It’s here, the milestone is here. I’m 40! I don’t remember the specifics of when I turned 30, but apparently I was in a cruddy mood all day (thank you, 11 years of blogging). I wasn’t taking photos of myself regularly then, and I thought I should start. When I’m 50, I want to know what I looked like today.

I feel really good about the start of a fresh new year, especially since 2018 was so eventful. I’m trying to dust off this blog a little–it’ll turn 11 in April, and even though I spend most of my social media life on Instagram I’m not ready to abandon it. So, the first big thing we’ve done this year is take a little last-minute mommy/daughter/pup road trip to Canada.

It’s been a little more than six months since I last posted here, which is a record. This blog is ten years old, and I’ve never gone that long without posting! But it was kind of a welcome break–I needed to concentrate on packing up, moving from New Jersey to Washington, getting settled, finding a house, getting H settled at a new school. It’s been a ride, and we’re just starting to settle down.

This was, by a mile, the best birthday party H has ever had. Four of her friends and their moms met us in Brooklyn at Brooklyn Owl, a unicorn horn store, for a day out in NYC. The moms went for coffee, and Adam and I stayed to take photos of the girls picking out their own special unicorn horns, making unicorn crafts, eating unicorn cupcakes, and solving clues for the store’s magic mirror, which spoke to them and transformed them from little girls into magical unicorns. We could not have packed more unicorns in if we tried, it was fabulous.

The weather hasn’t been spectacular fall weather yet this year, to be honest. But Mother Nature has had it with us, so it’s not that surprising. We’re still trying to do All Of The Fall Things, though, which means basking in apple season. Even when we set out in the morning dressed for fall, and need shorts and tank tops by lunchtime.

Adam was actually in Texas for work on his birthday, but when he got home from that trip we had a weekend picnic at one of our local parks. We actually learned as we were leaving that Hamilton was not supposed to be in that park, but we didn’t see the signs. We’re still learning this whole dog ownership thing, but he had the most amazing afternoon out with us as well.

It’s here! She has a moving up ceremony tomorrow off campus, but today is her last day of school…at school. This kid has grown up so much this school year. She doesn’t look drastically different, but she is drastically different. More confident (not like confidence has ever been a problem with Miss Thing).

Today was our 10th wedding anniversary, I can’t believe how quickly that went. It feels like we’ve lived such a lifetime since our wedding day, but also…it was brief.
We’re celebrating in Mexico. This month is a whirlwind, with big, exciting things happening I’m not quite ready to announce yet. But I’ve also been planning and preparing for this trip, so I really haven’t posted much. I’m working on that, but for now. This is where I’m at.