Today was beautiful, and a wonderful birthday!
Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes.
And, since I have a very short window of time to share tonight with a cranky internet connection, here are my favorite photos from the day. There was so much to love!
Tomorrow, we swim (snorkel) with sharks.
Seriously.
Well, I’m not sure if I will get in the water, yet, but I’ll be on the boat.
Either way it’s a big leap in the right direction to get over my fears. We’ll see…
xo ~Jamie
I love birthdays. Problem is, I forget birthdays.
I’m sure I would forget my own if I didn’t have such wonderful people in my life to help me celebrate.
And, it is, in fact, birthday week around here (the official day is Thursday). That means …our bags are packed for the Bahamas! We leave in the morning!
Justin surprised me with this little trip as a way to help celebrate my birthday, and to celebrate everything that happened with The Promise 365 last year.
I love celebrations, marking time, reflecting and honoring where we have been.
And, tonight, my first birthday gift, the first marker of this 38th birth year, came in with a POP! Debbie and Rob gave me a fun send-off with a surprise gift just after our Women on Fire Live Chat ended.
First, there was this beautifully wrapped box.
(With a bow that Debbie’s big, white, fluffy cat Wilbur loved more than anything!)
Then, I opened up a huge, rolled up scroll of paper that was protected with bubble wrap.
And, finally, I realized that THIS wasn’t your average bubble wrap …it is the BUBBLE WRAP CALENDAR! — the one I found online and pined for earlier in the month. I was so surprised, you can see the photo is blurry from my utter excitement.
So for the rest of 2012, as each day goes by, I will POP it off my calendar. What fun. How special. I. Love. It. (you can watch a video of how it works here)
And, I love the people in my life who remember my birthday. What a beautiful act of love, to just say, “hey, happy birthday, glad you’re on the planet.”
So it is, with this popping calendar, I finally had a POP! go off in my mind.
I love birthdays. I love the people in my life.
Why don’t I remember their birthdays?
So, that is exactly the birthday promise I vow to make, as I blow out the candles on this 38th birthday week celebration. There is no reason to forget a special birthday, especially with Facebook reminders and technology all around …and now, this fun, popping calendar!
So, if I don’t already have it, send me your birthday.
We’ll celebrate and make it go Pop!
You can watch the popping video below or at this link.
It’s Day 332 of no shopping and it is officially decided.
The first thing I purchase in 2012 will be new underwear for down under.
My birthday happens to occur on Australia Day, but I am not referencing that southern hemisphere. Rather, I am planning another celebration to help cover up my birthday suit.
New underwear it will be.
And, that’s all she wrote.
Today is my birthday, and the last letter in a series of notes to my younger self.
Today, age thirty-seven.
What would you say to your 37-year-old self?
Dear Jamie, Age 37
Happy Birthday, Girl!
First of all, what were your thinking?
It is one thing to not shop all year long, but to make a promise to write about it every, single day? Really. Really??!! You have put me on the line here Missy.
I know you can do it.
You have been through more challenging times. You have survived a traumatic divorce, your life has been torn apart, and look at how much has already been put back together? Where there was pain, there is love. Isn’t that always the case?
Get this:
You have been a cancer survivor longer than a non-cancer survivor. How crazy is that? And wonderful. Listen to the lessons you hold in your heart about living, about the essence of life. You have internal wisdom. Please accept it.
Let me remind you of this very important fact:
This birthday is not about you. It started as a celebration of your parents and it continues as a way to honor your friends, family, loved-ones and sisters. They are in your heart for a reason, they helped make you, Jamie.
Even more, honor those who have hurt you.
The pain is really a beautiful gift in disguise. It has made you stronger, wiser, more forgiving and unquestionably more resilient.
Blow out your candles and blow out your dreams.
Blow it all out to the most amazing life you can think of. Maybe you will have children. Maybe you will wear a size 6 again. Maybe you won’t. Maybe you will have millions, an island in the Caribbean and a private cabana with built-in waterfalls. Or not. It doesn’t matter. Just keep dreaming and creating with what does matter: love.
I wish for you NOT to grow up.
Instead, I would love for you to grown in — keep growing in to your best self and put everything into the process. I hear the 40′s are even more fun.
Love,
Jamie, Age 37 and 21 hours old
P.S. Who would have thought you would be back with your high school boyfriend after all these years. Amazing, ironic, fun, isn’t it!?
P.P.S. You may never learn to cook, so enjoy this experiment and embrace the fear. There are no mistakes.
Today is a day of worship in my house… er, apartment.
The New England Patriots worshiping kind.
It is a religion of sorts. It is indeed the chosen doctrine of my favorite man, Justin, who enjoys the weekly sermon on the mount (correction: 50 yard line).
Let me share a very important piece of data: my birthday is January 26th.
Which labels me an Aquarius. It also means as a child I endured the full swing of football season smack dab in the middle of my birthday season, and sometimes the Super Bowl landed directly on my day of celebration. (In these years specifically: 2003, 1997, 1992, 1986)
Yes. 1986.
Just what every 12 year old girl wishes for: a Super Bowl birthday party.
Lucky me!
There’s nothing that says happy birthday better than a 10 minute half-time show to hurry up and open the gifts you’ve been anticipating all year long.
I should be clear: I like football. I just like all the wrong things.
I notice the uniform colors, the promotions, all of the brands advertising.
This comes directly from my experience in the world of sports marketing and promotions. I can’t help it, it’s just how my brain works, analyzing the behind-the-scenes, the production, the product.
I usually miss the game part of the game.
I also notice this in the man I love: Justin gets just as excited about the latest New England game stats as I do about the latest Max Mara coat, Joes Jeans or Levenger paper products.
My form of worship takes place in the mall and in the glossy pages of catalogs.
Maybe we all have our own brand of a promised land?
This year, I am trying my hand at a promise. My promise to take the year off from my form of “worship” in order to be more aware, and to invest that energy into my head, heart, body and soul.
What is yours?
And if you took a year off from it, where would you invest your time and energy?
I’m not suggesting you should… just asking the question.
TGIF. F*ing Fridays are back! And, they will continue to occur on Friday. I mentioned some of my favorite F words back on Day 5 in Year 1, including: Fearless, Fabulous, Fine, Fun, Faith, Freedom, Forgiveness, to name a Few. Last week I dove into the word Flip Flops. Today’s F*ing Friday is dedicated to the […]
TGIF. Today continues the weekly series, F*ing Fridays, which will coincidentally occur on Friday. I mentioned some of my favorite F words back on Day 5, including: Fearless, Fabulous, Fine, Fun, Faith, Freedom, Forgiveness, to name a Few. Last week I dove into the word Festivities. Today’s F*ing Friday is dedicated to the word: Finale. […]
You’ve made it. Over the hump of 2011 and looking directly at the other side. Approximately six months left to go, 181 days to mark on the calendar. Today concludes this four-part series, In The Middle. Day 4: Soul I wonder what Lewis and Clark thought as they hoofed it across North America, did they high-five […]
Have you ever felt like you were just supposed to be somewhere at a certain time ~ even though it wasn’t planned, you couldn’t predict it and never expected it? But there you found yourself anyway? That’s how I felt this week having to rush off the island with Pup’s little emergency. It put me […]
It feels like summertime and the shopping is easy. Here in Mexico one can’t escape the local vendors. They come to you. Whether sitting at a restaurant or sitting on the beach. Se vende? Want a new silver bracelet? Want a bright pink strapless beach dress? Want a kabob with shrimp and papaya? It’s so […]
