It’s My 33rd Birthday | 33 Things about me + a Nordstrom Gift Card Giveaway!

Today is my 33rd birthday! I can hardly believe I’m 33 years old. Last year Mason was just a couple months old and my birthday was a blur so I feel like it never happened. Has anyone else ever felt that way? Well since it’s my birthday and I feel like I’m always getting new visitors to my site I figured I’d get a little more personal today and share 33 things about me that you may or may not already know.

Plus in honor of my bday, I’ve teamed up with an amazing group of bloggers to giveaway a $950 gift card to Nordstrom. Details on the giveaway are at the end of the post so make sure you read all the way through to find out all the ways to enter! Ok, lets get started!! Just an FYI this is no particular order since I’m going to write them as I think of them. 33 things is a lot!!!

1. I was born and raised in Santa Cruz and unlike popular belief we’re not all hippies 😉
2. I have always been in love with fashion but at one point I thought I was going to be a veterinarian, a marine biologist, and an interior designer (which I did do for a number of years).
3. When I was a kid I was diving semi-professionally and won third place in Northern CA for my age group.
4. I have never broken a bone.
5. I have been to the emergency room two times. Once for scraping many layers of skin off my thigh after sliding down a hill and going over a tree stump and second for slicing my left pointer finger with an exacto knife working on an interior design project in college.
6. After high school when I was 15 years old I moved to Nashville, TN to pursue ballet professionally at Nashville Ballet. I danced with Nashville Ballet for a year and a half before an injury on my left achilles tendinitis got too bad to continue dancing.
7. I may not show it often but I’m really a silly person. Ask Justin, I just LOVE to dance around the house and make a fool out of myself. But you won’t see it unless you are super close with me.
8. I treat my two yorkies like they are my babies. But I have to admit, now that I am a mama to Mason, I haven’t been able to give them nearly as much love as I used to. Which I had prior to Mason promised myself I wouldn’t do.
9. Justin and I met in high school though we didn’t start dating until college.
10. I used to get my nails done every two weeks. Now I’m lucky if I get them done once a month!
11. Justin and I have moved 4 times together. We’ve lived in San Francisco, Carlsbad, Menlo Park, and Soquel.
12. Something major has happened to Justin and I every two years since we got married. We just celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary this past October so I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next year 😉
13. I can have a glass of champagne any day of the week!
14. I know the Daniel Tiger theme song word for word and I sing it to Mason when he’s having a major meltdown and it no fail always makes him giggle.
15. It took me 13.5 months to swap out my pictures on my walls to include Mason. I know that sounds horrible but I was busy being present as his mommy and just didn’t get around to narrowing down my picks and ordering the pictures to be professionally printed.
16. I absolutely love to entertain our friends and family at our house.
17. Before Have Need Want, I actually had an interior design focused blog called SF Design Girl. I shut it down in 2011.
18. I got Lexie from a breeder in Iowa when I was living in SF and she arrived via plane on the 4th of July in 2009.
19. A photo of Jackson was texted to me by a college friend saying he needed a loving home and she couldn’t think of anyone better than me. I brought Lexie to meet him and within a minute they were besties! I had to bring him home with us. That was 6 months after I had gotten Lexie.
20. I used to work for a clean tech company and got solar for our home just three months after we closed on our house.
21. I have many pet peeves but the biggest ones are the following: 1. people who have no spacial awareness 2. bad drivers 3. solicitors calling me on my cell wanting to sell me solar (can’t they go to google maps and see I’ve got panels covering my roof!)
22. My biggest weakness is probably kettle chips with sour patch watermelon coming in a close second and gelato not too far behind.
23. I have an addiction to good coffee
24. I stopped having dairy for Mason since he was showing signs of an allergy. I more recently started trying to bring some dairy back into my diet but I much prefer some of the dairy alternatives so I will not be going back to milk or dairy yogurt.
25. The only time I wasn’t self conscious of my stomach was when I was pregnant.
26. I’ve never been more excited to give up alcohol and caffeine then I was when I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t have one sip of champagne or caffeinated drinks my entire pregnancy.
27. I’m currently back in school to get a certificate in Regulatory Affairs. This is a completely new field for me but healthcare really interests me.
28. My birthday falls on Thanksgiving every so many years.
29. I love going to wine country and typically celebrate my birthday the weekend after Thanksgiving with Justin in wine country.
30. I am probably one of the worst cooks in the kitchen. I once messed up macaroni and cheese (though I must add I was trying to make it from scratch). Since being married I’ve tried very hard to make good meals for Justin and now also Mason for dinner. Thank you food delivery companies for the meal assistance!!!
31. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.
32. I always knew I wanted to be a stay at home mom when I was younger. Now that I am, I have so much more respect for my mom and all other moms that stayed at home with their babies. It’s really hard work!
33. Wow, I’m already down to the last thing about me…I have always tried to be the absolute best friend that I can be to everyone who I am friends with and still the hardest thing for me is to come to the realization that not everyone is going to reciprocate that friendship no matter how hard I wish it.

I know I kind of ended on a sad note but to be honest this is one of the biggest life lessons for me in my 33 years. I have learned to continue to treat people the way I want to be treated and be there for everyone in their best and worst times and while I hope it will always be received and reciprocated in the same way, I have learned to not get so upset when it doesn’t happen.

Dress: French Connection, sold out (love this LBD and this little black jumpsuit). Heels: Nine West, not available online (alternate option). Confetti Balloons. Starburst Balloon.