One More Time Around the Sun

I've been having so much fun with the birthday giveaways. Thank you to all of you who participated. There's still time to enter a couple of them, so get to it!

How did I spend my birthday?

Well...

I took the day off and there was this...

And this...

And finally, at the end of the evening, there was this...

Now that I think about it, there was a whole lot of food going on.

But there were also bouquets of flowers in every room. And yes, I bought them for myself. I love flowers. I love filling my house with flowers. Sometimes, though, that seems indulgent. Still, what better day to be indulgent?

I also spent some time filling the house with the smell of raspberry jam simmering and fresh bread baking. I wrote a few things down in a note to myself, some goals for this 38th year, some resolutions for the tail end of my 30's. I spent some time with dear friends, drinking wine and talking about life, children, memories of our childhoods. It was the perfect blend of leisure and productivity, solitude and company.

I gave myself the gift of time. Nothing needed to be done. Nothing had to be accomplished. I could sit at a cafe and sip tea while reading for two hours. I could smell every flower at the market and pick the perfect blooms. I could pause in the middle of my day to focus on a friend. I didn't have to be anywhere at any time. I put off for tomorrow what I might have done that day and, instead, focused on breathing and listening, closing my eyes in the dappled sunlight of my garden, and being.

It was, simply put, a beautiful day.