#607 Birthday girl.

Today, I turned 26. That’s sort of scary, but I’m not sure why? I guess because this means I’m closer to 30 than I am to 20. Eek!
Fortunately, the anniversary of my birth is always the sweetest day of the year because Ben goes out of his way to make it so. I never heard him leave the bed this morning, but he crept out before the sun was in our room (just like he does for every special occasion) so I would wake up to a surprise.
I woke up around 8:30 and Ben stopped me before I made it to the kitchen and told me to go get dressed because we were going somewhere. I brushed my hair and my teeth, put on real clothes and came back out and the kitchen table was stacked with presents.
Maybe you’ve not been reading this blog for long, but my long-term readers know that Mitter Ben prides himself on being the most thoughtful (not the most costly) gift giver on earth. It’s true. He makes me all twitterpated every single time. So this, friends, is what was there:
The packages were each labeled so I would understand its significance and he told which one I had to open last. First, I opened the gift labeled:

Because I love all of our firsts.
For every special occasion, Ben gives me a book with a note written on the first page. I always look forward to this tradition he began when we were married—it’s the simplest, sweetest gesture and he always writes something thoughtful. This book is called My First New York, and it’s short stories about different writers’ first visits to New York. I can’t wait to read this while I soak in the tub with my second gift:
 

Because there is nothing better than bath time.
Yummy smelling bubble bath from Anthropologie. He saw me pick it up the last time we went in the store and he snuck back in and bought it after we moved on to the next store. Sneaky! I TREASURE my bath time reading, and I love that he knows this about me!

A repeat, but a necessary one.
Last year, he gave me a cool calendar of vintage New York travel prints, and this year it’s all different travel destinations. I do so love ephemera!

We can do this together or by our selves.
A Volkswagen model JUST like Lucky! Down to every last detail, it’s an exact copy of my car. How cool is that?! He knows I try to be independent and do things on my own even when I’ve never done them before, but he also knows I love when he helps me. This is going to be really fun to build and I hope we’ll get started tomorrow!
Then it was time to open the very last present. The label read:
Of our old, for our new.
And this is what he gave me:
A gorgeous architectural drawing of this loft, our first home, done by a local artist, Cassie Marcellino. My little Lucky bug is even in the drawing! I immediately felt the tears come, as I felt how precious this print will be to us, hanging on the wall of our new house in a few short months. This loft has been our favorite place on earth for 3 years, and we won’t be leaving it per se since it will still be the Lucky Luxe studio, but having this record of our life here, this blog, this print, is going to mean so much to us forever. We will always have a little piece of our first home wherever we go, thanks to Cassie.
After a breakfast at Waffle House,
We spent the morning running errands in preparation for buying the house.
Then it was on to an afternoon of daydreaming at Home Depot and antiques shopping (window shopping, mostly ;). Hope and Jonathan cooked dinner for Ben and me. It’s been a perfect day, in short.
I am just overwhelmed by Ben’s unfailing thoughtfulness. Once again, it’s going to take a very long time to cover all my thanks in my prayers tonight. God is so good.