New Age Bracket

Birthday:

I am officially 25. It’s strange: I don’t really remember turning 23, because I puked my way through most of the before and after. Literally- on my 23^rd birthday, I was in the midst of “The Plague” as it’s affectionately referred to around the Chappell household. I couldn’t even drink water for 11 days, because I would immediately lose it. I lost a lot of weight (which is kind of the opposite intention of pregnancy), and I couldn’t stand or walk without help because I was so weak.  It was like time stood still for me, because the present was not worth remembering. Then, when Sawyer was born, I stopped remembering my life in terms of my days, years, and milestones, and I started measuring life by his days and memories. So here I am, twenty-five, and if you ask me, I’d probably still say that I’m twenty-two, or *maybe* twenty-three. I also spend 45 hours a week with fifteen-year-olds, so the fact that I am exactly a decade older than they are now is completely strange to me. I still feel their age sometimes.

So, all I wanted for my birthday was to SHOP. The first year we were married, we made $12,000 the entire year. Yeah. There wasn’t a lot of shopping going on then. The second year, I was pregnant (see above statements for explanation of the lack of shopping). The third year, Sawyer didn’t sleep until he was 51 weeks old for more than four hours. Any free time I had was spent renovating the house or trying to figure out this little mini who had come to live with us. SO, now that I am nicely in a state of non-puking, sleeping through the night, and have a *little* more money than the first year, I wanted to shop. Most of my clothes were from college, or even high school, and it was time to graduate to another wardrobe. One that didn’t have holes… or stretched fabric over the belly… or faded colors… you get the point. SO, since I had just received my second of three checks for being a class sponsor, I took it (and some birthday money), and I blew. It. All. Every last dollar. And it was fantastic! I took my friends Erin and Emily, and they were awesome! They both have a good sense of style-much better than mine! I first picked out some sweatpants (which I did need), and Emily put her foot down and started picking things out for me to try on. Erin (eight months pregnant) also lived vicariously through me in the dressing room, so I ended up with a lot of cute clothes. Even though I spent a lot of money, everything I bought was on clearance, so I felt pretty good about that. Plus, when in line for Panera, the credit card machine broke while the person in front of me was at the counter, so the manager started giving us our lunches for free. It was a pretty fantastic day! I ended up purging about 2 bags of clothes as well. I love getting rid of things, so it was a fantastic experience all around! 

Bubby at Mommy's Birthday Dinner with Family

Best gift ever!

Emily, Erin, and I never took a picture during our shopping trip! Alex and Daniel brought over Sawyer after shopping to eat dinner together at Chili's, and Daniel remembered to snap a picture!

Out with the old...

In with the new...

Unfortunate new age bracket...