*Birthday Highlights*

Just had a chance to sit down and share some of the highlights of my wonderful 30^th bday.

First of all, as planned—I took off from work and it felt amazing not to wake up rushing to catch the bus/train. Oddly enough, I woke up at the crack up dawn without an ounce of sleepiness in me (most of the time around that time I am usually dying of exhaustion). I think that’s when I fully understood the phrase “Cant keep calm, is my Birthday!!!”.

I had a light breakfast (had brunch plans for later on that day) and then went to get my hair done-- which usually only happens for special occasions. After my hair appointment I met up with my best friend and we took the train towards the city.

She chose an amazing brunch spot called Sanabeth.

 

The atmosphere was amazing and the food was beyond delicious. I cant wait to go back and try some more of their breakfast/brunch items. We also had a couple of mimosas to celebrate. I could have not asked for a better way to start my birthday. My best friend really went all out with this! Love you Christina!!

 

After a nice brunch and a few hours of conversation about our past, present, and all of our amazing goals for the future we headed our separate ways. It was also her brother in law birthday so she had some other plans that day. I had to head back to my parents house to continue the celebration! Before leaving the city I did a little shopping at H&M (which had so many cute clothes, by the way) and then headed towards to the subway back uptown.

Let me just say one thing: The love I have for my family is beyond words. Those are the people that have been there for me 24/7/365 and whom I can always count on. I had a low key/super amazing birthday dinner, received gorgeous flowers, and then was surprised with the coolest birthday gift I gotten to date: An IPad!!! I know I may be late to the ‘IPad’ world but I could not be more excited. It is something I’ve wanted for a while.

Below are some birthday pics for your viewing pleasure:

 Birthday Flowers:

Make a Wish:

My Lovely Sister and I:

 

 

Thank you for reading! Hope you all have an amazing and super fun Halloween and be safe!

Tell me, what was your favorite birthday gift ever?

Hello 2013 and Hello January

Hey everyone! Hope you all had an amazing and safe new years eve celebration last night and that you're all hitting the ground running with this amazing year that has been numbered 2013. Something I didn't share yesterday on my post is that I actually spent a few hours of the morning at my local Barnes and Noble writing out a 2013 "action  plan". I was inspired by a Facebook post by an acquaintance that I really admire and he encouraged an action plan broken down in to quarterly, monthly and weekly goals. I am not quite finished yet but is looking good and is serving as a source of inspiration for me. I also completed my own "Happiness Concept Map" which I came across on this blog post. Erica is great and I actually derived my 2013 action plan from the concept map. I encourage you all to check it out. I first heard about the post on Clare's Blog.

I want to completely finish the action plan with set deadlines by the end of the week. Wish me luck! I have several things I want to accomplish by the end of January but here are a few of the "fun" stuff:

1.. Read an entire book of choice. This month's book:

I bought this book while vacationing in London back in 2011 (actually during my layover between London and Paris). I was going through a serious transition in my life and the book was absolutely perfect for the occasion.  I only ended up reading a couple of chapters because of my vacationing and then other stuff took focus when I came back but I cant wait to finish it. 

2. Get started on my new Jillian Michaels DVD. 30 day shred was amazing so I am excited about this one:

3. Look at the NY Road Runners schedule and map out a few races for the year or next 6 months. My sister got me a membership for Christmas (gotta love her!) so I cant wait to put it t use.

So now I leave you with a couple of photos from last nights celebration. Cheers to an amazing 2013!

Side note: I felt so amazing wearing that blue dress last night! I have never been "naturally skinny". I am one of those people that has to work for it and make a conscious effort each day to maintain a healthy life style and stay active. My hard work in 2012 paid off!!! It all started with getting rid of about 175 pounds (in terms of getting rid of a loser I was dating) which was just causing me to eat and be anxious. That was around February of 2012 and then I decided to take complete control of myself and my life-- began to race (Spartan), did a 5K, a 10K, remained constant with the Jillian Michael 30 day shred and other workouts. Ate healthy most of the time and come December I felt AMAZING and that how I felt last night. Sacrifices do pay off :)

Question: How was your new years eve? Are you making any plans for January or for the year? Thanks for reading!