year 29

{photo credit: me}

today i turn 29. breathe in. breathe out. 

"what they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. and when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t. you open your eyes and everything’s just like yesterday, only it’s today. and you don’t feel eleven at all. you feel like you’re still ten. and you are — underneath the year that makes you eleven. 

like some days you might say something stupid, and that’s the part of you that’s still ten. or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama’s lap because you’re scared, and that’s the part of you that’s five. and maybe one day when you’re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you’re three, and that’s okay. that’s what i tell mama when she’s sad and needs to cry. maybe she’s feeling three.

because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. that’s how being eleven years old is". - sandra cisneros


i like this thought process very much. i'm 29 now, but i'm still all of the other ages, too. i'm a giddy and awkward age 13 when i play MASH with my girlfriends, and we put our celebrity crushes on the list. i'm five when i throw a temper tantrum like a small child who is past their nap. 22 when i'm channeling my inner taylor swift. and a mature age 29 when i see that ice cream is buy two get three free, and i walk on by. 

this past year has been one of my best yet. the Lord gave me so many new opportunities, some were wonderful and easy and fun, some were extremely challenging. each experience added a new layer, a new depth to my life. i am so grateful. i'm looking forward to seeing how this year plays out with all of its ups and downs and twists and turns. bring it on, year 29. 

on another note, i have some very exciting news to share with you today. i am participating in my very first giveaway! a couple of months ago, the sweet and lovely jenna from dearest love and i connected over some blog comment exchanges. i think the conversation started when she mentioned she was considering starting an etsy shop on one of her blog posts. i left a comment about my experience selling and encouraged her to do it. she sent me an email with some further questions and didn't hesitate to ask me if i'd like to do a giveaway with her with one of my etsy jewelry pieces. um, YESSSSSSS. i am so excited to be featured on her wonderful blog. i have really enjoyed getting to know jenna through our emails and from reading her fun posts. she lives in atlanta with her husband and teaches 2nd grade. i love reading about her daily life and her adventures in the big ATL. (she recently posted a recipe for blueberry biscuits that looks ridiculously good.) please head over to her blog and show her (and i) some love! you can find out all the details about the giveaway there. thank you, jenna for reaching out with this exciting and fun opportunity! 

one more thing. i am seriously grateful for you, my readers. i am a just a little blog in the sea of many, but i truly enjoy this little corner of the internet world, and i am so happy to have each of you by my side. thank you for reading. thank you for commenting. you guys are the best. 

happy birthday to me, indeed! and a happy march 6th to you.