It's been a little over a week since the dreaded day, and I have to say, it was pretty uneventful, but in a good way. The world is still turning, the sun still rises and sets, and my children still think they know more than me. I realized that "30" is only going to be as good as I make it so I better make it good. Here is a little showing of all the good loot I got.
Awesome fabric from Jacey.
Beautiful flowers from Christina.
A birthday fabric shopping trip from my Mom.
SO many lego sets and geeky goodies from my Hubby, my mom, and my sister. I was an amazing day and I love my family so much for making it special for me.
In all of the silly stress of my birthday, I set out to keep myself busy so I didn't think about it so much. I decided I wanted to have a "Handmade" birthday. I wanted special things that I could wear to make me feel better. Kind of like a hug that I could walk around in. I started with a skirt. My mom got me a shirt to wear for my birthday and I wanted something to wear with it that I would love but also something fun.
So I made a denim skirt. I agonized over patterns for days before I decided just to try and draft one myself. I am pretty happy with the end result and I am pretty sure I will be wearing it all summer. Please notice the t-shirt of awesomeness. Thanks mom :)
So after the success of the skirt, my confidence grew so much that I wanted to try and tackle a dress. I had purchased the Darling Ranges Dress pattern back in april as well as some fabric that I loved to make it. (I <3 Lizzy House) And decided to dive right in.
The pattern was surprisingly very simple to follow. The instructions are very detailed and the diagrams were easy to understand. I was pretty impressed with myself, actually. lol. The fit is perfect, although, I better not gain any weight.
I wasn't sure about the buttons at first, but I really love them now. I think they give the right pop of color that makes for a fun dress. And look, it has POCKETS!!!!
After this dress, I wanted to give one more pattern a try that I had already bought the fabric for. I have to say, that this is my most favorite thing ever. It is so comfy and looks so nice. (sorry for the crappy iphone pic)
Maxi dresses are where it's at. Who knew?!
So now onto the good stuff :) Since my birthday was so awesome, I wanted to share little of that. I made a zippy pouch with some of the birthday fabric I got and I used the letters from the Geek Sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery to add a little geek to it.
Just leave a comment telling me about your favorite birthday or...your worst or most dreaded birthday and I will randomly pick a winner on friday. Make sure to leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the lucky winner!
Have a happy Wednesday!
My favorite birthday was my 30th (the most recent one). My sister coordinated with friends and family, and arranged a small gift and card on each of the thirty days leading up to my birthday. It was so fun, and I was surprised to hear from some older friends that I hadn't talked to in awhile. It was so special, and made me feel great about turning thirty.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday again, Amanda! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! I really love all of the clothes you made, most especially, the Hello Pilgrim dress!
The Lego makes me want to know if I can tell about someone else's birthday instead--my boyfriend's! We had a Lego store opening here the weekend before his birthday, and I stood in line for hours to get one of the limited edition store opening sets, only to be told after dropping well over a hundred bucks that they wouldn't let me have one since all I got was a gift card (for his birthday the next week!). I'd had this big plan to have him open the Lego store set and realize where we were going, so I was so upset. But I called corporate and they told me it was a mistake and I got my Lego store set after all, and seeing my boyfriend (who is also nearly 30) in the Lego store playing with the augmented reality machines and agonizing over his purchase was worth everything I went through :) Also found out Lego's corporate customer service rocks beyond anything.
ReplyDeleteI love your dress! I love the pouch! I love everything in this post :D
uglymyfanwe at gmail dot com, if this comment gets lucky--mostly just wanted to share my Lego store story, lol.
I think every birthday has been special for different reasons. I love this post!! I so wish I had gotten that shirt now. ;)
ReplyDeletexo Wendy
I had a tea party when I was 8, complete with frilly dresses and real china, and it was the bomb. :) meandelna@gmail.com
ReplyDeletespent my 30th in New Orleans with some motley crew of folks. the best part was when our roving crowd dwindled down in the wee hours to just a couple of close friends, some adult bevvies, and a whole lotta giggling.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday!
That Narwhal is the best! My 17th birthday was rough - we were packing so my parents could move away (while I stayed) but other than that they've been pretty good.
ReplyDeleteToday is my birthday! It was pretty awesome, I worked (wah wah), but then had pizza, cake and ice cream with my family! Who could ask for anything more?
ReplyDeleteYou won, dear!!!! YAY!! be sure to send me your email address so you can tell me where I need to send your zippy pouch!
Deletei love your dresses and i agree with you... the maxi is the way to go! it is like wearing a nightgown! lovely! i am so happy you had a good birthday! xo
ReplyDeleteI don't know about wonderful or awful birthdays. My husband was out of town for mine this year, which was a bummer. But, I love your Lord of the Rings Legos. We just got some for my husband for father's day, and we have been having a grand time putting them together. Hope you had a great birthday.
ReplyDeleteGreat pouch! I had a blast at my 30th, 16 of us went to New Orleans to celebrate! Happy Birthday.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like it was an excellent birthday!! Your Hello Pilgrim dress is awesome-- I love it! And that little pouch is amazing :) I often have mixed feelings about my birthday-- I want it to be fun and special, but I've found that the low-key birthdays are usually best. Last year I went out to dinner with my husband and had some cake, and I think that's about all I need!
ReplyDeleteYay, you got so much great loot for your birthday! I love that you already have a Merida doll (can not wait to see the movie) and I love your Gandalf wagon! Hmmm, I can't think of any incredibly good birthdays, but I've definitely had some doozy bad ones - I remember on my 24th birthday when midnight struck I was being yelled at by a (now-ex) friend in an alley about what a bad friend I was because she said I was spending too much time with one group of friends and not enough time with another at my party. Oy.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had nothing to worry, you've got some great friends and family there!! :D
ReplyDeleteI'm not big on birthdays, especially living so far from friends and family, but it is always nice to get those random texts from friends who I thought had forgotten about me when we left California. :)
Happy birthday! :)
How about some birthday thoughts from someone about to turn 50 !!!!
ReplyDeleteI still feel 30, just don't look it!!?? So acknowledge and love your youth, while you are young...You will wish you had realized how young you were "way back then" :) Cheers, and Happy Birthday!!! (I had to come and see who got Jeni's precious pouch last year :)