30th birthday//july 4th

this morning, i sent the husband a text that said, "on a scale of 1-10, the fun level of these past 4 days has been a 15"

these have honestly been 4 of my favorite days in the history of all days! my 30th birthday was this past sunday, and it was perfect. we also had some of our favorite friends' housewarming party, another friend hosted a "welcome to cleveland" party, and then our 4th of july party. now, i know that none of this is technically on our 'trio quest' to-do list, but! when tucker & i were discussing our list, it was largely tied to keeping traditions alive, and creating awesome memories. this is our 6th annual 4th of july party, so i'd say we've gotten pretty good at that tradition, and it's always one of my favorite days of the year, so, here it is in all its glory.

on my original 30before30 list, i added the goal of having a 30th birthday bash, and i would say that one got checked off. even though my birthday was 2 days before the 4th, i got an amazing birthday cake, a beautiful rendition of happy birthday from so many of my friends (and luca yelling it in my ear), and had a house full of amazing people.

these first two are of my actual birthday, we went to the farmpark which luca absolutely loved. tucker surprised me and got a babysitter afterwards, for dinner outside in little Italy. my dad also completely took us by surprise and came to cleveland on Saturday (from mexico!), and luca had a really good time talking to his 'buelo, as he calls him.

and, y'all - my husband is the cutest. he is as artsy as they come, which is most definitely NOT the way i would describe myself. he used luca's chalk to make this cute backdrop on the fence before our friends arrived on the 4th.



the beginning, the list, the trio

six short years ago, when i was 24, i started a blog called 30before30. i created a list of 30 things that i wanted to accomplish before i turned 30 - things like: ride in a hot air balloon (check!), own an original art piece (check!), and read at least one book per month for a year (check!). then there were several things that didn't get checked off, like going to greece, sleeping in a tree house, and planting a thriving vegetable garden.

i'd be lying if i said i wasn't disappointed in myself for letting so many things go unchecked, but at the same time, i had a baby, made a huge cross-country move away from family and friends (and dealt with some PPD throughout it all). so, i'm giving myself a break, and after talking with my husband - i'm starting over!

kind of.

the husband & i have always been big planners. to the point that friends make fun of us for having our lives planned out, having trip ideas for 3 years in the future, etc. but, you know, it's worked out pretty well for us! we decided that as a young family, now is the time to start traditions, keep them going, and explore the world together. we are keeping the idea of my 30before30 list, and now that there's 3 of us, we have created a family bucket list, if you will. one that has things for all 3 of us to accomplish together as a family, and make sure that we create lifelong memories and allow ourselves to go on some awesome adventures.
so, here you have it - the trio quest


1. visit 5 new states

2. go back to europe, with luca this time

3. father/son learn spanish

4. go on a train ride

5. build something as a family 

6. go on an epic 40th birthday trip for tucker

7. take luca to his first concert

8. host a themed movie night

9. go back to maui for our 10 year anniversary

10. go to a MLS game in 3 cities

11. volunteer together

12. disney!

13. go to a drive-in movie

14. teach luca to ride a bike

15. have a vegetable garden that we all contribute to

 16. cut down our own christmas tree

17. go to one of the many ohio fall festivals

18. go apple picking, then make apple pie

19.  cabin trip in 3 different state parks

20. go sledding