Another Year Older

I'm another year older- and I'm not sure yet if that sentence deserves an exclamation point, or just a period.  

I like getting older, I mean I could do without the gray hair and extra body fat that won't go away no matter how many miles I put on the elliptical, but for the most part, I like getting older!  I'm proud of who I'm becoming, each year I understand more and more why I made the mistakes I've made, I am so in love, I've accomplished everything that I hoped to by this point, and I've even learned how to carry this broken heart of mine since my son died almost 14 years ago.  

And I'm happy!  Really, really, ridiculously happy.  

So I'm just sitting here, welcoming a new year in all my flabby glory, and feeling pretty darn good about it!  

We had to celebrate my birthday a few days early since Eric is gone all week this week (we didn't know until last Thursday night that he was going to be gone over my birthday, but that's Army life for ya), so we spent most of it just vegging, being lazy, and drinking wine.  Friday evening we went out for our traditional birthday dinner at the restaurant of the birthday girl/boy's choosing- Isabelle chose our favorite Mexican restaurant in the village next to our home for her birthday, and I chose a Brazilian Steakhouse in Kaiserslautern where I ate myself obscenely silly (I'm still not hungry).  I've been going to the gym 4-5 days every week for the last few weeks putting a lot of miles on the treadmill and elliptical in hopes of getting my body to look more like my 311/2 year old self, rather than my now 36 year old self, but I ruined everything I've been working towards in just one night at the Steakhouse!  It was that good and so worth it!

I made vanilla cupcakes with homemade vanilla frosting that I made all by myself, and opened gifts Sunday night.  I was spoiled rotten this year- I especially can not wait to try out my new shutter remote for my camera that Eric & Isabelle got me!  And Eric must have gotten tired of fishing different makeup products out of our garbage that sits right below the drawers where I pile my makeup on that falls off into the damn garbage every single time one of us needs to get something out of one of the drawers, and since I'm a germophobe who refuses to reach my hands into the garbage at any cost, my husband decided that a makeup brush holder would save him the trouble of running up the stairs every time I squealed in panic for his help.  He's pretty great that way!  I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of LuLaRoe leggings that I ordered, and the "Wine Bodies" my mom sent me that looks like a photographer is so perfect!  But I have to tell you that the biggest surprise was from my mother-, sister-, & father-in-law who bought me a 100% wool blanket from Iceland that I was eyeing when we were there, but decided against purchasing because of the price tag.  I was SO surprised!!  Next month I'm going to a big flea market in hopes of finding an old ladder so that I can display my new blanket!  **Squeal!**  It could not have been a better weekend!

So I guess that means that as of today... I am closer to 40 than I am to 30, which is a little weird to think about, but ya know.... it's okay, I don't mind it.  

I've decided that I'm another year older!  With an exclamation point.