Take PTO on your birthday! 10/10 recommend!

If this is what 35 looks like, it’s not so bad.

The Morning

For the first time in my working part of life, I took the day off from work to relax. The day turned out pretty perfect.

After dropping off the two older kiddos at their respective classes, the little Greyman and I went out on the town.

[Actually, the morning started with dropping off my van at the mechanics to make sure it’s in tip-top shape].

Greyman and I cruised downtown to Starbucks, the one next to Nothing Bundt Cakes, to claim a free venti cappuccino and then a refreshing lemon-blueberry bundtlet. By the time I had collected those items, little man was asleep so I parked at the Pier and finished reading Before We Say Goodbye.

By then I needed some brain food so I asked siri to lead me to Bagelheads. She proceeded to lead me to “bay-gel-heads.” I had not been there since before their renovation so this was a treat! I absolutely love their MacDaddy coffee on tap but since I had my Starbs (left in the car, ofc) I didn’t get to try their luscious-sounding maple nut brew this time.

Oh the menu choices . . . My husband loves their blueberry crunch bagel with the walnut shmear but I was not feeling like something sweet. I considered an asiago bagel with butter and honey but talked myself into getting one with their veggie cream cheese–which was very light and nice but I should have gone with my original wish (the butter and honey). But oh, well.

I may be three and a half decades old but I still second-guess myself.

While I waited to feed my head, Greyson charmed a couple customers. His blue eyes blazed against the sunrise, prompting a gentleman to exclaim He’s going to be a heartbreaker one day! (No new news to me ha!) I agreed.

I found a somewhat shaded spot and availed myself on this treat. It was lovely. And felt so surreal being by the beach at such a stunning time of day. With nowhere to go for several more hours!

Little dude and I loaded up and drove towards the library (he hated his car seat something awful all day, poor guy!) where I returned and picked up some books. Along the way I stopped at Panera’s for a chocolate chip muffie and the Fresh Market for a slice of chocolate cake (the vanilla is phenomenal; think chocolate is new?). Their coffee on display offered a peanut butter one that was quite delectable.

By now Greyson was asleep and I continued on to Chickfila (hello, brownies!) and Crumbl. Did you know they bring the pink box out to your parked car? (This mother thanks companies that do this!)

The Afternoon

On a typical day, the hours would have been all depleted by now but there was still all afternoon left to enjoy–so I made a boring stop at the kids’ pediatrician to get set up with their online portal. (Sometimes it’s just impossible to get a hold of offices these days. Or is it just me?)

Finally, we were back home and my sweet babe was still snoring away. So what did I do? I ignored the laundry and the dishes, and sat on my back porch with a book! Oh, and a slice of pound cake that I had made over the weekend and a reheated cup of coffee from breakfast.

All the excursions were so enjoyable but there wasn’t anything that topped being at my own house at the middle of the day reading. And hearing the birds sing? Oh and did I mention there was a blissful little breeze all day long? Amen.

I started a book set in a beach town, gasping when this new-to-me author roasted several lovely towns in this area! (I’m only about 30 pages in so I don’t know if she’s going to be a favorite yet. Stay tuned).

How perfect the day was! And it wasn’t over yet.

Baby boy woke up to eat and then rode with me to collect the rest of the people. And now for a favorite moment of mine:

Caeden and Evvy came home and we all devoured the treats I gathered!

The expressions and sounds of joy all around the dining room table was 100% worth it. I need milk! I need a wipe! and such requests prevented me from sitting down right away–but I didn’t mind. I got to sample a little bit of everything and was comfortably satisfied.

My man threw together broccoli, sausage, and pasta (no one was super starved) that was perfectly salted and tasty. Then. (I realize I haven’t mentioned this until now but I wanted to do a workout of some sort whether that was walk the three-mile bridge, stroll around Veteran’s Memorial Park, or Pilates at home. But that didn’t happen.) Instead, I announced I was going to take a walk as the sun set–and everyone wanted to join! (We dragged Chris out, too. Sorry!)

The Evening

The evening could not have been any more picturesque–and somehow I failed to take any pictures. (Live in the moment, right?)

During the last few steps back toward our house we could hear a super cool sounding bird in the shadows. It sounded so familiar to me (from my nerdy birdwatching days haha) so I looked it up on Google for the kids (Caeden was dying to know what it was) and we learned that we have Chuck Will’s Widows (look it up!) here in our neighborhood. I can still hear the mysterious chirping in my head.

No, I didn’t stay up late reading even though I wanted to. I was plumb wore out. But what a fantastic day it was–my definition of perfect.

_{Thank you to my friend who recommended I write about my day and turn it into a blog post!}