Growing up, birthdays have always been a bit of a celebration in my family.  A 'Happy Birthday' banner placed on the mantel, often accompanied by a balloon or two, were always a pleasant surprise when we came downstairs on the morning of our special day.  And you could never get through the day, let alone the morning, before mom and dad would come into our rooms, with a smile and a hug, singing Happy birthday to you!!  Another exciting element of the day was being given the power of choosing our favorite meal to eat on our birthday night.  Interestingly enough, even when we were little we, didn't choose chicken nuggets or ice cream or something.  My sister often chose Cheeseburger Pie, and my favorite was Chicken in a Basket.  (Much to my dismay, they do not create the potato shoestring baskets that made this meal- otherwise this would still be birthday meal of choice.)  Coming home from school, the birthday fun would begin with dinner followed by a tasty dessert (also of our choice) and then the fun part, presents!! Sometimes grandpa and grandma would be there to partake in the fun as well.  It was really great.  And in addition to the birthday fun on the actual birthday, we were given the opportunity to celebrate with our friends in one way or another.  I remember several tea parties, probably a few at chuckie cheese, dress up parties, surprise parties in high school, and lots of other memorable moments.  My grandpa used to say, "You girls are lucky!  Your birthdays go on for weeks!!" 

Since then, a birthday has not gone by without a celebration in our family.  As I prepared for my sister's upcoming birthday last week, my husband commented- 'man, you guys and your birthdays... they're so extravagant!"  I never really thought about it that way until he said that.  We really have been blessed to build a discipline of celebration around our special days.  I know it may sound a bit ridiculous, but I think it fits in perfectly with the mentality of choosing joy.  You can either let each day go by without choosing joy or fun, or you can make a point to be happy, and have a blast!  

So here we are, me 26 and my sister just turning 29, and we still put a solid effort into coming up with new ways to celebrate.  This year, I was pretty excited about what I came up with to bring a little joy to my sister's special day.  And thus we meet, the Big Balloon. :) 

I have seen many pictures of huge balloons on wedding pictures, or on various images from my Instagram feed, but never have I seen one in person.  I was STOKED when I found out that I was able to get one of these beautiful things at a local party store.   I felt like a kid in a candy shop when the clerk presented me with the 36" of pink joyful goodness.  :)  Clutching the balloon with fear that it might escape my grasp, pushing it through my car door, as well as trying to drive without the balloon bopping around in my sight in my rearview mirror- made getting the balloon home a trip.

But the best part of all was surprising my sister.  Bright and early on her birthday I decided to grab a few donuts, the balloon, and be at my sister's house before she went to school.  And the funnest (yes I said funnest) part was, I didn't just ring her doorbell, instead, I called her and said "Hey, can you do me a favor?  Can you look outside for a second?"  A little confused, she peeked out her bedroom window and saw me standing there in her driveway with the huge balloon.  She was ecstatic, she kept giggling over the phone and said oh my gosh, oh my gosh, that balloon is huge!

Before heading off to school I took a picture of her (image above) and her "balloon buddy" as we referred to it for the rest of the day.  It was so so fun to bring joy to my sister and celebrate her in a way as random as giving her a big balloon.  [And it was also a ton of fun to make her lug that balloon around everywhere with her for the rest of the evening... I called the photos "Steph and her balloon parts 1, 2, 3, and 4" see images below]  She means the world to me- she's my best friend.  Such a loving, caring, beautiful, encouraging woman, who I could not live without.  I am so blessed to have her in my life, and so thankful to have the opportunity to bring her joy.

So, cheers to the little things in life that make people happy, like huge balloons.
My hope is that this week, you might take the time to celebrate those you love, and find joy in the small things.

xo

Tonight I am blogging from what used to be my bedroom for 3 months, at my sister's place. We decided that it has been awhile since we had a sleepover, and a random Wednesday night was what we picked. My sister and I have a really special relationship. She is not just my sister, she's my best friend. She knows me inside and out, makes me laugh when I'm cranky, let's me share her clothes, pretty much everything you could want in a sister.

For the past 3 years, I had been living on my own. I had a cute 1-bedroom apartment, in a brick story-book apartment building, that had great character, and a perfect location- just a block from the nearest Alterra. I loved it! I had never lived alone prior to this and I absolutely loved it. It gave me a great opportunity to really get to know myself, and experience what living on your own is like. You can make messes wherever you want, when you want, you can move your bedroom around just so your bed is in the perfect spot to watch Avatar on the TV in the living room while falling asleep (yup I did that), heck- you can even walk around naked if you want. :) Overall, living alone was great.

This past August, life turned into a whirlwind of change, and my time of living alone was up. My position at work was eliminated and I was preparing to get married. I personally did not believe in living with my fiancé before getting married, so I knew that I was going to figure something else out. As this was all happening with me, my sister was in the process of moving out of her old place into her own super cute, 2-bedroom apartment. So what ended up happening worked out PERFECTLY. In the process of ending a lease and starting a new lease, my sister ended up in my joint for a month. Picture this: two queen beds and two dressers in a one-bedroom apartment. May sound cramped, but thankfully I had a big bedroom and really it was great. It was like a sleepover with your best friend for a month- we had a blast. At the end of that month she moved into her place, and 2 weeks later my lease ended and over I came to her house. Unlike my place she had two bedrooms- so I had a separate space to call my own.

Living with my sister for the 3 months prior to getting married was one of the biggest blessings that I experienced in preparing for the next stage of my life. As I was sitting here tonight, with my sister having already fallen asleep I walked around the apartment and the familiar scent filled my nose. I stood there for a moment in the darkness of her living room and let the memories flood back in. So much happened in this place in the 3 months that I spent here. Putting together wedding invites, wrapping bridesmaid gifts, putting together seating charts, fabulous dinner and sleepover for my bachelorette party, what had to have been the best bridal shower on earth (really I must tell you about that another time- I had a cake with the most adorable shoes on it, as a gift from my bridesmaids), and primping and putting on my wedding gown, all took place in this space.

I look back on those 3 months with the fondest of memories. I could not have had the best experience in preparing for my wedding. Besides all the fun that happened in this apartment, the ultimate reason that these memories are so great is because of the blessing of being able to spend so much time with my ever-so-loving sister. I am thankful for a wonderful sister who even though we don't live under the same roof anymore, welcomes me into her home no matter what the hour, who runs over to my house when I'm having a hard day, who buys me a bottle of wine and bubble bath after a stressful interview, and who still wants to have sleepovers even in the middle of the week.

I am thankful that the simple moment of breathing in the aromas that fill this space triggered such fond memories and reminders of how blessed I am.