“Embrace the uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have titles until much later” -Unknown

Whew! Another revolution around the sun and another birthday with COVID-19 in the center (attention whore much). In all fairness though, we definitely aren’t as locked down as this time last year so for that I’m thankful. For my 28th birthday last year I decorated, cooked, and had a zoom party with some family and friends. That post is still in my “drafts” folder, it was such a depressing time, I felt no excitement writing about it.

This year I originally wanted to have a low key birthday. Life was just life-ing and I was not in the frame of mind to plan, host and be all jolly, but… I decide to take charge of my happiness..yes I know, cliche. I need to practice more of what I preach and at the end of the day I realized that if I were to have a lonely or sad birthday, it would be my own fault.

The weeks leading up to my birthday were beautiful, we hadn’t had snow in a long while and it started to feel like spring. At first the weather forecast was predicting a small amount of rain/snow fall, so I was not too worried. The closer it got to the day, the worse the forecast got, and my spirit more dampened. I decided to go ahead and reschedule the picnic for Sunday, April 11th instead, as it would not have been prudent to set up nor host a picnic in the rain/snow.

When I woke up on my birthday I expected to see rain and gloom, guys…GUYS!! Outside was clear, dry, AND sunny. Having rescheduled my plans, I decided to just go to the mall with my daughter and spend the day with her. It was so nice out, we were sweating! I had a great day with my daughter but I still felt like the day was somewhat wasted because now the snow forecast was getting later and later which meant a wet ground the next day. My picnic was scheduled for 12PM-3PM, and that whole block of time, outside was absolutely beautiful. I got home close to 4pm with a shattered spirit.

At first I saw light snowflakes so I thought “ok, it’s just gonna be that light snow that melts by the morning”. Boy was I wrong! By 4:30PM I felt like a character in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and I just stepped through the closet.I quickly realized this was NOT gonna melt and clear up by the morning. My disappointment only got heavier and I considered just canceling the whole thing, but I held on to a sliver of hope that it would be ok. Fast forward to the next morning, outside looked so gross, there was slush everywhere and everything was covered in snow. I just wanted to lay in bed all day, but I got up and tried to get in the mood, then headed out.

When I walked up to the picnic set up, let me tell you, ALL of my sadness immediately faded. It was exactly what I wanted, and more. The snow made everything so much more beautiful and now I can’t imagine how it would even look without the snow as a backdrop. Don’t get me wrong it was freaking cold! But my friends, I cant love them any more! The showed up for me and endured the cold, we all had such a beautiful time and my day would not be even close to amazing without them, I’m truly blessed to have such an amazing tribe. While I originally planned a whole menu and was going to cook, because of how everything went, I ended up just ordering food and even that worked out perfectly.

I can definitely say this birthday is my favourite so far, and once again I have learnt that things may not always work out as planned. It’s ok to feel disappointed and down, but remain faithful and grateful because you never know what you would have missed out on had things gone according to plan. There is always a blessing in the midst of chaos, we just have to be open-minded. As someone who struggles with anxiety, having to change my plans suddenly is not a pleasant experience for me, but I’m learning to accept that I cannot control everything, and going with the flow can lead to my happiest moments.

ALL ABOUT THE SET UP

I decided on an outdoor picnic because why not? We finally have a little freedom and I wanted to take advantage of that as much as I possibly could (while adhering to the rules of course). Deciding on a theme wasn’t very hard. I’m usually into neutrals, outdoor, boho type decor.

After deciding on a boho theme, I was originally going to do everything myself which would have included purchasing bigger items needed for the set up to match my vision. However, I was lucky enough, with help from my friend Tasha ( the OG party planner of our friend group), to find a local vendor who specializes in picnic setups. I liked what they had to offer and went ahead and made arrangements with them. Let me tell you, yegposhpicnics DELIVERED. They were so accommodating, professional and so sweet, I will definitely be using them again and I 100% recommend them so if you’re in the Edmonton area check them out!

For my cake, layeredbyrissa was my only option. I already knew about layered as we had use her previously. Now, let me get into Tarissa’s cakes. When I say perfection, I mean perfection. They not only look beautiful they taste divine. And to top it all off, she’s the sweetest! Guys, LOOK AT MY CAKE!!

Edmonton peeps, you’re welcome!

If you’ve made it to the end, thank you for reading! I hope the next time something doesn’t go according to YOUR plan, just know there’s something even better in store for you, and embrace it.

“Your life is as good as your mindset” -Unknown

See you soon!

-Mo