A picture post

It seems I very rarely post pictures on here anymore, but I have a few to share today.

First of all, I got several birthday cards, and I loved all of them. But there were two I wanted to share.

My best friend from high school is an artist, and she always sends these amazing hand-drawn cards. I think this one might be my favorite she's drawn for me:

And then this was sent to me by my parents. I thought it was pretty funny and kind of perfect. The inside says: Older and wiser, baby. Older and wiser.

While I didn't make it to my sister's for my niece's first birthday, through the wonder of Skype, I got to participate in the family party. This was just before she decided she didn't like getting her hands dirty with icing and cake.

On Saturday, I went over to a friend's house to bake and decorate cookies. We made a lot of cookies!

The friend that hosted us is an artist if you can tell by this tray of cookies.

I also went to a church Christmas party on Sunday night and then spent Sunday catching up on grading. And I couldn't get a picture because it was dark, but I came home from the grocery store on Sunday to find two huge deer just chilling in my front yard.

A birthday

Last week a friend and I were emailing, and she asked if I had plans for my birthday. I kind of played it off and said it was no big deal. But she directly told me I needed to be proactive for my birthday this year since I'm still getting settled here.

I realized she was right, and instead of being passive I took her advice and ended up having a really fun day.

First of all I made cake pops, which I haven't done in a long time (I tried a new combo I'll share later), and I took them with me to work to share with students and co-workers. I sit in the middle of the newsroom during the day, and basically, I gave out cake pops to people that wished me a happy birthday. It was a really fun game to play because I had students that don't really know me come over so they could get one. It just kept me entertained all day. And my co-workers sang happy birthday to me at our afternoon meeting, a little mortifying, but I guess you are supposed to be sung to on your birthday.

After work I went with my small group from church to a service project, and then I had invited them all back to my house for dinner and dessert. I loved hosting in my house, it's perfect for it and I haven't done much of it. And I just felt so blessed that these people I didn't even know a couple of months ago came over to celebrate with me. I told my best friend when we chatted after they left that it was finally starting to click. I really enjoyed this group of people and had a great time hanging out with them, and it was all low key and easy. So I think the community piece is slowly coming together and that really is a gift.

To add to the fun, my friend who wanted to make sure I had birthday plans sent me a cookie cake that I was able to share with my small group.

And of course I was blessed by Facebook messages, emails, cards, text messages and phone calls. It's fun to have lived all these places and have people that I love hearing from on days like my birthday. I'll also be able to drink peppermint mochas from Starbucks all winter long.