Being Bold

I've never been much of a risk-taker. I get that from my parents, I think. They are pretty cautious people. I grew up never running out the house without shoes on. Never cliff jumping. Never swimming in super deep water. Never touching an animal besides a dog, cat, or horse. Never drinking water from the tap. Never buying things unless it was name-brand.  

Then, I married Logan. A bold choice, some may say. :)

And, things inevitably changed.

He taught me that it is okay to do things a little out of my comfort zone. So, little by little I started to. I've been barefoot a couple times (not my favorite). I've been cliff jumping and LOVE it. I've swam in deep water. I've touched a snake, lizard, hamster, frog, and other gross animals. I started drinking water from the tap. And, I buy generic brand items - saves so much more money, and just about the same difference.

You may think those are easy things to do, especially if you are a Corbett. But for me, those things were a little hard to do looking back. I look at myself now and I am amazed at all the "hard-ish" things I've done.

I don't want that feeling to go away. I want to be someone who can do those hard things. So, I made a goal/wish for year #25 - to take leaps of faith, to be bold, and a little braver. Because sometimes there might be a huge surprise at the end. A greater reward. And maybe a greater understanding of what I am capable of. At least that is my hope.

So, to initiate my new goal. I got a hair cut with bangs. I've never had bangs, besides the side swept ones which always got pulled back.

But it's a new season for boldness and I decided to take a leap. And this is what I got....

On another note, I invited (yes, me!!) the girl who gave me this so-called bold new hair cut and her husband to a picnic tonight with some other families. Apparently, my conversation with her about faith, family, work, and life paid off. Because they are coming. This is a huge deal, friends. Because I don't have conversations with strangers. I don't even like talking to anyone while they do my hair (don't want them to mess up). I don't ask for phone numbers. I just don't go beyond the casual weather conversations because anything deeper just gets me all nervous.

But a spark ignited in me. I want to be the person who will be bold. Who doesn't ask the shallow water questions. I want to connect and invite. Because I believe people are genuinely wanting to be heard and cared about. Someone once did that for me, and it was something I won't ever forget. And I've been grateful ever since.

Here's my challenge to all my blog friends - do something bold this week, no matter how small. You'll be surprised at how good it feels.

Baby, where are you?

Has anyone seen baby Hudson?

He's not here reading a book with a friend.

 

 He's not here sitting quietly looking at picture books. 

He's not here chasing after a duck.

 He's not here carefully petting our frog.

 He's not here having a tickle fest with second cousin, Aiden.

 He's not here swinging.

 He's not here splashing water at his mother during bath time.

He's not here playing hide and seek. 

He's not here jamming on his drums.

He's not here climbing on those tiny playground steps.

And, he's definitely not here going down the slide ALL BY HIMSELF.

Where the heck is my baby?

The one I could hold in my arms for hours on end. 

The one I could rock to sleep.

The one that let me feed his bottle to. 

The one that rolled over and army crawled.
The one with a toothless grin.

Oh, right. That baby is gone and a big boy has taken his place.

Some days I want my baby back. 

And right now is one of those days.  

How do mothers do this?
He's only a year old and I already dread this growing up business. 

Birthday #25

It's crazy how fast birthdays come around. When I was younger, I couldn't wait for a birthday. But now, I think birthdays should come a little slower. I was just starting to enjoy 24, and now I'm a year older. A quarter of a century old, to be exact. I feel so blessed to have made it to this point in my life. The past 25 years have been good to me. I can only hope the next 25+ will be just as good.

One thing is for sure, birthdays tend to get more laid-back as the years go on. At least for me. My birthday this year consisted of grocery shopping, no cooking (thanks to lunch at Noodles & Co. with some "girl" friends and a birthday sandwich from Firehouse Subs for dinner), and then dessert at our place in the evening.

A few friends came over to help us consume all the birthday sweets. So glad they came because there was plenty to go around.

We didn't have enough candles, so we had two candles on one side and five candles on the other side.

I even forgot to make a wish! How does one simply forget to do that?

Logan made this Peanut Butter Silk Cake the night before.

I offered to make it myself over and over again (mainly because I was worried he wouldn't get it right). Luckily, it turned out perfectly and I enjoyed it. And so did everyone else. 

Birthday singing and candle blowing video

A few days later, Logan and I went out to dinner (sans the toddler - thanks to our friends, the Hills, for watching him) to celebrate my birthday.

We went to Sushi Nine and it was perfect. 

We grew to love sushi while living out in Utah - Happy Sumo anyone? 

We have had a hard time finding a sushi place here in Raleigh that is affordable and still good. 

Well, we are happy to say we found one! 

Thanks to everyone for making my birthday so great. It was a very sweet, very simple birthday. 

Just what I needed.  

Hello September

We lived up the last week of August. Summer is quickly coming to an end, not weather-wise but in all the other elements - back to school, pools closing, etc. We've had a great summer. Lots of fun days. Awesome vacations too.

But. I am seriously SO excited for the fall. You see, last year around this time I was a brand new momma. I rarely got out of the house so I missed out on many fall related things - NC state fair, corn mazes, camping, pumpkin carving, planning Halloween costumes, and a bunch of other things. This year is going to be different. We are definitely NOT missing the state fair; people talk about that the whole year through down here. It is a big deal. I'm also planning more cohesive Halloween costumes for us this time around. And, we are going to find a giant pumpkin to carve. Maybe we will get around to finally going on a camping trip post-baby too.

Here is what our last week of August looked like:

As you can see, Hudson is still wishing he was at the beach (and his parents feel the same). 

But playing at Pullen Park sure brought a lot of smiles and sand in places we didn't want. 

 Trying on fall/winter clothes at J.Crew. 

As cute as H looked in that tan jacket, there was NO way we were going to dish out $150 for it.

Good thing Hudson can't talk yet, otherwise I'm sure he would have begged for it right?

Browsing the Disney store for costumes.
Too overpriced and not very good quality stuff. But wait, isn't that what Halloween costumes are?
H thought the Hulk's fist gloves were awesome though.

This kid loves popcorn, and I feel like a bad mom for giving him such an unhealthy snack.
But, whatever, popcorn is addicting. And we are suckers for it.

 Going on walks and feeding the ducks (who get way too close for comfort, especially when H eats the bread instead of sharing).

Bouncing around and going down slides at Monkey Joes.

 Really glad Logan had the day off so he could go with us.

 No make-up and no blow-drying hair days (haven't used a blow dryer in about a year, just air dry).
It's amazing how much more time I have when I don't fuss over how I look.
It's awesome. I'm learning to embrace it.

 Getting excited about college sports, especially BYU football.

 Cute kid. And look at those peppers! Growing!
We did such a good job with our mini-garden this summer.

At the N.C. Museum of Art on a Friday night.
Our favorite piece of art? The Hudson Exhibit: Sitting Still.
Rare treat.

 This is what H is doing around 5:30 every night. Watching Yo Gabba Gabba (trippy show, but he loves it) while I make dinner.

Fat cute kid eating his ice cream at Coldstone. We had a buy one get one free coupon (love those)!

It's hard to teach him to eat things one at a time when it comes to popcorn.
Heck, it's hard with anything. This kid loves food. Too bad he doesn't gain much weight though. Must have a high metabolism like his parents, right?! ;)

Note: I realize that the ice cream and popcorn video are on the same day. What kind of mother gives her child unhealthy, but delicious snacks? Guilty.

It was such a fun, quick week! But we are ready for September AND the fall season!!