This past week I turned 30 years old. Alas, it was not the fun times I had hoped for when I discovered I had a 102 degree fever the night before and I had to cancel all our plans. I spent my birthday (and several days subsequently) sick in bed, but my birthday itself ended beautifully — with a 4 star gourmet meal prepared by David, my daughter singing the most beautiful “Happy Birthday” song EVER, and so many lovely messages from family and friends! THANK YOU!

So, here is my 30 year retrospective. Not quite a photo for every year, but some fun ones nevertheless.

I am excited about turning thirty though I did not always feel so. For the past few years I felt a strong sense of dread as I concluded my twenties. Then I had a revelation. I realized that the majority of my close friends are already in their thirties and forties and, well, they are fabulous. What the hell was I freaking out about?!

So, now I feel good about joining the ranks of awesome women.

I am thirty. And this decade is going to be the best yet.

Even if it got off to a rocky start… :)

Although you can’t tell it from the pictures (she’s only smiling in a handful of photos!), Miss Leyba loved having her three best gal pals over to celebrate her birthday! She was singing, dancing, jumping, running around, and giggling the whole time… you know, when I wasn’t busy taking pictures.

Enjoy!

It was a hit! I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect party for my daughter.

Happy birthday, love.

Before I post photos from the party, I thought I would tease you a little more with photos of the “Happy Caterpillar” banners I made and the rest of the decorations…

(The coloring page shown above can be found online here.)

Come back tomorrow for photos from the party!

Miss Leyba is two years old today!

I’ll post more soon. It’s party time!

Miss Leyba turns two in three days.

And goes to college in 16 years.

Time is going by WAY TOO FAST!!! I think I feel faint…

Sorry, back to the point of this post: to show you the invitations and goody bags.

I’ve had such fun working on her “Happy Caterpillar” birthday theme.

These are the invitations I whipped up and sent out to Miss Leyba’s three closest girl friends:

I sent them in green envelopes punched with holes and included artwork from the book: miniature fruit printed on card stock, just in case the caterpillar on the invitation needed a snack. Look how much he ate! What a hungry caterpillar!

I also made some stickers for the girls’ goody bags:

I’ll post about the decorations soon.

We’re almost ready to go!