I have been writing birthday posts since I started this blog THREE YEARS AGO (hard to believe!), but this year life was hitting me hard and I am just now getting a chance to sit down and think about this post. I’m writing this in our new living room as I look all around our new home, while a fence is being built for the back yard – and that is such a good feeling! We have a lot to do still, but now is the fun part…decorating and organizing!

So this is how 31 began for me! My birthday was last Tuesday, and we closed on our house on Thursday and spent the weekend moving and unpacking. If this is any indication of the upcoming year, I think it’s going be pretty amazing – but it’s hard to beat the year I got married to the love of my life!

This is my fourth birthday at maxouthappy.com, and it’s always fun to go back and read my previous birthday posts, starting with my 28th birthday. So much has changed since then, but the things that have stayed constant are my family and closest friends, and my values and feelings about life. It’s hard to believe I didn’t even know Andrew then…my life was about to open up right in front of my eyes and I didn’t even see it coming. Becoming a real adult has been a slap in the face at times, and has not been without its struggles, but there is so much happiness and contentment in knowing that I am where I have chosen to be and that I wouldn’t change any of it! (I mean, I would love to win the lottery, but who wouldn’t!)

The goals I have set for myself in this new year of life are about taking care of myself better. I want to stop to relax more often, which I think will be a little easier now that we are settling down and have moved out a little farther. More quiet nights and weekends at home with my husband and our three furry kids sounds good to me 🙂 I also want to commit to cooking more meals at home because I love to cook, it’s relaxing for me, and it also saves money and is healthier than always eating out. I have so many beautiful cookbooks with amazing dishes on the pages, so I want to start trying them all out! If you mess it up, there’s always pizza, right? I also want to follow a strict schedule of exercising at least 3 days a week. Three days is totally doable, and I don’t care what I do as long as I do SOMETHING – walk, yoga, at home HIIT workout or weights, YouTube workouts, whatever! Finally, I want to remember to be thankful and appreciate the moments I am in, and do a better job of that rather than worrying about things that have already come or things that may or may never happen. I do a good job of being thankful, but the other part is hard for me.

Thirty was fabulous – thirty and flirty and thriving – but I think it should always just keep getting better. Bring it on, thirty-one!