on turning twenty-eight

It seems my blogging patterns are as follows: New Year's, anniversary, birthday; repeat cycle. I suppose that's okay, although I wish it were more. I'm glad to have captured these three important, more reflective times, at the very least...

Last Thursday I turned twenty-eight years old. I think this was the first year I didn't dread turning older, even in the slightest. I've come to a place in life where I have accepted the fact that aging is a good thing. After all, if I wasn't aging, I wouldn't be alive. There's a perspective shift if I've ever seen one! I told some friends of mine recently that twenty-eight is an age I've been looking forward to since I was younger. Twenty-eight has always stood out to me, I think because it's the age my mom had me, so I've had some sort of connection to it. I always thought, "when I'm twenty-eight, I'm going to be a mature, responsible adult, who has everything together and in order!" Wow, younger self, way to put some hefty expectations on me! 

Now that I've reached this milestone of an age, I don't know that I can necessarily claim to have met all of my expectations, but I can confidently say that I am happy, and I have joy in my life. I recently read a blog post that inspired me to reflect on the areas in my life where I find genuine happiness and wholeness. I love that so much. The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to be happy. It's such a simple concept, but we live in a world that is full of negativity and it can be so easy to just slip into that. Sometimes we just have to fight to be happy, and I fully support that. 

I reflected on the last few "birthday posts" I've done, and a common trend in my writing I noticed was having expectations for what the next year of my life should look like. I think I am going to give myself a break this time. No expectations - just be happy, be whole, be you. I believe if I can cling to this simple, yet impacting truth, I think I'll be just fine.

Simply put: I'm grateful for aging; I'm grateful to be alive.

>>>>>

& what's a birthday post without some birthday celebratory photos? 

I'm indebted to these lovely souls for making my life so full.

[poor quality photo, but such an amazing evening with my husband!
He surprised me by taking me to a speakeasy in LA called The Edison]

:The Edison

girlfriends are so important. love these ladies! :PerchLA

he loves me so well.:PerchLA 

long-time friends & current neighbors :Angel City Brewery

Updates! (Ft. New Song & Creative Challenge Update)

Happy Tuesday, everyone! The sun is out and it's 5:45, how can I complain?

I wanted to post just a general update on this last week, which includes two creative challenge updates! My goodness, I am so slow at this challenge, but I am committed! I will get to 30, even if it takes me a decade.

This was technically from the previous week, 
but my friend Nicole had a Mustache Party, 
so we got ourselves some adhesive mustaches 
and of course had a blast with the photobooth.

These are some of my favorites from LiNK (the organization I worked for). 
I went to visit them at the office and we all went out to lunch. 
They are the best :)
*not pictured: Sean Hines



My church, Rock Harbor Fullerton, just celebrated our 2nd Birthday! 
We all gathered at CSUF at the Titan Student Union, 
where we had free bowling, music, Chick-Fil-A and even a photobooth. 
It was such a great time to celebrate all that God has been doing within our church 
and also to just have a good time with community.
This is my good friend, Chris holding 40 balloons.
We had to fit these in my car. 
Let's just say it was a challenge, but we only popped one!

On Sunday, I spent the day in LA with some of my lovely girlfriends: Becky, Alex, Denise & Christie. We went to Intellegentsia Coffee Shop (I got the Herbal Tea 333 - I highly recommend it!). 

The lovely Christie & I

...& now on to the creative challenge updates!

Day 20

I was feeling inspired to sew (and if you know me, I am sure you're laughing right now), 

and I've started to fall in love with the look of big bows on shirts. 

So, I thought instead of buying one, why don't I make my own and just pin it on a shirt? 

Here is the final product of my first attempt at making my own big, beautiful bow. 

(She is definitely in need of some extra work, haha)

Day 21

I've mentioned in previous posts that I have been working on writing a new song. 

Well, it's all finished (kind of). 

I still plan on making it sound more full and better, 

but I recorded and uploaded a rough version. 

Here is the YouTube video for it! The lyrics are posted in the info section.

Let me know your thoughts!

[It's called "Ninety Days"]

----

Well friends, that is all for now! I hope you all have an amazing evening & rest of your week!

XO

Brenda