It’s My Birthday And I’ll Brag If I Want To.

Let me brag for a bit.  No, no, not about me, that would be rude.  I would like to brag about my husband.  My incredible, amazing, sweet and thoughtful husband.  He had me thinking, for several days, that I wasn’t doing anything special for my 30th birthday.  And I have to admit, I was feeling pretty pitiful about it.  Even my mom and best friend had me going.  I was calling them feeling stupidly sorry for myself and they just listened to me whine.  So when Sunday rolled around, (the LAST day of my birthday weekend!), we dropped off the kids at my folks’ house then headed out to ‘have a quick drink’.  I continued to sulk (only slightly) up the stairs when all my closest friends jumped from behind couches and tables and surprised me.

I seriously almost fell down.  I’ve never been surprised before!  Turns out my husband had orchestrated a night of food and wine tasting in my honor.  And it was incredible.  He based the tasting on the many restaurants and wine stores I’ve worked in and had multiple stations dedicated to each place.  He printed out pictures and wrote out little blurbs about my experience at each place to give everyone a little insight on what they were eating and drinking.  The food was amazing, the wine was delicious, the pairings were spot on, and best of all, I got to look around at so many people I love for several hours.  My parents and friends helped him pull it off, and I just can’t believe he did it or even thought of it.  I also can’t believe I had NO idea!!  I’m still in shock.  I honestly have never felt so special.  We all ate, drank and laughed for hours before returning to the real world.  It was just so cool.

Then two days later, after I thought I already received my birthday present, I woke up to the best blueberry muffins I have ever eaten, followed by the instructions to head to the best spa in town for an entire day of pampering. Absolutely incredible, this man.  And although I must admit my first reaction to the news was, ‘Wait.  I have to be without my baby for 7 hours?  The baby who drinks things my body makes?’, I realized that if I did not get excited about this and enjoy every second of my special time today, I would regret it completely the next time I was covered in spit up peaches, with a baby on my hip, in the kitchen with 3 pots bubbling over and my 4 year old demanding that he deserves to have yet another cup of juice.  So I left a little earlier, went out and bought a small hand-held breast pump and headed to the spa.  Even though I was pumping in between my services, handing little cups of breast milk to the employees to refrigerate throughout the day, I most certainly did enjoy myself.  I got the best massage, the best facial, my finger and toe nails painted, and my hair washed and blown out.  No one except my mother, and my husband that one time I got rota virus and couldn’t move, has ever washed my hair before so it was kinda great to just lay back and enjoy it.  The girl who did it was this adorable little thing who looked just like Taylor Swift.  I left that place a new woman and when I finally got home, the hugs and kisses that I got from my little family felt so much better than they ever have before.

So my point in writing this is really just to brag about my husband.  Because he made my 30th birthday the best it could ever have been.  Well, that and to give you this incredible blueberry muffin recipe.  You simply must go and make them.  Immediately.

Here’s to being 30!!  Turns out it does feel Awesome, after all.

**Brown Sugar Blueberry Muffins
(recipe adapted from allrecipes.com)

*For the batter-
-1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
-3/4 cup light brown sugar
-1/2 tsp kosher salt
-2 tsp baking powder
-1/3 cup vegetable oil
-1 egg
-1/3 cup milk
-1 cup fresh blueberries (frozen works fine, but I recommend thawing first and patting them dry)
*Crumb Topping-
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1/3 cup all purpose flour
-1/4 cup butter, cubed
-1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
–Preheat oven to 400.  Grease a large 8 cup muffin tin or line with muffin liners (make sure you also grease the liners).
–Combine the 1 1/2 cups of WW pastry flour, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
–Place your vegetable oil in a 1 cup measuring cup, add in the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.  Beat this with a fork until the egg is beaten.
–Mix this with the dry ingredients in the bowl.
–Fold in your blueberries.
–Fill your muffin cups all the way to the top and set aside while you make your crumb topping-
–Mix together the 1/2 cup of white sugar, 1/3 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup diced butter and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl with a fork.  Sprinkle this over the muffins before baking.
–Bake for 20-25 min, or until the tops are golden brown and the muffin springs back when you touch it.