charlotte | golden.

part one.

what happened was, T & family were on vacation the week before and flying back on saturday, and my parents were getting ready to leave for their trip and flying out on saturday.

saturday, my actual birthday.

i went to charlotte on thursday and spent the first part of my trip with my parents. we went out to dinner, shopped at the outlets, and watched a movie. in lieu of cake, i had my mom make chocolate chip cookies. i knew i'd be having cake with T and also my mom makes the best cookies of all the cookies, so i decided to mix it up. i do not regret this choice.

per my request, she made the cookies while i ate breakfast so i could eat one (or two) fresh out of the oven with my coffee. so basically what that means is i ate cookie dough for breakfast.

starting twenty eight off strong.
 

part one-point-five.

in between the departure and the arrival, i went to not just coffee. by myself. on my birthday. and wrote in my notebook, while i sipped my coffee. it was kind of perfect.

i talked on the phone and got to catch up with friends and have full conversations without feeling obligated to cut it short for the sake of who i was with, in person.
 

part two.

T and lee and the boys got back on saturday afternoon and powered through a full birthday dinner celebration that night, homemade meal and all. we talked about going out, but T insisted that on my actual birthday, i deserved a nice home cooked meal.

we spent the next few days hanging out, eating pancakes, reading books, coloring, looking up rescue bots on my phone, sitting in boxes, and writing our names in chalk paint.

i thought a lot about how i wanted to celebrate my birthday this year. my golden birthday. a day trip, a trip out of the country, the beach, a stay-cation. but this, my monthly trip to charlotte, loving on my nephews and hanging out with my people, was at the top of the list. it only felt appropriate, considering they are what make my life so golden.