May Mood
a celebratory month indeed
May is my birthday month, and with Mother's Day and the start of summer, it feels like a bit of a whirlwind of activity and celebration—a haze of champagne and giggles.
At a certain age, some people stop enjoying celebrating their birthday. I, for one, am not like that. I don’t love to be the center of attention, but treating myself? I can do that any day of the week.
I’m not a Stassi-style birthday monster, but I do love an excuse to treat myself. Why not make it a month-long thing? It’s not that different from my usual vibe, but you get the idea. Dinners with the gals? Let's do it. Lots of ice cream dates with Fern? You bet. Get a massage? Yep. Long weekend away? Yay!
Here are a few things I did this month to celebrate
Save this for when you need a little birthday inspiration
Not my usual round up but hopefully this will be helpful and inspire many beautiful birthdays to come.
Long weekend with no kids
Before our daughter was born, we lived in larger college towns and saw shows on a weekly/monthly basis. I love the U.P., but the scene is not exactly comparable to Athens, Georgia, and Bloomington, Indiana. We’ve had Sturgill Simpson on our must-see list for years now, and he finally came within driving distance of us, and we were able to make it happen thanks to a couple of grandmothers swooping in to keep our girl.
We live far away from literally everything (Detroit is a 6+ hour drive). We made the trip a little getaway and stopped on the way down for a couple of nights to check out the Gates Au Sable Lodge. Ryan is an avid fly fisherman, and I love a quirky hotel with a notable restaurant, so it was the perfect place to hang out for a few days. The hotel was perched right on the riverbank with beautiful sunsets and excellent food. We continued south to the Detroit burbs for the show. The drive home on Sunday was long, but well worth it.
Cookbook club dinner party
There are several Taurus babes (myself included) in my cookbook club, and I chose May for hosting purposefully to celebrate us. Tauruses are known for loving the finer things, and the party just so happened to coincide with my mom’s visit and annual rearranging (it’s her love language). The dining room had never looked better. I used my favorite china, and Mom split up our Mother’s Day flowers to dress up our big dining table with fresh flowers.
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The cookbook I chose was Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman because many of the recipes can be made ahead of time, and it offers tips for throwing a dinner party. None of the food was particularly difficult to make, but with some obscure-ish ingredients and plenty of things our kids would likely not try, it felt just fancy enough for a Taurus celebration. We had a good assortment of dishes, a couple of mains, some salads, a side or two, one tea cake, and lots of cheese and champagne.
Girl Dinner Party
I’m clearly not above hosting a party for myself, but it’s even better when a friend offers up their place! The weather took a witchy turn, so we put on our comfy clothes (I donned my favorite nightgown over jeans) for a girl dinner spread (more on this soon), sweet stories, a perfect playlist, bubbles, and a DIY sundae buffet. Perfection.
Other birthday ideas I’m adding to my running list:
Caftail Party: Caftans and cocktails—I would really like to do this next year. I’ve seen this trend online, and queen Jennifer Tilly showed us her version at Caviar Caspia on RHOBH this past season. The event itself took a turn—as it always does—but the vibes were on point. Picture you’re in a fabulous garden or patio with a spread and an astrology reading—so fun!
Junk journaling night: For a cozy birthday hang, get your craftiest friends together for some junk journaling. I’ve always loved collaging and journaling, so this would be my chosen activity, but you could choose any craft like knitting, painting, etc. I think it’d be fun to set the mood with a collaborative playlist and invite attendees to contribute their favorite songs from high school or college for a nostalgic soundtrack.
Take yourself antiquing for a day: This is one of my favorite activities. I like to start the day at a coffee shop to get my mind right and map out my stops, then venture out and spend the day perusing at your leisure. I do this often, but I like the idea of spending a full day or doing a quick overnight in a nearby city with a good food scene and plenty of antique shops.
What’s a favorite birthday you’ve had? Any other ideas to add to the birthday list?
I used to go on a trip every year for my birthday! This tradition ended with covid, when I had a London trip planned that was completely scrapped. Savannah is on my next bday trip list :)