Yesterday was my big 3-0. It feels very surreal because 30 has always been an age I put a lot of weight on. As a kid, I always thought that when I turned 30, I would be so put together, accomplished, debt-free, and I would know what I wanted to be when I grew up. In fact, I thought I would already be succeeding in my “dream job,” whatever that was.
And here I am, a stay at home mom, sometimes feeling as though I am surviving one day at a time, and no where near what I thought I would be at the age of 30. But here’s the thing I’ve realized…I had these ideas about where I would be and should be by now, but those ideas completely skipped over all the steps in between. When I was in middle school imagining the mythical age of 30, I didn’t know that I would go to college, marry someone in the military, move overseas, travel to places i had only seen in the movies, go to beauty school, have twin girls, move to Charleston and the list goes on. All I considered was the destination, never the journey.
The weird thing is, life is nothing like middle school Holly imagined it would be, but I’m the most content that I’ve ever been. I look around and things are pretty dang good. Of course there’s always room for improvement and I’m always striving to be better and do better, but I feel extremely fortunate for all that surrounds me.
Cheers to the next 30!
Now, Five for Friday, shall we? Also, I totally cheated and gave you lots of bonus links today…
Beauty :: If you are not already a Sephora Insider member, you definitely need to get on that! It’s free and with every purchase you earn points that can be redeemed for various products at any time. Just go to Sephora’s website to sign up. Right now they are holding their Holiday Insider Event. Rouge members have already had their discount days, but if you’re a VIB or Beauty Insider (depends on how much $ you spend at Sephora in a calendar year), your discount days are coming up! It’s a great time of year to stock up on your favorites, plus buy gifts for the holidays.
VIB Members: 20% off 11/9-11/12 with code: VIBBONUS
Insider Members: 15% off 11/16-11/19 with code: BIBONUS
Here’s a few of my favorite Sephora finds:
Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Foundation
Cover FX Perfect Setting Powder
Bite Agave Lip Mask
Bumble and Bumble Save the Day Daytime Protective Repair Fluid
IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream
Tarte Tarteist Lash Paint Mascara
They also have such great gift sets from some of my favorite brands. These are a few caught my eye:
BeautyBlender
Tatcha
First Aid Beauty
Bite Beauty
Food :: I’ve been feeling crummy because I have eaten WAY too much sugar since Halloween. Now that our week of fun is over, I’m back to cutting out sugar and excessive carbs. These Swedish Meatballs look amazing! I think I’ll serve them over garlicky zoodles.
Fashion :: I’m on the hunt for a holiday party dress. One of my favorite places to look for dresses on a budget is Lulu’s. This one is calling my name.
Home :: Several months ago I was in the market for new curtains. A friend of mine surprised me when she said that JCPenny has a great selection of curtains. I ended up finding these and they were perfect for brightening up my bedroom.
Random/Miscellaneous :: We are tossing around the idea of cancelling our DirectTV when our contract ends in January and getting a Amazon Fire Stick or appleTV to cut down on our bill. Do you have either? We are total newbies and have no idea which direction to go. AppleTV seems so much more expensive, but why? What is the difference? Help us out!
butter+blush 