@kmosher

I have an awesome birthdate: July 1. (Thanks, mom!)

I love having a birthday on this specific date for a few reasons:

1. My birthday is a reliable statutory holiday. “Hello b-day vacation!” every, single year.
2. My birthday always has fireworks. When I was a child, my dad was part of the crew that set off the town’s Canada Day fireworks, and I was convinced the show was put on just for me. I still like to tell people that, even now that I’m fully grown and have long since learned the truth. (Thanks, Dad, for the inflated sense of self worth!)
3. My birthday is perfectly situated between January 1 and December 31.

The last reason is probably only exciting because I’m mildly OCD, but this date makes for perfect goal setting opportunities. I always get to July 1 and start a new year of my life, while also knowing that I’m at the halfway mark for the current calendar year. And, on January first it’s a new calendar year and I know that I’m halfway to my next birthday! It’s win-win, don’t you think?

This past July 1 on my 25th birthday, I had a Mexican-themed family party. It was totally unplanned and the food was the only part that was intentionally going to be Mexican. Heck, it wasn’t event all that authentic, but the entire party ended up being absolutely hilarious. Before I knew it, there were costumes, themed music, drinks and flowers in my hair. The best moment of all, though? Having my 85-year old granddad want to have a mustache painted on his face, so he could feel more like the rest of us who were already donning costumes*. I had to draw it on in stages because I was splitting my sides with peals of laughter the entire way through.

It was a pretty awesome party.

On the same day as the party, I made a “25 things for the year of 25″ list. It’s got a bunch of new things that I want to accomplish over the year, and seeing that we’re halfway through the year, I should be halfway through the list. (Full disclosure, I’m not.) One of the things I had listed was to complete a sewing project on my ancient 1940′s sewing machine that I inherited from my grandmother. I’ve always loved being crafty, but it’s been ages since I’ve sewn anything more than a button back onto a shirt.

Thanks to an awesome pattern I found at snazzlecraft, I resurrected the machine from the depths of the closet, and managed to complete one of my goals (Full disclosure, I’ve completed more than just this goal, so I’m not totally hopeless) in time for Christmas – these awesome santa beards!

Yep, beards for everyone. (Even the cat. He didn’t like it as much as I wanted him to.) Grampy had loved the mexican theme so much, I was sure he’d enjoy theming his christmas dinner. It was a complete success!

More successful goal accomplishing to come.

*It should be noted that my mom was the one who got waaaay into the theme. I on the other hand was just there to provide the thematic food. Who knew that fajitas would turn into tequila, muumuu’s and my dad dressed in a Hawaiian shirt?**

**Hawaiian? Yeah, wahtever. He thought he was festive, and that’s good enough for me.