The Particular Sadness of Birthday Cake
Williams Sonoma Cake Plate (doubles as a punch bowl!) | prAna liana sweater | Abercrombie Ruffle Lounge Shorts | Anthropologie Mug | Parachute Bedding
I found the cake recipe on Pinterest - it is a cherry chocolate pound cake by Turntable Kitchen
If you're confused by my title, I did a spin off of the book by Aimee Bender called The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Read it! Sooo yeah. Not my typical confetti and rainbows birthday post, but here goes. To be quite honest, I have never looooved my birthday. And mom (and dad) when you're reading this, it has nothing to do with y'all! My birthdays were always special and my parties were the coolest. But my birthday has always been kind of weird. I'm a summer baby - so is my sister actually. Her birthday is the day before mine, August 2nd! It's always that awkward time of going back to school...people are taking their last vacation before summer is over and are just kind of checked out. I always had a great day with my family - we'd shop all day long, eat lunch somewhere...usually The Cheesecake Factory, shop some more, then head home and my mom would make me one of my favorite meals! When you grow up and move away, that becomes harder.
Today I turned 26 and I feel like I experienced my quarter life crisis the past couple of months. I honestly wasn't going to post anything about this because 1) who wants to read about that and 2) again who wants to read about that. I meannnn I don't have a bad life. I have a car, I have a job, I have a wonderful family and a sweet husband. Right??? I was recently encouraged by the video Aimee Song blogger for Song of Style posted, the friend challenge Kelly Hoover posted for The Glamorous Teacher, and the Instagram Shelby Pipkin posted of Shelby Nickel Designs. (didn't share her exact post, as it was on her personal Instagram) Anyway, all 3 of them combined, kind of described how I had been feeling/still am, so I figured by writing (or should I say rambling...) it all down, I might let at least one person know they aren't alone!
Let's look at the past year since my last birthday, shall we? I moved, I got married, I (we) bought a wine bar, I moved work offices...I can keep going! Needless to say that's a lot of change. During that year I also lost friendships, became long distance friends with several, and learned to live a different kind of weekend since our new venture. Straight to the point? It hasn't been easy. While I am okay with things not being easy, this was unfamiliar territory for me. I moved out of a super busy time in my life, into a time where I not only had more time, but more time alone, and a lot less friends...or at least easy access to friends. There's just something about chatting face to face!
Looking back, I've kind of experienced something similar every few years. Friends come and go, but this time it feels more permanent. People are putting roots down. We are all entering into a different stage in our life and it can be confusing. Can't we just go back to those college days where everyone lived within a block or two from each other?? I haven't been happy lately and that's hard to understand, especially from the outside looking in. And as a Christian?? What could I posssssibly not be happy about? Honestly, not sure. I just keep trying to think about my personal mantra: Always choose joy.
Okay so tying this back in with my title of the particular sadness of birthday cake...birthdays bring up friendships dead and gone, as well as the reminder that you're in a new chapter and most of it isn't written yet... I don't write this post to make you sad, but really to encourage you to reach out to your friends...the one you haven't spoken to in a while, the one you need to reconcile with, the one who is always "too busy", and of course your tried and true. With the ease of a text message and the quickness of email, it's easy to forget to dig beneath the surface and find out how people are actually doing. The best birthday present you could give me is to call a friend and make plans with them. You may not know just how much you make their day!
Don't want to read my ramblings + thoughts? Overall, be kind and love everyone.
Like what you read? Click here to subscribe and receive every post in your inbox!
