Penelope had been talking about throwing me a birthday picnic for about a week before my birthday. She just really really wanted to have a picnic, with me, on my birthday. It was imperative. The only problem is how is a five-year-old going to put together a picnic on her own? So I gave in and packed up a pretty girly picnic just for the two of us. We went to this cute little park with a lake and a small beach (hello...love living here!!) and a fun little playground. There's a ton of open space to spread out a blanket and read lots of books (as per Penelope's request). I packed light, just the two of us you know. I made a spring lettuce salad with fresh fruit and light raspberry vinaigrette and I also made goat cheese and berry crustinis on whole wheat bread left over from our brunch the other day. When I picked Penelope up to take her to the picnic some friends gave me a bundle of sunflowers for my birthday so those also made their way to our picnic (as per Penelope's request of course). She read me books and chased some ducks around. It was sweet and I was happy to spend my day with her of course. Little sassy thing.
When I turned twenty eight last year my Aunt told me that when I was twenty eight I would really find myself. She told me that both her and my mom talked about twenty eight being the year that they really figured out what they wanted in life and who they really were. It's kind of a weird thought but I very vividly remember our conversation that evening. I thought in my head that I had already kind of found myself and that maybe I was ahead of my aunt and my mom. Now that I review the past year I think they were right, I think it's the year that you find yourself. I don't really remember it happening over night or anything and it probably has a lot to do with all the scary medical things I went through last year along with the months and months of fertility treatments but I do feel like I've found out what I really want in life. I want moments, I want moments that and sweet happenings that bring memories of the best times. I want to look back at my life and know that I stopped to smell the flowers (or take picnic breaks with Penelope). I want my life to slow down a little and be worth something. I realized that those quality moments mean more to me than anything in the world. So I will stop and I will have silly girly picnics whenever I can. This last year I have come to know in my heart that I am destined to have a creative career. Life put me in a position to work in a 9-5er job for awhile and it only made me more passionate about what I do with my handmade business, etc. This past year I learned that learned that I want to take care of my body (doesn't mean strive to be as skinny as possible but to be as healthy as I can be living with PCOS) because I want to live a long time with my family and hopefully one day have another child. The bottom line is this, during my twenty eighth year in life I feel like I finally realized what is most important to me. To have a quality worthy life, full of art, healthiness and sweet sweet memories. The most important things in the world (to me). I just realized I mainly want to focus on these things that are of the utmost importance and no worries about anything else. Just good things. I think that's what my aunt meant about 'finding yourself' I think she meant you realize what means the most to you. I may have not finished every single goal on my goal list for my twenty eighth year but I have learned some valuable lessons like, stop and go on a picnic.
Love,
Erin














