32 Years Old

Today's my birthday! I'm 32 years old today. I'm in Charlotte, NC for the time being and don't have a return date set as of yet. In a nutshell: my maternal grandfather's ocular cancer has spread to his liver and other areas of his body, and the family has gathered here to spend time with him while we still can. Ethan was here Tuesday and part of Wednesday but had to head back to Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon, so we're not together on my actual birthday for the first time since we started dating. It's okay though, since I picked up one of his birthday presents to me this afternoon.

2009 Toyota Highlander Sport "new" to us 

Ethan bought me a Toyota Highlander! It was a total surprise, and I am so excited and thankful. This has literally been my dream car for 4 years after driving it for a week during a work vacation. This Highlander is literally the exact car that I wanted - right down to the color and interior options. It was also an amazing deal. We will really miss our Honda Fit, as it was an awesome car. I would have driven it until the wheels fell off, but Ethan decided it was time for an upgrade. I'm definitely loving it, and getting used to having to navigate parking a larger car. The Fit zipped in to pretty much any parking space...not so much with the Highlander! Tradeoffs. :)

If you were wondering what the second birthday present was, it's that as of this past Monday I am now a full time stay at home mom. Pretty big deal to me! I never had to work, but chose to anyway...well, it just became very clear over the past couple of months that I would be much happier at home and that it would be best for Lily as well. I was getting tired of carting her around to all the activities that my charge had and of getting home at 6:30 at night.The nanny agency is the only thing I will be doing for work purposes, and that's a work from home position scheduled around Lily's schedule. I'm so excited about this and proud of my husband for working as hard as he does to enable me to comfortably stay at home with Lily.

Birthdays are sort of a big deal in my family, and even though we're not exactly in the happiest of times right now, mine was still observed. Dad made french toast for me this morning as a birthday breakfast, and then this evening we had chicken kelley (one of my favorites) and a Dairy Queen Blizzard cake (chocolate chip cookie dough) for dessert. Lily wasn't too sure about the candles on the cake. She was also BEYOND ready for bed, so I had to put her to bed before eating any cake.

32 candles probably would have melted the cake.... so we stuck with 3

With everything currently going on with my family, I most likely won't have the time to post much over the next week or two. The rabbit pictures will still make their appearance as Mr. Rabbit always travels with us if I think we might be away over a Sunday!