First up, one of my very favorite weekends of 2023. Back in August, we had a magical weekend full of all my favorite things—my people, yummy food, porch hangs, cocktails, and quality time in a beautiful and slow-paced sandy, coastal paradise. Thinking about 30th birthday plans can often come with a little pressure, but I basically just wanted my celebration to include all those things listed above. My mom and one of her best friends, Mrs. Wendy, who is like a second mom to me, made that dream come more than true as eight of my best friends and I lovingly took over Mrs. Wendy’s beautiful home in Southport, NC.
A favorite spot of mine the whole weekend—well, I have two—was sitting smack dab in the middle of a double Shibumi, squished in the shade between my dearest friends. Sunscreen-y, sandy, and a few palomas in, our chatting rambled on, to a soundtrack of Eric Church and Taylor Swift playing along in the background. Now this was a perfect way to spend a sunny beach day, every now and then dipping in the water for some waves. My second favorite spot of the weekend was Mrs. Wendy’s kitchen island, squeezing everyone around it so that no one was left out of the convo or missed a bite of the many apps, cheese boards, and snacks.
The Moms thought of everything and created the best menus for the weekend, including shrimp and grits for the main birthday meal with pound cake, peaches, and ice cream for dessert. Fried eggplant medallions with ripe summer tomatoes and fresh mozzarella drizzled with balsamic vinegar made up another meal. They waited on us hand and foot, and we got to spend time visiting with them, which was so special and doesn't happen all that often in our post-college years. We can all probably say that parents' weekends were some of our favorite weekends.
Of course, there had to be a few paper “happies,” like a fun invite, a schedule, homemade birthday hats, and koozies. We made beaded necklaces as we sipped on spicy margs and watched the sunset on the porch overlooking the water. There was hardly room in the schedule for all the sunset-watching, porch-sitting, beach-baring, kitchen-island-sitting and coffee-sipping that needed to be squeezed in. But somehow we pulled it all off—checking off pickleball and bike riding on the last morning, even spotting the neighborhood fox!
Just like the feeling of never wanting to come in from the beach to shower up for dinner, holding out in the water until there are only one or two stragglers, I didn’t want this weekend to end. The true gift of the celebration was that people took the time, booked flights, and made the drive. Slowness, conversation, and hospitality were the center points of the weekend, which collectively had a way of making our time together even sweeter. Entering the unchartered waters of your third decade isn’t all that scary when you have your people as life rafts by your side!
