I thought I would love this age and be excited that 30 is almost here and when I turned 28 last year, I thought wow in two years I'll finally be 30 and get out of that 20 something stage. But now that I'm 29, I feel like I'm panicking about 30. When you're a teen getting ready for college you have these thoughts and dreams about what you want to do by age 30. You make a list in your mind or even on paper about all the things you want to do, see, and accomplish by 30. So when 30 is just around the corner and you haven't done some of those things you hit the panic button. You hit the panic button or you just lose motivation. I had a wonderful time celebrating my birthday with my family and friends, who showered me with love, but I had this empty feeling like I wanted something more. But I know that I am the only one who can give myself that or fill that void.

I love my family and would never change a thing about that part of my life. Never would I have imagined marrying such a wonderful, smart, sweet man and being blessed with three great step-children as well. While I was making dinner tonight I thought, "Wow, I'm making dinner for my family." Never would I have thought that one day I would be making dinner, let alone making dinner for a family that I called my own. I'm grateful and truly blessed and surrounded by people who love me for me.

Blogging has really opened a wonderful door for me and editing for All Women Stalk has given me the opportunity to chat with people from all around the world and put my work, writing, and voice out there. I really enjoy editing, interacting with guest bloggers, interviewing people, and giving others a voice. But some where along the lines of doing more editing than writing I feel like I lost my voice and now that I am back to doing more writing and only editing my own work, I need to find my drive again. I need to find who I am, who I want to be, and where I fit in.

It's not that I'm scared of taking risks because I've pushed myself to be the first one in my family to go to college and I've pushed myself to say hello to the man I married, and I pushed myself to become a writer and an editor. I'm proud of myself and grateful for my life, my family, and my job. I know there are many people today who are struggling to keep their jobs, to get a new one, and to keep their homes.

The difficult thing is that I'm not sure what I want. I would like to take some classes and go back to school, but I need to explore and do some research to see where I would like to take my career before I take that next step.

Have you ever had this feeling of wanting to find yourself or wanting more? How did you take turning 30, 40, 50, and so on?

Lucky Lady I am!

I really am a blessed and lucky lady who has a family that is filled with love for her! As I said in the last post I went out to lunch with a friend, to the Philadelphia Flower Show with my mom, and then got together with my amazing Mother-in-law...who actually shares a birthday with me...for dinner and cake. She surprised me with a hand drawn owl for my birthday!!! She knew that I started obsessing over owls recently and have collected some owl jewelry and wanted to do something special for me. I just about cried because of the thoughtfulness and love she put into it....

Not the best photo of it, but what an amazing job she did and this is the first time she gave away something she drew! She is such a sweet, kind, and caring Mother-in-law...I told you I was lucky! She even wrote my name in the wing of the owl! Also, the adorable little owl sitting next to it was my birthday gift from my sister...and it wobbles too!

My wonderful husband drew an owl on my birthday cake!!! Wait there's more...

My sweet stepdaughter put owls all over the card she made for me! (We have a hallmark computer program and can personalize our cards at home!)

My in-laws really love me, my sister-in-law gave me this rustic bird house shovel piece for my growing garden!

Okay now I feel like I'm talking too much about myself, but I am really grateful for everyone in my life...including my best friend!!!! She handmade this beautiful card for me, and gave me that rolling tote and carrier you see there on the table, plus...

Her and her husband bought me a cake and made a Korean dinner for us!

Yes, I had two...well three cakes in one week!! We had cake for my mother-in-law too!

My bestie and her husband, they are like family...(do you see the owl placemats!)

My wonderful husband!! He is going to take me to get my owl tattoo, we've been so busy that I will probably wait until the girls are on Spring Break to get it!

Thank you to my family and friends for making me feel special for my birthday and thank you to everyone on the blog, twitter, and facebook for the sweet birthday wishes! xoxo

Enjoying a Wonderful Birthday Celebration Week!

I really love my family and friends...I'm such a lucky lady to enjoy more than just one day of celebration for my birthday. Two weeks ago a good friend emailed me and said it was my turn to be treated to lunch this time especially since my birthday was coming up so I should pick a day, time, and place! We went to my new favorite cafe and had a great time chatting and eating; we were there for two hours and it probably only took 30 minutes to eat! After my friend told the waitress it was my birthday they told us we could stay as long as we wanted!

I also went to the Philadelphia Flower Show, a tradition I started with my mom for my birthday! We get lunch in China Town and then head over to the convention center for the show. I was involved with the show in high school and have gone to it every year since. This year the theme was centered around Hawaii and the tropical exhibits and florals just took my breath away, even more so than last year's Paris theme!

Check it out for yourself...

First Up: China Town!

Aloha!

The Coolest Entry Way Ever...

This photo doesn't do justice to the gorgeous waterfall and hut...

The graphics that were displayed on the hut were unlike anything I've ever seen...

As we arrived there was a show of Hawaiian Dancers!

Succulents, Pro Tea, and Pineapples were every where...

My beautiful mom!

These next two photos were from an orchid exhibit...

How clever...pails used as heating lamps!

Canned Fruit... thought of a certain lady when I saw these and this mason jar....

How amazing is this exhitbit that looks like the inside of a Volcano...

In Honor of Pearl Harbor...

To be continued...

Happy March!!!

Hmmm...so my Birthday is coming up this month and I think a great way to celebrate would be to get that owl tattoo I want! I have a few pins on Pinterest of a few cute owls I found, yes I pin Owls...don't judge me! Perhaps I can get my stepdaughter to draw me an owl as well, the tattoo my husband and I got together, a horseshoe and a feather, was actually inspired by a picture she drew for us when we told her what we wanted. I really want the tattoo some place I can actually enjoy it and look at it, my other tattoos are on my back and I'm thinking of adding one more to that collection too!

Here are some of my pins in my tattoo idea board...

http://pinterest.com/worldaroundher/tattoo-ideas/

And a few others in my owl board...

http://pinterest.com/worldaroundher/i-heart-owls/

I really love the idea of two owls sitting on a branch together..

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Or even an owl family (we would need three little ones)...

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Is this little guy not adorable...

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What are your thoughts of where to get it and what the owl should look like? If I get it on the inside of my arm I will probably only get two owls on the branch so it isn't too big. If I do this then I might get another tattoo at some other time to represent the kids.

One more owl...how cute is she with her glasses!

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