Happy Birthday to ME!

Modeling my new 'Patio dress' I got from my Mom for my birthday...they're very "in" you know...

But even though I try to be cool and dress chic, I will NEVER ever ever have a prayer as being as pretty as my daughter. But...Hey..."don't hate the playa".."hate the game", so they say....





I distinctly remember my last 3 birthday's....from this decade of "the 40's".

On my 40th birthday, Joe threw me a big party, and my whole family came down from Texas for a week and we had a blast. Joe gave me the best gift EVER.....my own business..an LLC corporation, with a company logo, etc. I also remember I felt "old" and I needed a new goal to challenge myself. I signed up for an olympic distance triathlon on my birthday, scheduled for September at Disney. I trained my butt off all summer...swimming/biking.running. In August, Joe gave me the courage to quit my job of 15 years at Tech Data to start my own business..only to discover I actually LIKED being a "stay at home mom" and I discovered yoga, and spent a lot more time with Sean.

On my 41st birthday, we had decided to adopt from Kazakhstan, and I spent the summer putting our dossier together, and discovered the "blog world" and I made a lot of incredible new friends. :) What's really amazing is that we all still keep in touch now that we have our incredible children HOME with us. :)

On my 42nd birthday, I wondered if we'd ever get to Kazakhstan and I worried incessantly that my dream of adding another child to our family was not to be. However, after my birthday, we got our LOI to travel to Kazakhstan with a date of August 1st.


Now...here I am on my 43rd birthday, celebrating it with my dream come true, Leeza Grace, and my "baby" who recently turned 11, and of course, my "rock", my incredible husband of 12 years. I feel very blessed, and very grateful for my family, and my friends. Sure..I wish I was 10-15 lbs thinner, much more toned, and I could actually breathe in my "coveted" Seven jeans, and don't even get me started on my "muffin top"........but I've also got so many different priorities in my life right now that being in the best shape of my life has gone by the wayside. I started my day early, for "5 at 5", a 5 mile run at 5:15 am with my girlfriends, and then after sleeping beauty woke up at 9:30, Leeza, Sean and I went out to breakfast at Maggie Mae's on the beach.




We spent the rest of the morning in the pool, until Leeza passed out at 1:15 for naptime. I grabbed my book (Eclipse, the 3rd book in the Twilight series) got on my float, and read for about 45 minutes, then took an hour nap. It was heavenly. :)

Sean's poem:

Roses are Red,
Violets are blue
You really rock and you wear cool socks!
Sometimes you feel like a big klunk of goo
Sometimes you smell like a pile of poo (with an arrow that says NOT) and a smiley :) But it's ok, I smell worse!
Happy Birthday from Sean

I got lots of birthday wishes from my friends (thanks to Facebook!!), 3 pretty dresses from my mom, a dozen gorgeous roses from my stepdaughter, a hilarious poem from Sean, and lots of kisses and hugs from my daughter and husband, plus a dinner out, and keylime pie for dessert. Really..who could ask for anything more?


My pretty roses from Jillian, with a very sweet card to boot...

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A> Goofball who cannot pose seriously for any picture... Just taking pics on the way home in the car....seriously..this child is BEAUTIFUL..it really is unfair... Family dinner at Keegan's...yum!!