This is 30!

My twenties are a thing of the past! If the last couple days are any indication of how this next decade is going to go, I say bring it. (Though I may need to pencil in more naps for myself...) My mom, sister, my mom's friend Denise and her daughter Jessica all came up to Minnesota/Wisconsin to visit my brother and I for Michael's 21st and my 30th birthday over the weekend. The first photo above was from my first night out with everyone at The Craftsman. 

(Eek! My food still had a face on it. SO GOOD.)

Michael was working and kindly sent a few extra appetizers and desserts our way. So delicious... please go if you haven't been!

On my actual birthday, I requested a morning in Stillwater, which is probably the most adorable town in the state of Minnesota. 

The girls and I started out the morning at Mara- Mi and shared a cupcake and I got a iced coconut latte... Fancy, right? We then met our group of ladies for a morning of perusing the shops. (I'm pretty sure Joe was glad to be at work for this part of the day, haha.)

We had a delicious lunch at Nacho Mama. We got to eat outside while Rosie took a stroller snooze and  I got to totally enjoy my birthday tacos.

 I also need to add that my dress was a gift from Joe and the girls. I love, love, love when they buy me clothes because they have great taste and they get so excited to dress me up!

 

Just a few pics above from some of the shops. Again, the stores are adorable and all of the displays/merchandising are just fabulous and almost make me want to go back to working retail. Almost.

After shopping we came back to our house (so Robbyn could see it for the first time!) and we shared some coffee and birthday cake that Joe and the girls baked for me. We forgot to get a picture of it before it was cut, oops! But it was definitely delicious (I also love how you can see Olaf waving "hi" from the center!). 

Post cake, we went on a dinner cruise, but that will be the next blog post ; )

I loved this morning because it was reminiscent of  when we lived in Chicago near 79th and Pulaski. For our birthdays, we would walk to Ford City with our mom, shop, have lunch (I would always end up with a new book) and then see a movie complete with Icees and theater snacks. It was always memorable, especially that one time when all of that shopping induced labor and my brother was born the next day!

After all these years, not much has changed and I still just want to hang out with my family, squeeze in a good meal, get my hands on a new book, and enjoy the end of summer while celebrating. August birthday are sort of the best ; )