Friday was my thirtieth birthday. This monumental birthday has been on my mind for a couple of years now. I know, I know… 30 isn’t THAT old… but it’s the end of a decade that brought a lot of lessons, laughter and love into my life. A decade that brought me my husband and our sweet baby. My twenties were pretty amazing.

With that said, if this past weekend is any indication of how my thirties are going to go, I’m in for a pretty amazing ride.

The big birthday began with our little Charlie sleeping in… aka: the big birthday began with me being able to sleep in. We went to work like any normal day, BUT, after work I had a little dinner party with my fam at this delicious Mexican restaurant. The weather was perfect and we were able to eat outside. It was seriously such a fun night. My parents, sister and her fam and my Gramps were all there… in addition to hubs and Charlie pie, of course.

 

Saturday was my big celebration with my sweet husband. He’s been diligently planning for awhile now and man did it pay off.

In the morning, I went to get a mani/pedi with my mom and sister while Mark tied up some loose ends. By 12:15, we were on our way to Chicago, where Mark had planned a series of activities off my bucket list. That in itself was just so perfectly thoughtful and wonderful.

Our first stop was SKYDIVING!! Okay, not real skydiving… I mean, come on! I’m not 20-something anymore… and I’m definitely not about to jump from a plane. But, it was indoor skydiving. The gist is that you’re in a wind chamber and you get to fly around and experience the same sensation as skydiving. We both LOVED it.

As a comical side note, I was SO pumped after I finished my first jump. I went back and sat next to Mark and started blabbing about it when he kindly informed me that I had drool all over my face. That’s gotta be a sure sign of having fun, right?

    

How cute is my hubs???

After skydiving, around 5:30 pm, we picked up some Cuban take out… to say it was fabulous would be an understatement.

We took our delish food and headed to a place called Penguin Pottery for Happy Hour Pottery Class… Bucket List Item #2: Spinning pottery on the wheel. We sipped wine and while I attempted to make really shitty looking pots, my husband created beautiful masterpieces. He was ABSURDLY good… like, way better than anyone in the class.

After we both discovered that I totally sucked at making pots, we started to tag team. Mark would create the pots and then I would add in fun ridges and details. It was great! We made a bunch of really great pots (and cups) that we will glaze and pick up in a couple of weeks.

            

After pottery, we headed to the condo we were renting. It was in a totally beautiful building right downtown. The unit was a little silly in terms of decor, but it was all about the location, location, location.

By 11 pm, we were on our way to dinner. Yes, I said 11 pm. A time of night I typically experience through dreams.

Anyway, we headed to Joe’s Stone Crab for the best damn seafood ever. We started with Oysters (my new fave), then had stone crab… which I have to say is just about the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I was in pure heaven. Mmmm. After our tasty stone crab, we moved onto this sample plate with shrimp, crab legs (PHENOM!!), lobster tail and ceviche. Finished off with a brownie sundae.

It was seriously the best meal.

        Then, it was time for the scariest of my bucket list items: karaoke. I know this seems stupid, but I am terrified of getting up in front of people and have an absolutely awful voice. Our plan was to consume an excessive amount of alcohol and then sing, but after all that food, we were both pretty tired. We decided that we’d go to the karaoke bar, sing our song and head back.

BUT, when we arrived at the best karaoke bar ever, we decided that a few drinks wouldn’t hurt. So, we took a shot and had a drink. We started discussing our song choice… I had selected Lisa Loeb’s “Stay” the night before, but sitting in the bar, it just didn’t seem right. Literally people were singing anthem after anthem. Total bar hits.

After another drink, Mark signed us up for “Like a Prayer” by Madonna… BUT, there were so many people ahead of us, it wasn’t looking as if it was going to happen.

There was a party of 5 or 6 who had quite a few hilarious songs. I decided to ask them if I could join them for their next song, as I HAD to get up and sing before the night was up and didn’t think my turn was going to happen. They reluctantly agreed and within a few songs, I was up in the limelight – with 3 other women – singing Mando Diao’s “Dance with Somebody.”

I was relieved when the song was over, but didn’t really feel like I was legitimately checking the item off my list. Regardless, I sat back down with the hubs and we enjoyed a few more songs. Then, it happened…

This random dude gets up to sing. The intro music starts and I just about die… it’s LISA LOEB STAY!! I turned to Mark with my jaw dropped and exclaimed, “IT’S. MY. SONG!” and ran to the “stage.” I asked the dude if I could join him and he happily agreed.

I had 3 glorioius minutes in the spotlight and have officially checked karaoke off my list.

    It’s not pretty… but here it is…

SUCCESS!

Somehow it was bar close, so we headed back to the condo. Before calling it a night, we went up to check out the rooftop garden and discovered a golf simulator. We played for a bit and then discovered that alcohol + two really crappy golfers = exceptionally bad golfing.

 Upon waking up in the morning, I checked my cellphone to discover a text from my sweet little childhood bestie. Our next bday event was to go to her house for brunch, but she had to cancel because her water had broken early that morning and she was in the hospital in LABOR!!

It was amazingly perfect timing. I was able to pick her up flowers and a bunch of food, drop it off, share some tears and give her the biggest hug before her labor really picked up. Then, we were on our way home.

We got back, reunited with our sweet baby, took a famly nap and ate pizza for din. And, when I woke up this morning, I had news that my sweet little “nephew” was born.

It literally doesn’t get any better than that.