twenty-five

On September 15, 2012 - I turned a quarter of a century old.

I'll be honest - it doesn't feel that different. 

But regardless of how different it does or doesn't feel, I think that twenty-five is quite the milestone. I've done a lot with my little life. Graduated with my associates degree and high school degree at the same time. Graduated from a great school with a bachelors degree. Moved across the country. Married an amazing man. Gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

Yep. My twenty-five years have been filled to bursting with adventure and accomplishment.

It's crazy to think about what the next 25 years will bring. Hopefully raising a houseful of happy bouncing children. I see lots of summer days with no shoes and lots of water. I see dinners, and homework, and piano lessons, and family home evenings. I see barbecue pizzas and homemade play-dough; Halloween costumes and birthday presents; hide-and-seek and red-rover. I'm sure that there will be my fair share of tantrums, late nights, and stubbed toes, too. But it will be wonderful.

David really spoiled me for my birthday. He made me breakfast (with lots of bacon), left me little notes throughout the day for where I could find my next present, and took me to "Arsenic and Old Lace"at the Hale. It was a really fantastic day. (Which ended with a disheartening loss by both our Aggies and the Cougars. Both games ended with a missed field-goal to win in the final seconds. We still aren't talking about it.) I am really lucky to have such a great guy who loves me so much. Unfortunately, we didn't get a single picture. (I know, how lame.) But, along with a new watch and a cute new diaper bag, David gave me the money to build this beauty in our new house:

I am SO so excited. We popped out the window in our staircase for this exact purpose. We agreed that it would be a "down-the-line" project, but I just love it so much. David knew how excited I am and so he found the money to make it a "sooner-rather-than-later" project. Did I mention that I am SO so so excited? Plans are for this to be our book-reading space. Can you see us curled up reading picture books on a rainy day with a child on each lap? It's going to be so fun.

In other birthday news:

Today, I went shopping as a birthday celebration for myself. Lyd and I had a great time. I ended up buying a new outfit and a couple of shirts. As I was trying things on in the dressing room, Lydia was laying on the floor on a blanket and she was talking up a storm. Screeching and cooing and laughing - I couldn't help but laugh. I'm sure the people who were also in the dressing room thought that we were crazy, but she was being so cute and so good. The outfit that I got is a little outside what I normally wear, but I think it's cute - and I pinned something very similar into my Pinterest closet. I figured, what the heck - I will never have the cute clothes that I want to be able to wear unless I just start buying them  one at a time. None of this drooling over cute clothes and then going to the store and buying the same old boring pair of jeans. I'm ready to live life! Haha, besides... who doesn't want to dress like Kate Middleton, eh?

Picture from here. Check it out because, really she is so stylish.  I love her.

My cute friend Amy also has a darling pair of these coral skinny jeans - and just today I was thinking about how cute they were. So when I was at the store and I saw some on the rack I thought about Amy, thought about Kate, and then decided to give it a go. Anyway. I think they are cute - even if they are a little different than my normal Shantel attire.

It was a fun way to celebrate my birthday with my sweet baby - who by the way is getting so big! She is starting to hold herself up all on her own while sitting on your lap. She is going to be sitting by herself in no time. I wish that I took a picture of the two of us, but I didn't.

Now I'm starting to ramble a little, but the moral of this story is that I am 25 and loving it. I'm so grateful to all the family and friends who called, or facebooked, or texted me birthday love. (And especially to my parents for the presents and delicious chocolate-raspberry Jello cake.) I'm one lucky quarter-of-a-century-old girl!