This Is 37.

I used to be the ultimate birthday girl- always planning fun celebrations (in case you missed it, check out this crazy party we threw for my 35th and you will see what I mean), and looking forward to each one with great anticipation, savoring the opportunity to be the center of attention surrounded by my favorite people.

This year, though- something changed. And not in a sad “oh woe is me I’m a year older” way (because I do know how fortunate I am to get to mark the occasion of being alive) but in a “life feels like one big celebration every day so I don’t feel the need to do anything out of the ordinary” way.

Whoa, major.

I won’t call it progress because there is nothing wrong with wanting to commemorate your birthday with an all out bash (trust me, when I turn 40 I plan on spending a month detoxing my liver after some sort of debauchery), but for me, it does feel like an evolution, a comfort level, a quiet confidence that I had hoped to achieve someday since I was a teenager.

How did I get here? I think there are a lot of factors that contribute to my current state of fulfillment: A wonderful family, friends who I idolize (this I feel is super important and something I’ll write about at some point), a house I love coming home to, and a place of being okay with allowing my professional life to ebb and flow in response to my personal life.

Oh, and, not to be discounted, an incredible network of women that I follow on social media who inspire me, remind me of things I need to remember, make me laugh and just somehow “get me” even though I have never met them. (Post on this coming soon too- I want to make sure you have the checklist and can follow accordingly!)

So, on the occasion of my 37th birthday (which will be celebrated sweating it out at SoulCycle- I know, I know, cue the “soooo basic” sigh in your mind), I hereby put in to writing (because once it is out there, it is so much harder to forget about it) two overarching themes for my year ahead:

1)   Master my domestic domain.  From cooking dinner three times a week to staying on top of home maintenance, filing taxes on time to figuring out how to use our Flex Spending Account, feeling on top of the day to day business of being a grown up is important to me.  

2)   Embrace the opportunity that this time of my life is providing to enrich my creative side. This means honing my personal aesthetic, in all aspects of my world, so I can keep an edited closet, select art for our walls, evolve the blog, write without overthinking, renovate our formal living room, and so on. By purposefully seeking out inspiration and learning opportunities, I want to become confident in my taste and be capable of expressing it.

Here goes…