Rollin' around in that car that I bought you....

also not above a little Beyonce therapy while cleaning the house tonight either. To the left to the left....

I can be the better person...

...but I'm not above a little karma reminder from Justin Timberlake every now and then. Oh oh, yes please....

Oh, Happiness, you slippery thing!

"One time a disciple complained to his teacher that all the time spent on spiritual work hadn't made him happy.

"Your job right now isn't to be happy," the teacher swiftly replied. "Your job is to become real." Essence is real, and when you capture it, happiness follows because all the qualities of essence follow. Trying to be happy as an end in itself is limited; you will be fortunate just to meet your ego's requirements for a happy life. If instead you devote yourself to a total shift in awareness, happiness arrives as a gift freely bestowed by consciousness."

-from Deepak Chopra's "The Book of Secrets"

Actual Birthday Recap

I woke up at 6:30am and continued cleaning. I've always despised cleaning....well, the getting started part, I guess. I think cleaning is like going to the gym. I never want to do it, but once I'm there, it isn't so bad & I always feel good when I'm finished. I was reading a few weeks ago that cleaning the house is just another form of prayer or meditation. That shifted something in me...in the way I am thinking about cleaning. A part of me was annoyed that I couldn't sleep in, but mostly I felt like spending all morning "mediating" was probably a great way to start my birthday. Goal for 30...meditate with my new steam cleaner more.

Then my mom arrived and we went to Burger Up for lunch. We split a delicious salad and a quinoa burger with truffle oil fries. Mmm. I meant to take a photo before, but got too distracted by the deliciousness. This (above) is all you get...the last lone bites of my birthday salad. I also caught myself eating too fast again. I'm working on that. It is a lifelong habit, learned from my dad, who developed the habit when he was a medical resident and would have five minutes to eat a sandwich out of a vending machine for dinner. Most of the time I don't remember that I need to chew slower until my food is almost all the way gone. Anyhow, goal for 30...chew more.

Then we wandered over to Sulphur Creek Farm (where I go to those weekly potlucks) to meet my insanely talented friend, Mark Tucker. I first saw Mark's photographs hanging in my friend Diana's house. I've admired/drooled over his work ever since. I got to spend the afternoon jumping around in creeks, swinging on big swings, climbing into ponds and running down gravel roads.

After the photo shoot, I quickly changed in the barn and off we went to the Grand Ole Opry House to see Ray Lamontagne. Our seats were incredible (thanks to my lovely friend, Dara). Brandi Carlile opened for Ray. I had never seen her live, but had always liked her songs on the radio well enough to sing along. She blew me away. She was such an amazing performer/entertainer. I cried during her second song (below) of the show, and turned to my mom and said, "Gosh. I think we're going to need more beer for this concert." Ha. As her encore, she played one of my favorite favorite songs ever (I have two favorite songs)....Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. I guess a lot of people like that song, which makes me feel fairly unoriginal, but I don't care. It breaks my heart every single time...the lyrics. Ugh. Love it.

Then Ray played my other favorite song. More tears. Both favorite songs in the same night? What an unexpected birthday treat!

I can't think of a single thing I would have changed about the day. It was amazingly perfect. Special thanks to my mom for being here to share it with me.

My horoscope for 9.22.11

"Whatever happened to those "sugarplums that were supposed to dance in your head"? Could it be that whoever wrote that knew if you ever stopped chasing your dreams, you'll be lost? Let this be your wake up call to get back to that focus. That is what life is all about, isn't it?"

One of the surprises that I didn't mention yet about my birthday was this...

...my favorite photographer, the amazing Mark Tucker, documented a part of my 30th birthday at Sulphur Creek Farms today. Such an incredible afternoon of stomping through creeks, running through fields and swinging on giant swings. I thought I'd be very nervous, but I was surprisingly comfortable...and totally willing to wade into this pond for this shot. This is just a preview of our afternoon. I feel so lucky that Mark was willing to do this, and that I'll always have these images of what I was like at thirty. I have a ton more to say about my day, but mom and I are exhausted. More posts tomorrow.

Hello, September 21st...

I made myself stay up until midnight, so I could feel the very last minute of my twenties slide into the very first minute of my thirties. (If we are going to get really technical about this, I suppose that won't officially happen until 10:35 am.) Honestly though, it felt good. It definitely felt like a relief.

This is completely unrelated, but I just bought a Shark floor steamer today. My friends bought one last week and told me how great it was. Holy smokes! I think this thing may have changed my life. It uses a LOT less water than mopping and actually disinfects the floor with the hot steam...without chemicals! You can use it on carpet too. Oh gosh. Wait. I think I just got old...just right in those few sentences. Did I just get overly excited about a household cleaning appliance!?! Haha. Yikes.