when he instigates the cuddling (cuddling is my favorite) haha.
When we woke up, we went out to dinner at the Art City Trolley Restaurant. It's so good. I loved every single thing we got. Then, because we were so full, we went on a little walk. The weather was nice, and the company was great :)
When we got home, we watched Penelope. I think it's such a cute movie, and I hadn't seen it in ages, though I've talked about wanting to watch it for like the past 3 years haha. I was happy with my movie choice :)
Now, at the very end of this post, I need to say that I actually did enjoy my birthday. Even though it wasn't exciting, even though I had that break down a few days before, and even though nothing really got checked off my list, I still had a good day. After our pre-bday chat, Russ started talking a lot more about how my "birthday is tomorrow" or "It's your birthday!" and he was overall just suuuuper sweet. He's always a good husband, and he's always pretty sweet, but he turned it up for my birthday, which I enjoyed :) So even though my birthday wasn't earth-shattering, it was spent with my favorite person, and he made me happy.
Here's to 24! I'm thinking it will be the best year yet ;)
Russ is just like Jared!! Your birthday sounds a lot like the birthday I had when we were engaged. I was so excited to have a fiance and I expected him to surprise me with gifts and flowers and plan a cute date . . . nope. He came over and was like, "Yay it's your birthday! What do you have planned to do?" I was crushed, and not the best at communicating, so we wound up watching some movie at my parents' house and it was lame. He's still not very good at birthdays, or at gifts or getting flowers, no matter how many times I tell him it's important to me. I sometimes get jealous when I see other girls post that their husbands surprise them with flowers, but I'm learning that it's ok. I just have to be better about buying myself flowers and planning my own birthdays. Jared's good at lots of things that other husbands might not be, like working way hard in school and at home to make our future family happy, and like being patient and loving and willing to serve me. Isn't marriage fun to figure out? ;)
ReplyDeletep.s. Happy Birthday!!! Next year for your birthday you should treat yourself to an online shopping spree and go up to City Creek to walk around and have dinner. That's always a favorite for me.
We went on a bowling date for our 3rd anniversary...and at other random times, too, so I laughed at your discourse on bowling dates.
ReplyDeleteHappy 24!!! I'm 24 now....but I'll be 25 in late July. I am also the kind of person who wants to celebrate BIG and Angel's the kind of person who is just happy with everything and doesn't really plan surprises or anything like that...but I think we've learned to handle the birthday thing pretty well. We talked a couple months ago, and I said I wanted to celebrate my quarter-century in a pretty big way...but I also understand that Angel or my family are not the type to throw an epic surprise party or anything like that, so I asked what he thought about us going on vacation together? His birthday is 4 days before mine, so this year, we're taking a trip over the week of our birthdays, and now I'm perfectly excited about it and he's excited too--and I'm planning it all because I'm the one who actually likes planning. Communication helps! :)