Older and Wiser.

Y'all, I am 32 today.  Yes.  Thirty-flipping-two years old.  To be perfectly honest, I am A-OK with it, as my 30's have been pretty fantastic so far, and I know that more excitement awaits in the near future.  Today, however, I want to talk about birthdays in general.


You see, birthdays have really never been a big deal for me.  Sure, as a kid, my mom always made our favorite meal (spaghetti and meatballs for me!), and my siblings and I usually had birthday parties (I feel like there was a lot of miniature golf in my childhood), but to me, it was really just another day.  I'm not a big "present" person - I prefer experiences over material things.  But what I love to utilize birthdays for is yet another excuse to do something fun with friends.  Really, though - who needs an excuse to have a good time???


For my 26th birthday (I think), Mike and I held a bad t-shirt party:

(Ugh.  Look at that hair.  Oh, and my apologies for my husband's vulgar shirt.  He thinks it's really funny.)

For my 28th birthday (not sure what happened to the 27th!), I celebrated with my friend Jen, whose birthday is the day after mine.

And yes, we bought our own cupcakes to bring to our party.

For my 29th birthday, we had dinner at an Argentinian steak house, which also happens to be BYOB - my favorite kind of place!

(Pardon the black and white - my face was extra shiny that night!)

(Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like red wine.  At one point in the evening, I counted - we had 15 bottles of wine for 12 people.  Needless to say, we went dancing afterwards.)

For my 30th birthday, my husband threw me a surprise party - and can you believe I HAVE NO PICTURES OF THIS?!?!?!?  It was seriously SUCH an amazing night.

And for my 31st, I thought it would be fun to hit up Lincoln Karaoke - a Korean karaoke bar with private rooms.

(We sang from 10:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.  And drank lots of champagne.  And stole microphones from other party rooms.  And had the best time EVER.)

And what, pray tell, will I be doing for my 32nd?  A group of us will be heading to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs take on...someone.  Not sure who.  I just want beer and sunshine, please.  And if all goes well, there WILL be dancing.   Just you wait.

How do you celebrate birthdays?