Dirty Thirty -The Weekend Getaway

Yesterday I turned 30.
The entire weekend was a sort of Kim K and George Bailey mash-up where I felt completely self-indulgent and took a million selfies while the stream of birthday greetings from phone, text, facebook and voxer helped me feel like I really mattered to other people.

I knew Danny was planning SOMEthing, but he wouldn’t tell me what because there’s nothing that Danny loves more than birthdays AND surprises. Friday morning, Danny told me to go about my day as usual but to
1) Not shower before work
2) Go to work
3) Shower and get dolled up AFTER work
4) Not ask anymore questions.

Guys.
I even plucked my chin hairs.
#fancypants

Danny cleaned our car out REALLY well -something he actually loves to do.
#luckyme
He picked the kids up from school, packed a bag for them and sent them off with my Aunt. He asked me to pack a bag and then loaded me up in the clean car.
“Your birthday chariot!”

We went down the road and visited, talked about the kids…
When I turned 25, I promised myself that I’d spend my 30th birthday at the spa getting ALL THE THINGS done. A massage, a mani-pedi… just do it all for once in my life! I said to myself, “When the day comes around, you’re going to try and talk yourself out of it, but YOU MUST DO THIS THING.”
As they day came around, I didn’t talk myself out of it so much as change the direction up a little.

The past two years of my life have brought a lot of change… physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually -basically every facet of my life has shifted. I’ve been working some form of a 12-step process for 4 years, and the round I’m doing right now has been the most far-reaching.
When we were out camping, I saw the chaotic surface of the lake lapping, lapping and I thought how much of my life used to look just like that: a chaotic surface of a life.
Each time I work the 12-steps, my life goes deeper… more still, and the more I work out the more I find there is to work ON. As my mental health has healed, I feel God opening up a peaceful way for my BODY to heal as well.
In short, God wants me to make amends to myself and my body.

In yoga this morning, Instructor Taura said, “I find the way I treat myself is the way I treat others.”

As I’ve dipped myself past a surface life, I’ve found that I have more compassion for myself, less judgement, more patience, more acceptance and YES! I find now that I have more patience with others, less judgement, more compassion and acceptance.

As the time drew near for my 30th birthday, I found that I DID want to spend time and money on myself, but in a different way. I decided to start sending the right messages to myself.
I’ve worn out my 6 year old tennis shoes. I haven’t had my hair so much as trimmed in two years… I decide my 30th would be a time of amends. Buy the things that send the right messages! And burn the things that don’t!

I didn’t know what Danny was planning, but he assured me I’d have some time for a little shopping. Whenever I’d ask what we were doing, he’d reply, “All will be made known in due time.”
Smug.
Smuggy Smuggerson.

We headed out of town, and as we pulled into Flagstaff, my husband had me put on a blindfold and within 20 minutes, we had arrived at our destination!
(As it turns out, Danny unknowingly did the same thing I did for HIS 30th birthday without realizing it. So yahoo for having one mind? Ha!)

He told me we had a few hours to get dressed up and play downtown before our late dinner reservations. Danny had called ahead at the restaurant and the Bed and Breakfast to let them know about my gluten issues, and I appreciated that so much! It saved me from having to explain.

As we strolled along downtown Flagstaff, we found a thrift store full of vintage clothing.
It was just like The Room of Requirements at Hogwarts. It was PERFECT and appeared JUST when I needed it. We had a blast rummaging through all the old beautiful garb.

And I came home with the most unnecessary pants in the history of pants. And some funky glasses that Lacy won’t part with.
#literalfancypants

And I could have resisted a postcard, but I didn’t:

Danny reserved us a table we’d sat at twice before, and so it was written in stone -set in figurative GRANITE -we now have A TABLE at A RESTAURANT and when they make a movie about our lives, they will talk about it.
Right?

We decided to order things we’ve never tried before, and we knew it The Cottage Place is the safest place to try something new because the head chef, Frank, is immensely gifted when it comes to food.
His restaurant is fancy enough to make you feel important and small enough to make it feel personal.
The napkins alone, my friends…

I went with lamb and couldn’t stop quoting My Big, Fat Greek Wedding.
“He don’t eat no meat?! That’s okay… I make lamb.”

Danny went with duck:

We started our meal with their fresh bread and magic butter -I’ve been trying to figure this butter out for YEARS. This weekend I had a bit of a breakthrough in recognizing chives… I’m pretty sure there’s chives in that butter. And I’m also fairly sure the butter is made there, mostly because they make their own certain types of cheese, and making butter is relatively easy compared to cheese.

I gobbled up a perfect spinach with magic pecans (seriously, this place!) and Danny gobbled up lobster bisque:

We were perfectly filled, and I’m still dreaming of that mint sauce… and yes, I picked up the lamb by the bone and ate it with my hands. Ah, the perks of LATE dinner reservations! No one was around to care.
And if they were, I don’t know that I’d actually care if they cared… I wanted every little bit of that meat!
#unfancypants

I used the bathroom and found that not only was the ceiling painted to look like the clouds at the end of “Sleeping Beauty” but there was a TABLE in the bathroom with CHAIRS and Frank’s own cookbook. Fun!

I also snapped ANOTHER selfie -just wanted to remember my outfit. It’s one of my favorites, I found the skirt at a free clothing exchange and the shirt was given to me by Tia years and years ago. I fall in love with free clothes:

We headed back to our room -my favorite room -where everything is bookish and cozy and the world forgets you exist.

The next morning we went on a brisk walk, we stretched our limbs out on the green lawn of the bed and breakfast and then went in for some delicious breakfast!

We packed up quick, had a nice visit with the owners, Laurel and Richard, and then we were sent off with some goodies including the recipe for that delicious custard!
I was able to do some shopping to make my self amends -bought THE GOOD foundation that I always convince myself I don’t need. I bought a new outfit at Target -I rarely buy NEW clothes, and it felt so good!
Then Danny surprised me further by dropping me off at a salon to get my hair cut and colored:

I had no one to quote Studio C to:

“Leave it in for a week!”
Danny and I also woke up to an egged car (BOO!) but then our car was given the SPA treatment by the local car wash (remember, Danny loves clean cars) and now Danny wants to buy a membership to the car wash that lives over an hour away from us.
And I just love the cool car washes that PULL your car through. It’s like Disneyland.

Danny thew me in the car after our appointment so I could change into my new clothes, and we went out for sushi! Something we LOVE to do together.
On our way to the restaurant, we stopped off to visit old friends:

Our sushi didn’t disappoint but it never does!

After we ate, we grocery shopped without kids. It took NO TIME AT ALL. I think the entire weekend was coated in some kind of magic.