Birthday

Thirty, flirty and thriving

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Did you watch 13 going on 30 with Jennifer Garner? Early on in the movie 13 year old Jennifer (can’t recall the character name) has a famous plea to be thirty, flirty and thriving. Suddenly I am 30, embracing being flirty and thriving!

I will turn 30 this week and my life has taken a turn from what I had envisioned and that is ok. This is 30, a new decade and new adventures.

This year will be full of travel, new experiences and treating myself! I have worked hard for what I have and I am proud of my accomplishments, which is why I am taking this year to spoil and rediscover myself!

The emotional impact and hit to my self-esteem from a divorce was devastating. I needed to pull myself out of the slump. A less conventional  way to see myself in a beautiful, strong and confident way was through a boudoir photo shoot.  I have had boudoir photo shoots before, but this shoot was different. This shoot was solely for me and a start of my self discovery.

Rachel Anne  posted about a special on her  facebook page on one of the days I was really struggling and I reached out to her to book that day.  I had planned on doing a This is 30 shoot, so we went ahead with the birthday shoot even though it was August.

I knew from working with Rachel in the past that just getting my hair and make-up done by her would instantly make me feel better. Rachel was fantastic in listening to me and truly understanding my insecurities, which her images helped me see past and see myself. I saw myself for the strong, independent, confident, and beautiful soul that I am.

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Working with Rachel is empowering and uplifting. This shoot was a step towards knowing it is ok that my plan didn’t work out and I am going to be ok.  Boudoir images will help you see yourself in a fun and flirty light, which I really needed now that I am out in the scary dating world!

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The new fun plan is to celebrate my 30th birthday to the fullest! I have started by celebrating with one of my best friends/Big, who also happens to turn 30 this week! We started the kick-off of birthday week with a fun shopping spree. I really took treat yo self to heart with new clothes, makeup and an iconic piece of jewelry for an iconic birthday.

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My dad has a birthday this week as well! I missed being born on his birthday by an hour, so for the past 30 years we always celebrate our birthday together. Yesterday we celebrated our birthdays with more shopping and lunch together in Bloomington. This shopping trip Pippa made out like a bandit with new toys and treats!  We will celebrate our birthdays again this summer with a fishing trip. We are all about summer fishing vs ice fishing, which is why it is a delayed gift.

This week I am looking forward to celebrating by getting a massage, revamping my hair, lunch dates with friends, my birthday party at The Cake Bake Shop and traveling to San Diego!  Happy dirty 30 to me!

A recap of my birthday week and vacation will occur next week, so stay tuned!

XOXO,

Cecee

Wine About It

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This weekend was so much fun! 

My lovely, spunky and oh so fun bestie celebrated her Dirty 30 the only way we know how… with wine and so many laughs! 

Ebeth has the best husband, amazing family and a wonderful friend group, if I do say so myself. That being said how could you not have the best time when you are with the best people! 

Ben (Ebeth’s hubs) did a great job organizing a Michigan wine tour for 19. Out of the 19 of us on the wine tour 17 of us had a massive slumber party at our friend, Doug’s home. I’m impressed by the gracious hosting and planning these two guys did! Feeding and housing that many people for a full weekend with activities is hard work and the guys more than exceeded! 

Friday was a travel day with friends and family traveling from MO, IL, WI and IN. We enjoyed pizza, catching up and watching all the pups interact that night as Saturday morning would come so soon! 

Saturday morning began with mimosas and coffee around 7:00 as 17 people needed bathroom time before the bus arrived at 9. Poor Doug will probably be finding strands of hair from the dozen of us girls getting ready all throughout the house for the next year haha! 

The cooler was packed with beers, mimosas, sandwich items and other snacks for the day as we all geared up with Birthday garb to head out! 

Our first stop was the Lazy Ballerina in St. Joe, which was the cutest town. I want to go back and explore more as just the quick glimpse caught my eye! 


Quick tip if you are with a large group and you get to keep your tasting glass be sure to ask for a box with dividers to put the glasses in. As you can guess from looking at this group a broken glass (or 3) is waiting to happen. Of course it did times 3, but not on the bus with our tasting glasses! 

Our next stop was to Baroda Family … Groupon for the win on tasting savings oh and who doesn’t love hoping on a saddle!?


Next we ran across the street to Lake Michigan Vintners, which is where the first glass went down.  I skipped this tasting and opted for a glass of wine instead. 


Then we hoped on the bus to head to Tabor Hill, which was gorgeous! I would love to go back and enjoy dinner on the patio there at some point as below is the view on the patio.


We had a private tasting room set up for us downstairs, which is sadly where 2 more wine glasses met the trash. 


We then continued to our final winery in the 90 degree heat that was not air conditioned 😳 equating to hot AF in a big barn! On a cooler day and not being a final stop I think I would have enjoyed Round Barn winery more as the structure was beautiful. 

We then enjoyed our bus ride back to IN with some fun jams while the true champs napped through our terrible singing while the music blasted! 


We then grilled out.  As you can imagine after all this fun that items ended up a little charred, but it all pretty much was consumed ! 

We continued the fun with some sun on the lake today before our journey home! 


Big thanks to Doug for opening his home and taking us out on the lake! 


Big thanks to this cute couple for including me in the fun and for Ben organizing the fun!


The happiest of birthday wishes and all the love to this gorgeous gal! Happy 30th Ebeth! I am so grateful for our friendship 😘 love you! 


Now to get ready for the week after so much fun! Why is recouping so much harder now!?! All the muscles hurt from air mattress sleeping and exhausted, but it was worth the memories and fun! 

Xoxo,

Cecee