Last Year In My 20’s

Today, I turn 29. 

Why does that sound so old?! 

I know it’s still young and I’ve been told that your 30’s are pretty remarkable. I guess I’m just wondering where my 20’s went! However, every birthday I have had for the past few years I have loathed. So this year I took a new outlook on turning 29. I’m going to celebrate the last year of being in my 20’s. Why not?! I could be depressed and claim I’m going to die soon… but the bottom line is that I’m not and I have had a pretty fantastic life up until now. So I want to celebrate that and make my last year of being in my 20’s that much more incredible. 

I started off the celebrating by going out with my best girls on Friday night - hanging out with the ladies who have been there through all of my 20’s and have spoken so much over my life in the past 10 years. It was wonderful. I wanted a night of dancing and fun and that’s exactly what we did. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Thanks to my sister-in-love, Katie who grabbed my camera and documented what she could of the night!

Started off the night with some drinks then went to one of my favorite spots in West Chester, Landmark and had a fantastic dinner. 

 We then wanted to get some picture of the group, but the restaurant was so dark so we ended up taking our food back to our cars and while we were there Katie just started snapping away. (i.e that’s why most of our pictures are taken in a parking garage.) My friend Cara was ready to dance and apparently so was this random stranger … so they decided they would bust a move out there in the open with absolutely no music. It was hysterical. 

 I then had a breakdown. (You see... you can’t do anything with me without having me go all hormonal on your butt). Don’t get me started… I’m an emotional freaking roller coaster and my poor friends had to deal with it. I felt SO stupid! However, they recovered my “falling apart self” pretty quickly by loving on me and then making me take silly pictures. I got a picture with each of the girls…

 And then decided I was ready to hit the dance floor. 

 However, we didn’t do much dancing. We had a few drinks, took a few more pictures and then around 12 I kind of pooped out. CAN YOU SAY OLD?!?! Honestly, it just showed me that I would much rather go to one of my good friend’s house; dance it up there with people I know (instead of feeling like I was a piece of meat, because frankly I'm too old for that) and hanging out with friends. BUT… I did like dressing up. I think all girls like to dress up, so that was pretty awesome! 

This has gotten to be too long, so I’ll tell you about the rest of my weekend later this week. 

I did however want to say my 20’s have been pretty epic. I got married to the love of my life, bought our first house together, and made a family. I had two amazing little boys who light up my life and make being a mommy the most amazing thing ever. I have had the most amazing friends and family to make my 20’s that much more memorable! I went on so many wonderful trips with my bestie’s and had opportunities I never thought I would have by working at my last job. All in all; my 20’s have been amazing. I couldn’t be any more thankful and I’m hoping that this year will be just as awesome, if not better. 

Here’s to having the best year of my life!

A Blog Friendship Is So Much More

Since I'm on vacation this week and really didn't want to have to think much, my good friend Cara said that she would be more than happy to be a guest blogger for today.  How nice, right?!  I thought it would be appropriate since the way we met was through the blog world.... 

I'll let her tell you the story.

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Do you ever read some blogs and think,

"Man I so wish I knew this person in real life?

I just know we would be like BBFF"

(you know Best Blog Friends Forever)

No? Just me?

The blog world is funny like that you know?

You read and read and read

and feel like you really know the person who's blog you are reading.

And then as you read, you start to get immersed in their life.

Like when you read about their kids...and what they wore today...and what they ate or what they cooked today...and their friends...and their family...and then it starts getting juicy...like when they write about their husband...and how God redeemed their marriage after an affair.

You start to feel like you really know them.

Like really know them.

They share their raw self, are completely honest about their flaws,

and it makes you realize, nobody is perfect...

it makes you love the other person and their writing even more for their honesty.

When I started blog reading a little over 2 years ago,

one of the first blogs I added to my reader was Breaking Through.

I read it daily and I even remember at one point reading it out loud to Kenny.

Specifically post like this, and this, and this (I could go on and on with favorite posts of mine...if you are a new follower to Breaking Through, I encourage you to go back and read some of Lyryn's posts from years past...they are all truly amazing!).

The words hit me to the core...that someone could be so genuine and put it all out there for all of the world to read...and learn from.

Reading Breaking Through was like therapy for my soul.

I loved how each post was a lesson,

and as I read, I felt like I was learning the same lessons that Lyryn was learning as she wrote.

She ended almost every single post with an open ended question not just to her readers,

but to herself.

And I loved that about her and her writing style.

As I read more and more, I started noticing different places she would write about.

Pictures that looked insanely familiar.

Landmarks that seemed too coincidental.

This is when the "stalking" began.

I began fervently clicking around on her blog, trying to tie bits and pieces together.

I was determined to find out where she lived because I was convinced that she lived near me. How lucky am I, I thought??!

Finally, I mustered up enough courage to send her a friend request on facebook.

Remember I was new to this whole blogger thing.

Looking back I am like Duh, why didn't I just email her? Anyway, so I reached out to her in the most "non-stalker" way I possibly could.

Her response was nothing but genuine and I knew from that moment that I had found a new friend that I would connect with on so many levels. Here was her facebook response to my message:

Hi Cara!

Nice to meet you, I love meeting new people! Well isn’t God just amazing?! He puts people in our path in such silly ways! A blog?!

No… I don’t get that a lot, but I do get comments from amazing people like you here and there; which totally encourage me to keep doing what I’m doing! It just goes to show I’m headed on the right path… right?!

My theory on my blog is that I want people to know and understand that no ones life is PERFECT and it’s ok to struggle!!!! Hey… look at my life!!!!! My heart is to help others who have been through hard times and show them that God is totally faithful in everyway. Marriage, family life, work, everything in life will never works out the way we always want it too… and for the people who read my blog, I want them to feel like they aren’t alone in thinking this world sometimes doesn’t seem fair. Ya know?! The truth!

I’m glad that my words touched your heart and I hope they have planted something in you. Thanks for coming out and letting me know, because it truly blessed me! Do you have a blog?! I would love to start following you.

Again… I’m glad you found me and hope I have encouraged you through my blog! Ha… stalker-like, I don’t think so. You totally have the spirit of an encourager… not a stalker!!! Hope to talk to you soon!!

Lyr

From there, the emails began and they never stopped.

We connected pretty much instantly and I felt this comfort in our friendship that I had never felt before with any of my friends.

For the first time, I had a friendship with someone where I felt we were truly "there" for each other...

I needed her just as much as she needed me and I felt an overwhelming sense of security when I was with Lyryn.

I felt like I understood Lyryn and she understood me!

And in a weird way, I felt like we each brought strengths and weaknesses to our friendship.

Where I was strong, she was weak...and where I was weak, she was strong!

So for us, it is such a perfect match. We lift each other up and encourage each other.

We give each other the tough love...

and while sometimes it is not what we WANT to hear...we both have an understanding and know...it is what we NEED to hear at times!

We allow each other to complain or vent...but then always help one another to grow!

Over the course of the last two years, we have laughed, cried, yelled, written, and prayed with each other.

FYI. this is totally not where I intended this post to go....but we will go with it because it feels right. And how could I NOT mention all of these things when writing about how I met Lyryn and what our friendship is like? Cause it is just that awesome (to me anyway)

See you just never know who you will find in the blog world!

And if you are as lucky as me, that person may just live 10 minutes away from you! I thank this little thing called the internet and blogger all the time because without it (and God), who knows if I would have ever met Lyryn.

Although I truly believe God would have found a way for me and my kindred spirit to meet....a little help from the ol' blogger doesn't hurt right?

I guess where I am going with this is I encourage everyone to connect with your bloggy friends!

Reach out to them if you feel moved by something they write, let them know you care...or offer up some advice or words of encouragement if they write something you can relate to or feel moved to do so. You just never know what can come out of those types of friendships!

And just as a little pitch for our fun swap...

if you don't know where to start or are having a hard time reaching out and connecting with other bloggers, a swap is the PERFECT way to start!

Get to know one another

because maybe just maybe...

your.favorite.blogger.lives.10miles.from.you!!!

Cara

http://.onlybelieve1.blogspot.com