When I turned the big 3-0!

There you go, I said it. I just revealed my age…or so it seems! The title tells you The Spoiled Mummy has turned 30…but when did I actually turn 30??  Now, that will have to remain a secret…at least for now! 🙂

So yes I turned the big 3-0! And with almost everyone I know, turning a decade older is something more special than turning a year older. With this in mind, I was convinced that I can throw myself a bigger birthday party than usual! 🙂

I LOVE to entertain. I LOVE it when I am able to gather friends and family over some good food, good wine, for some good conversation. It doesn’t matter how big or small the party is, or whether it is at my own home or somebody else’s, or in a restaurant or at another venue… I just love having people get together, relax and forget about their daily stresses for a while and just simply bask in the presence of family and friends to have some good fun. BUT… I don’t really love the stress that goes before it! I am a perfectionist at heart – if I may say that – so I do actually stress over the littlest of things! And contrary to what most people think, this is the way I relax…when I am actually stressing about the whole planning! 🙂

So when it was time to celebrate this major milestone in my life, I decided to host an intimate dinner at our home.  I wanted to welcome this new decade in my life with positivity and lots of cheerfulness and love, love, love! 🙂

The buffet table – Margarita Fores and her team of chefs catered the night’s delicious food.

We set out a few tables and decorated them to the nines…

This is when I learned that I actually love fixing table settings and centerpieces 🙂

I chose the burnt Orange / Autumn hue as the main color for the dinner party, as my birthday fell exactly on Thanksgiving Day.

A lot of pumpkins, twigs, and oranges were also scattered around the tables.

A little touch of pink was added to the table centerpieces, to give credit to the birthday celebrant’s favorite color 🙂 Thank goodness, those pink flowers on orange background still came out somehow “coordinated”! 🙂

Mood lighting as provided by these candles helped set the good mood…it definitely made our dinner more relaxed and romantic 🙂

Aside from having good food, nice table setting and great mood lighting, appropriate music is also very important in intimate dinner parties. For me, the background music (or noise – whichever way you look at it) captures the totality of any event. And since I nor the Hubby don’t know how to sing nor play a musical instrument,  and have no plans of learning :), we decided to just leave it to the experts… and for that special day, Vince Lahorra, one of our finest saxophonists, serenaded us with his smooth tunes.

 Aside from having the usual Thanksgiving Day menu of Roasted Turkey and Pumpkin Pie, I took that opportunity to give thanks to family and friends who have helped me in more ways than one. To me, it was more than just a birthday party… that night was really more about giving gratitude to the people around me and most especially to the One up there for spoiling me. 🙂

 When I turned 30, I remember feeling younger and more energetic than ever! 30 is indeed the new 20! I wasn’t only older, but I knew I was wiser too.  I had reached a whole new level of maturity: I had a heightened self-awareness, I had a better understanding of other people, and I had a higher consciousness of the circumstances that surrounded me – both the good and the not so good that sometimes posed a challenge in my life.

I must say,  this was also the time when I felt a deeper contentment for all that God had blessed me with. I was more secure than ever, knowing that I had everything I needed and that all that truly mattered to me – my family and friends – were with me.

I always thank God for giving me the Hubby and the kids…they are my true passions. They are my life, my joy, and my reason for being. I have always believed that they were given to me for a deeper purpose, and I can only call myself blessed, SPOILED even…to have been entrusted with such precious gifts. The One up there is the ultimate spoiler, I tell you! 🙂

And as it turned out, my birthday was not just about turning 30; it was truly a celebration of the beautiful, sweet life that I have been blessed with, and the life with my family that I am still looking forward to!

What are you most grateful for?