A couple weeks ago, I had a birthday. It was simple and sweet and filled with my favorite things. That’s the inspiration for this post – as I started then, I have kept going with the mental list of what I’ve enjoyed anew lately.

• Mom’s visit during my birthday, which meant Gigi time for the girls and a break for Mommy and a date night for Seth and me. Win, win, win, win … you get the picture
• Stella’s Cafe
• Lunch at Press 626 with Mom
• OpSail 2012 – majestic ships sailing in from around the world, as far as Brazil and Spain, and docking for a few days’ celebration of the War of 1812 in our own little city
• Dancing to Brazilian music with our girls and the daughters of another family friend on the deck of a Brazilian Naval ship – it really doesn’t get much better than that, without a passport.
• Live Colbie Caillat concert under the stars and the twinkling lights of the ships’ masts. I looked over at Seth at one point and said, “If you just realized, what I just realized …” No, only kidding. We realized our love a long time ago now (if 7 years counts as a long time). And yet marriage is a continual re-discovery of our love for one another. That’s a post for another day.
• Long nap-times and early bedtimes. Just being honest. This stage of almost-2-year-old twins is quite emotionally and physically taxing.
• Harris Teeter’s Express Lane summer special – order groceries online, pick them up curbside outside the store for only $1.95 during the summer. Grocery shopping made easy.
• Lunch with a friend whose birthday is just a few days before mine at Bite. Great food and wonderful conversation. Adult conversation, which is so rare these days.
• Banana Republic Factory Outlet + birthday money + Seth giving me a morning off = a very happy Mommy with a new wardrobe
• Dark Chocolate Roasted Almonds (with sea salt and turbinado sugar) from Trader Joe’s. Seth and I are officially addicted and stock up every month now. Thanks, Mom, for getting us hooked.
• Summer!!! I really love almost everything about this season. I think my life motto about seasons would be: “Winters are to be endured; summers are to be celebrated.”

If you care to post, what are some of your favorite things/people/events/etc these days? I’d love to hear.