My Pseudo Birthday

I shopped. And it was good but slightly stressful. And it was all within the rules of my shopping ban.

All week Mr B has been talking about taking Little Miss L and I to pancakes for breakfast in the city. Which is strange because Mr B never wants to do anything on the weekend. He loves his couch time, and NEEDS his couch time and I respect that.

Anyway, so on Friday Mr B came home and he and Little Miss L handed me a very heavy envelope. In it was a card saying 'Terrific 30' and a beautiful message from my husband and my daughter saying how much they loved me, how proud they were of me, how they think I am a good Mum, and how 36 weeks ago Little Miss L came into our lives and stole focus from my 30th birthday (which was the 10th February).

On the day of my 30th birthday I spent my last day of a total 10 days in hospital after giving birth to my daughter on the 1st February and having a significant operation that saw me lose my reproductive system because of the dreaded c word. Cancer. On the 10th, I didn't open any big presents or have a big party with my friends and family like I always imagined I would. But I had my health, I had my husband, and I had my daughter, who blessed my life by assisting the Doctors in finding my cancer at my first ultrasound. And I was so so so happy with that and didn't want anything more. And IT was gone. The c word was no longer there. And I was happy. I AM happy.

That seems like a lifetime ago. But in fact it was only 9 months ago. 9 months ago I was being wheeled into surgery without knowing what the outcome of the operation would be, who this little person was, what she would be like, if I would ever get to see her grow up. But here I am. Everything turned out so well. Even better than we could have imagined.

So, back to the card.

Inside the card was 36 $10 'gift vouchers' made especially for me by Mr B. He explained that the number 36 had significance because of two reasons. 1) because it was 36 weeks since Little Miss L came into our lives, and 2) because it was to celebrate 30 years of my life and 6 months of my shopping ban.

I was so shocked and surprised and felt so loved and special. Mr B doesn't often do big romantic gestures and in fact only usually does them every 4 years. Don't ask my why, I don't even know why, he just does. It always falls in the same year as the Olympics.

My initial reaction was 'No! I don't want this! I don't need to go shopping. I don't want to go shopping'. See what this shopping ban has done to me. Its conditioned me to not like shopping. I know. Crazy.

Anyway, after I'd had some time to think about it and Mr B assured me that it was ok to shop, and I was only allowed to spend it on myself, I started planning my purchases. And this is where the STRESS started. What to get? I've got $360 to spend on whatever I want. But its my 30th birthday money so I don't just want to buy everyday ho hum items, I want to get something grand and keepsake so I will always look at it and say 'That was my 30th birthday present', but I actually need to get some basic things for summer - a hat, shorts, togs, etc. But that's BORING. Ugghhh.

So, I've bought two things so far - a Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm in Whoppin' Watermelon. I love it. Its so soft and the hint of colour is just gorgeous, plus the cool chubby twist up stick is pretty awesome too. Ok, I know this is not a grand 30th birthday type present, but I've wanted one for a while now, and well, its my pseudo birthday and I'll buy a lip balm if I want to.

And then I also bought a beautiful big glass vase by Georg Jensen. It was on special from David (Jones, that is) and was tall with a narrow opening, which is what I've been looking for in a vase for a loooong time because all of the other vases I own (cheap ones) have a wide opening and my flowers just flop out and look silly, but this vase, it makes a cheap $9 bunch of roses from Woolies look spectacular.

And so now I've got $230 left to spend, and I feel like I can call my vase my 'big keepsake 30th birthday purchase' and now just buy stuff that I want/need. Now I've just got to figure out how best to do that in the most bang-for-your-buck kind of way! Stay tuned.

And, if you're still reading this - well done you! I think this is my longest blog post ever in the history of my blog!

C xo