You say it's your birthday...

Ya'll. I'm 30. And I think this really was the best birthday* yet. Here's why:

+ I made it feel like a big deal.

I'm not really good at birthdays, and I usually let them slip by in the wake of Christmas. The celebration is usually a last-minute-ish dinner with good friends. My family is always a little scattered, and I end up feeling guilty for not spending enough time with my parents when you know, they kinda made the whole day possible. But this year I spent the 30 days leading up to 30 thinking and writing and generally making it a big deal.

+ I celebrated all day long, but took a little bit of time for just me.

After being cooped up in the house for three-ish days, I really wanted to start my birthday with a run. I picked an easy Couch-to-5K routine so Ginger could come with me, and we ran around Neil's parents' neighborhood in 20-degree weather. It was just what I needed to feel calm and not totally guilty about everything I was about to eat.

Neil and I had a lovely coffee date with our friends Steven and Lisa, followed by a fun birthday lunch with Blake, Emily, Christina and Megan.

Christina with her giant Polaroid-esque camera

The Birthday Girl

(It looks like the devil is standing nonchalantly on my right shoulder.)

And my mom planned a dinner party that started out as just immediate family and grew to include our oldest and dearest family friends. She had a moment of panic when she realized all the stuff she had to do in the two hours leading up to the arrival of guests, so Neil took over vacuuming duties and I cleaned some dishes and unpacked groceries. Luckily we were excused to go take a mid-afternoon nap before the festivities started. I definitely needed a little downtime.

The dinner was a huge success. I think we had 15 people over, and it was awesome. Entertainment was provided by my newly 2-year old niece Mia. She must have known it was my birthday because she adopted me as her Favorite Person for the night. Someday she and I will bond over having birthdays so close to Christmas.

Mia Monster

My mom made a delicious beef tenderloin with three different sauces, and she served green bean casserole (a personal fave) and the most decadent mashed potatoes (courtesy of guest Judy) on the side. For dessert we had strawberry shortcake from Joli Kobe, the bakery that made our wedding cake. It was a beautiful cake and tasted delicious.

Behold, the deliciousness.

+ I didn't get pinged by Facebook-only Friends' birthday wishes all day.

I don't do a whole lot on Facebook these days, other than read through my news feed when I wake up in the morning and am trying to will myself to get out of bed. I rarely wish people a happy birthday on their big day, and these past couple years on *my* birthday I've gotten a slew of birthday greetings from people I haven't seen or spoken to in like, ten years. That feels weird to me, and it produces little pangs of guilt that I don't do the same for all these Facebooking friends. So this year, around 11:30 p.m. on the eve of my thirtieth birthday, I edited my profile to hide my birthdate. It definitely had the desired effect, as the only birthday wishes were from people who totally know me and see me on a regular basis.

+ Um, I got some great gifts.

As tacky as it may sound, I want to do a whole separate post on the gifts I got for Christmas and my birthday, because I got some downright awesome stuff. But I want to mention that my bestie Katie mailed me a package last week that was wrapped in duct tape and was sternly marked DO NOT OPEN UNITL YOU ARE 30. Naturally, it was the first gift I wanted to open the morning of my birthday. I did so after my morning jog and was so delighted to find a darling "E" mug from Anthropologie, a tin of my favorite tea and a Penguin Classics copy of Anne of Green Gables.

The accompanying card advised me to take time for myself to do exactly what I want to do this year, like drinking tea from my very own mug while devouring a book well below my reading level. This is why best friends are the best.

+ I went to bed early.

Anyone who knows me well knows I'm not really a night owl. I loved that Neil and I left my parents' house around 9:30 and I was in bed before 10. I let about 100 episodes of House Hunters drone on in the background while I dozed and Neil played video games. A perfect ending to a practically perfect day.

* I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I've had some pretty amazing birthdays in my life. Here are the honorable mentions:

+ Birthday #17 was a joint party with two of my best high school pals, Jennifer and Lisa. We decided to invite all our band geek and punk rock/emo friends to the local fire station for a tour. Plastic fireman hats were donned and the birthday girls wore matching cheetah print polyester sundresses. Be jealous. I think the firefighters on duty that day probably still talk about it.

+ Birthday #21 was your typical go-to-a-bar-and-drink-til-you-puke affair, but I had a ton of fun (until the puking part) and was filled with the anticipation of leaving to study abroad a couple days later. I think I still had a hangover when I boarded the plane to London.

+ Birthday #27 and a Half was a grand affair indeed. I had never celebrated my birthday in Nashville before, so I convinced Neil to throw me a half-birthday party so we could have all our friends over to our little apartment, and since it was summer, we could spill out into the courtyard. Neil actually proposed the week before the party so it turned out to be a birthday/engagement soiree. Kind of unforgettable.