30!

I was lucky enough to celebrate my 30th birthday in Seattle with a small grouping of my wonderful friends and family.  We were so excited to see Bob and Lynsey in their new city.  Seattle definitely looks good on those two. The world's most frequent traveler Becky made the trip up (thanks Becko!), and of course our favorite Seattle family the Whitfields were also a part of the celebration.

We had drinks downtown, a wonderful dinner at Purple Cafe, an amazing brunch at the Whitfields and then we shopped until I seriously dropped.  It was the perfect birthday weekend and I feel so lucky that each of these wonderful people helped to make it so special!  I love you guys and cannot thank you enough for making the big 3-0 such a good one for me.

 

 

 Bella even got to meet her cute new buddy Kenai. 

I was not really sure how I felt about turning 30.  30 just sounds so much older than 29.  Chris and I were on our way to Seattle on my actual birthday morning so we woke up in a hotel.   He nicely greeted me when I woke up by saying "honey, don't worry... 30 is the new 40!".  I kindly told him that I think he meant that 30 was the new 20.  But as I pondered Chris' miscomment, I realized that I was ready to move on from my 20s.  My 20s were absolutely fantastic.  I lived in a house with 8 of my best friends, married my best friend, completed two degrees, got my first job, became an auntie several times over, got the keys to my first house, planted my first garden, traveled to Fiji, Alaska, Scotland, England, Hawaii, saw the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, learned to flyfish and golf.  Yes, now that I have picked up two "lifetime" sports, I am ready.  I am ready for 30 so bring it on.  I hope that this decade brings as much joy as the last one.

Christmas Cheer

Christmas took over our house a week ago and I have to say that I love how cozy the house feels with a fire, our tree and our cute little stockings begging to be filled with goodies.  This year we got our tree from a little farm just down the road after I pleaded with Chris to not give in to Home Depot's picked over selection.  The lady who was helping us at Home Depot asked if was our first Christmas together.  I laughed and then realized it was probably because I was so bent on getting a good tree.  Anyway,  I won and I am glad I did because we paid less and our tree is perfect. 



We are so lucky that both our parents each got us a new ornament each year and passed them off to us when we got married.  I love that our tree is full of history and memories from both of our childhoods.  Two ornaments that I took special notice of this year were Bella's ornament from the first year that we got her and Santa with a chicken. I love Bella's ornament because three years later,  I still think it is such a great portrayal of our mischievous puppy.   I have never noticed our Santa with a chicken, but it is quite fitting since our neighbors both have chickens that roam their land and squawk like there is no tomorrow.

I love coming home to lights on from the inside out.  Christmas is just magical and every year I enjoy it more and more.  I also love that our Christmas card hanger is filling up, although I noticed today that I am the last Johnson to get mine out, not that that is new. . . darn punctual Johnsons/Whitfields.  With any luck from my label elf husband, ours will hit the mail this week.