birthday standouts
I don't know about any of you, but so far for me, June has been a WHIRLwind — but in great and memorable ways!
The first week of June I got to host BFF Jill and her kiddos (sans Sam) a couple days in Bham:
At The Summit, Jill with Holly Anne and the smiley-est little baby, Charlie Paul
And then directly following their visit, hosted a couple days for my brother and sis-in-law in from Atlanta, Pete and Fernanda (Fer, for short):
At one of our best local coffee shops, downtown's Urban Standard . . . (we often like making silly faces)
And I then jumped on a plane for a work trip to Baltimore for a week; first time there; loved it!
Baltimore's Inner Harbor
Then took a train into DC and spent two and half days there, just for fun, because I'd never been there either and hated to be so close and not go!
Jogged around the National Mall and then made my way to the White House
And then finally, flew down and took in a week's vacation with family in Orlando . . .
With my brother, Michael, who works for Disney; this taken at Disney's Hollywood Studios
So yeah, kind of a whirlwind, huh? But so much fun :) And in the middle of all this fun -- I got to celebrate my birthday!
Birthday night shot before heading out to Baltimore's Little Italy with these so fun friends and co-workers :)
SO, in thinking about a topic and question(s) to get to know each other/others more this month for RFF, I thought, let's talk birthdays! We all have 'em and we all celebrate them in one way or another. And in any given year, the celebrations likely look different. Some are understated, and some may be over the top. Some hinge on those (sometimes dreaded) milestone years and some celebrations are "just because."
Birthdays are often ripe in the "interesting/random facts" pickings of cool things that we get to experience, and I know this, because I've already been doing a little Q&A with friends this month around the birthday table(s), and will share more at the end of June about some of their experiences :)
birmingham birthday adventure
Today though, instead of kicking off the topic around one of my birthdays, I'm featuring BFF Courtney, and a special day she just celebrated this past April. Not only was it a stand-out birthday for her because of what her husband, Jeremy, planned for her, but also for me and parapalla, because I got to help Jeremy execute this special day of surprises by designing a few pieces to help bring his vision to life!
Jeremy and Courtney, two of the dearest :)
In her words, here's Courtney describing this birthday standout:
"Birthdays are a big deal around our house. J and I celebrate birthday months . . . yes, months :) Starting April 1 or October 1, that person gets to decide where we eat, what we do on the weekends, and they get to pull the all-inclusive “it’s my birthday month” trump card whenever they deem necessary.
Knowing this would probably be my last birthday in the States for some time, J went above and beyond this year. 26 is normally not a huge deal (besides that you go into the second quarter of a century if you make it to 100 . . . but no big deal other than that). Well, that’s what I thought at least.
People have been saying they cannot wait to hear the story about what happened on Saturday, April 12th, and honestly, I cannot wait to share it with the world.
the day before
J told me weeks before that I needed to keep April 12th open. He said we had plans, but that’s all he said. Then, a day before, he said: what would you like to do on April 12th? I was a little upset since I don’t like to plan my own birthday things. So I had scheduled language lessons with our language tutor and friend for that day. I told him that and he said: you need to cancel. I was upset because I thought he didn’t have plans, but yet didn’t want to do language, so I reluctantly cancelled them anyway.
The night before I was told that I needed to wake up and leave at 6:45. So he set an alarm for 6:00.
the day
6 a.m.: J jumped out of bed with the alarm and turned on every light in our bedroom.
(I should insert a disclaimer here that I am NOT a morning person so this was definitely something not normal for our morning routine.) J then handed me a wrapped present and I opened the box to find two things inside:
A birthday ribbon
A Birmingham Birthday Adventure 2014 book (to be filled out as the day went)
I was told there were three rules for the day:
I had to wear the Birthday Girl ribbon
I couldn’t ask anyone at any time about anything about the day.
I had to try to guess the clues I was given.
book spread with clue cards for each visit
Jeremy coordinated times and meetings with everyone through Facebook . . .
and he wrote all the intro and clues for Courtney.
I took multiple screenshots of some her either favorite or well-trodden areas in Birmingham on Google maps and created multiple layered transparencies with geometric shapes and colors to pull it all together.
The entire day was filled with the people I love the most from our time in Birmingham. From old college friends to new work friends, to my cousin who lives in Huntsville whom I had not seen since my wedding 5 years ago. They were all there. Jeremy told me that day: “The greatest gift I could give you for this season of our life is to know you are loved by so many and that we know you love us.”
J even had friends who live out of state send birthday wishes through a video he put together. This day is held as one of the best days of my life.
A few completed spreads . . .
Such a fun keepsake!
reflecting thoughts
All the little details that went into planning it: from Jeremy planning each and every detail of the day and being so thoughtful as to what I would need and want for that day, to Michelle and Jeremy putting the book and all the little hints and surprises together and scoping out the perfect place and decorations to have the surprise party, to the Mitchells being sweet enough to bring Elliot (our dog) to the park because I wouldn’t want to spend the entire day without seeing my pup, to Malinda and her parents letting us have a surprise party at their house and the amazing cake Malinda made, to friends being willing to come and celebrate my birthday with me.
The entire day was filled with laughter, a few tears, many memories, and a lot of hugs. It was perfect. The Lord has blessed me with the best friends, family, and community of support I could ever ask for. I went to bed that night thanking God for all the wonderful people in my life and treasuring those who are my joy."
this month's question
So thinking on birthdays you've celebrated, whether silly, adventurous, sentimental, or sweet, what stands out to you? And why? Here's a writable/downloadable PDF if you're keeping up that way each month.
And please contact me directly or make a comment below if you'd like to share about a birthday standout of your own. It's always fun to hear from you!