30 [little] Things I Love At Age 30

January 24th, 2011 - filed under: Furthermore » Inspiration



The essence of celebration is gratitude! For my 30th birthday I’ve been day-dreaming of all the little pleasures that enrich my life. The ultimate Love List! In no particular order, and leaving out the big stuff (husband, friends, family, etc), here’s thirty random reasons I’ve been smiling:

1) Stripey long socks. Will they ever get old? Methinks not. And with this particularly warm winter, they’ve been my ultimate ‘uniform’. Love!

2) 90s radio on the internet. Oh. My. God. I’m one seriously nostalgic sucker, and live-streaming straight up 90s top 40 . . . I’m in heaven! Salt n Pepa! Nirvana! En Vogue! Friggin’ SWV! I squeal. Like over, and over, and over again, I squeal.

3) Coconut Water. Have you discovered this stuff yet? It’s isotonic, full of electrolytes, naturally sweet goodness. Mmmm, my favorite brand is Amy and Brian’s – what’s yours?

4) Wooden baby paraphernalia. Why am I so drawn to wood?? Little pine rattles, tiny painted trains, itty bitty bamboo spoons, gah! I AM SO CRUNCHY!





5) Children’s music! From the nostalgia of Raffi and Peter, Paul, and Mommy, to the incredible, rockin’ modern melodies from the likes of They Might Be Giants. Seriously, kid jams are SO GOOD these days, as evidenced by the awesomeness of the art, music, and ‘message’ (science!) in the video above.

6) Celestial Seasonings Peach Passion tea. No, really. BEST. TEA. EVER.

7) And speaking of, I’m still drinking daily herbal infusions and truly, I swear by them. Nourishing and energizing!

8) Glass Drinking Straws from Glass Dharma. I love love love finding new ways to eliminate disposables and replace them with sustainables. And with my green smoothie habit, having these re-usable glass straws lets me sip with a clean conscience – and some style!





9) The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Undying devotion since high school, and I hear it’s making a come back, yay! Remember Rocky wisdom: Don’t Dream It: Be It (I had that scrawled on my bathroom mirror all through college . . . )

10) My Body. Fucking finally! I could write a whole post about this, but suffice it to say that through most of my twenties I wore a size 0 – along with a heaping dose of insecurity, self-criticism, and body shame. Now, many years, quitting smoking, and one baby later, I’m a size . . . um, not 0, ha! (just kidding, I don’t care about telling, I’m a size 5-6!) And you know what? I dig my new hips and I love my round rump and as far as I’m concerned, my shit is bangin’. And the imperfections? They just ain’t worth the time to worry about. CHEERS!

11) Typography. Mmmm, here’s an Internet trend I can get behind. Yes with the fancy fonts, yes with the word love!

12) My neti pot! Gross? Or just totally crunchy? Yeah, I know. But come on, you get to pour water up your nostril and it flies out the other side, and you cough and sputter and your eyes water and your husband laughs at you, and then you get to not get sick. *I* think that’s pretty cool.





13) Raw Vegan Desserts, which I enjoyed in abundance for my thirtieth birthday party. Blood Orange Cheesecake (tasted like a Creamsickle!) and Chai Spice Cheesecake. Um, YUM.

14) Rediscovering Bath Time. I wrote a bit about my long-term relationship with baths (ha!) in my 20s Retrospective. I really used to take a bath every single night – sometimes twice a day! In this coming year of pleasure over practicality, I’m recommitting to my former flame. Bath love!

15) Year-Round Farmer’s Markets. Yay! My co-op actually sponsors a mini market each week all the way through winter. It’s so wee and wonderful, all mushrooms and beets and bitter greens. Love it! And I love eating seasonally/locally in January!

16) Taking my ethics to the next level. Since going vegan over 2 years ago, I’ve continued to wear a few of my ‘pre-gan’ leather items. Namely, 3 pairs of boots that I’m seriously emotionally attached to (my combats, which are ‘essential Sayward’, and 2 other pairs which each took me 2+ years to track down, because I was determined to find the perfect look and my feets are huge and I only buy secondhand). But anyways, blah blah sob story. Yeah, I love those shoes. Yeah, I’ll get over it. It’s time for me to stop helping leather look good. New boots for me!

17) Vegan Donuts. I think this made the list last year, too. It had actually been ages since I’d had one, but then some friends flew into town for my birthday and showed up at my house at 11pm with a full box of Voodoos. Good friends, good donuts!





18) Vida Vegan Con! The first ever vegan blogging conference is being held next summer right here in Portland. And I’m speaking there! Eeeee! Public speaking is hands down my biggest fear, so volunteering for this was a *huge* act of courage. And I’m so excited!

19) French Roast. I’m so damn picky with my coffee these days. And I’m french roast, all the way. Give me french or give me death! Mmm, smokey goodness.

20) Mormon Mommy Bloggers. True! I read this article and now I’m totally hooked. My favorites are Rockstar Diaries and Underaged and Engaged. Help me!

21) Herbalism. I’ve slowly been incorporating medicinal herbs – mostly teas – into my life over the past few years. But recently I did some serious research, and all I can say is, fascinating. I love the empowerment that comes from diy care. Like nutrition, herbalism is all about taking control of your own health and well being. A new obsession? I think so!





22) VEGAN BABIES! There’s a whole crew now – Clementine, Amelie, Maceo, Madeleine, Ruby, Scarlett, Kavi, and more! They are all so sweet and amazing and they fill me with so much hope and joy. You guys, I’ve seen the future and it is BEAUTIFUL!

23) My bangs. Yes, from hope to hair just like that. The littler things are important too!

24) Homemade Blackberry Liquor. It was a *very* happy birthday party for me, hee hee. That stuff was a hippie heaven . . .

25) Rotten Food. Of course by which I mean, cultured and fermented foods, ideally diy. Life changing. Essential. Delicious! My favorite these days is homemade coconut yogurt, which I feed to Waits (and myself!) every morning.

26) And speaking of feeding Waits, I love making baby food! I’m totally into preparing the most nutrient-rich, nourishing foods – from probiotics to soaking and sprouting, I’m having a blast. I actually had a moment the other day where I thought, “Wait, you can like, buy baby food?” Ha! HIPPIE!





27) Playing “I’m Gonna Get You” with Waits. It’s his favorite game, and he is SO FREAKING CUTE laughing hysterically as he flees. Please note the wild hop he does at the very beginning of this video. Gah! Too adorable!

28) The Vegetarian Food For Thought podcast. I can’t even describe how much Colleen inspires me. Just listen to it, seriously. She is a true teacher.

29) Loooong Walks. Especially at night, and especially the fact that it’s January and I’m still able to do that. It’s the best way to digest my dinner, baby strapped to my front and a podcast in my ear. Bundled, umbrella-ed, and blissed. Oh and have I mentioned how much I <3 Portland? I love Portland!

30) 2011. Because man, it’s gonna be grand.

sign-off

  • Jackie

    Thank you for this post, Sayward. My 30th birthday is creeping up, and I have accomplished nothing on my Grand Life Goals list thus far – no husband, no babies, no wonderfully fulfilling job. Those giants are all I can see looming around me, making me shiver in their shadows and want to hide from the world. Your post reminds me to focus less on those and so very much more on the little things in life that make it good. Thank you for the inspiration.

  • Tenise Rae

    Totally fabulous, dahling! :D

    And NO, stripy long socks will NEVER get old…especially as long as there is roller derby. Hehehe.

  • http://www.lindsayginn.com Lindsay

    If you haven’t, I highly suggest you watch FoodMatters on Netflix! It is AMAZING! Talks a lot about nutritional healing and herbalism, etc. Changed my life!

  • http://rachelpio.wordpress.com Rachel

    WHAT whatwhatwhat I am SO in love with that “elements” song and video… it’s going to be so awesome to one day have kids of my own that I can indoctrinate with nerdiness :) and neti pots really scared me at first, but they ARE so amazing! love your list! :)

  • Virginia

    Glass Straws are awesome!! I just bought some 6 months ago and simply adore them. So glad that I had them as I broke both of my wrists and an elbow last month and had a hard time lifting a glass. So I would have my daughter pour me up a glass of whatever, put in my straw and then I could walk by and take a sip whenever I wanted. :D

    Love the game you play with your little one. Sooo cute.

    Happy Belated 30th! Hope you have a great year!

  • http://the-fire-witch.blogspot.com Danielle

    Oooohhhoo man. Rocky Horror= love. I swear, I watch the movie once a week, listen to the soundtrack everyday on the way to work, wear my t-shirt all the time. I’m a little obsessed….
    You saw the movie on your birthday, right? Did ya dress up? Me and my friends did on Halloween and it was the best night of my LIFE. TIME WARP FOREVER!!!!!!

  • Darciefaro

    Oh Sayward, please do a baby food post!

  • Charlotte

    I love making baby food too. My freezer and fridge is full of something tasty for the little one.

    Happy Birthday and here’s to your 30′s.

  • Rebecca

    Care to share the internet radio station? 90s here I come!

  • http://eatingappalachia.com Jes

    Oh no, you’ve unleashed another bad addiction in me with the Mormon blogs! Holy obsessed. This isn’t good :)

  • Angela

    Awesome list. I hope you will share some of your herbal knowledge with us in the future! What are some of your favorite books/links on herbalism?
    One of my fave herbal remedies EVER is oil of oregano. It has seriously saved me and my boyfriend from getting ill/having to take antibiotics for respiratory junk ever since I learned about it. Great, powerful stuff!

  • Sarah

    lol! I love your list :) Happy birthday!

    Herbal posts would be *most* welcome.

    Also, I love this part of the link you posted:
    “The phenomenon of the happier-than-thou Mormon housewife blogger is so well-recognized it’s even spawned a parody blog, Seriously So Blessed, whose fictional author brays things like “We have non-stop fun all the time and are LOVING married life!” and “Speaking of fall, I kind of sometimes want to start a non-profit to help moms who go all of fall without blogging pics of their kids in pumpkin patches, because it seriously breaks my heart!”"

  • http://www.windycityvegan.wordpress.com Monika {windycityvegan}

    Fabulous list, I love all of it! Using a neti pot is what got me off of steroids for my asthma/allergy issues, they are so worth getting over the initial ick factor. And I loved my Dharma straws, but once Nina got all of her teeth, I traded them in for some stainless steel ones that were safe for her to use. And as for TMBG – “Here Come the 1, 2, 3s!” still gets played at least once a week. I think the songs about zero and even numbers are what started Nina’s fixation with owls.

  • Kelly H.

    Aaaah…
    Another fantastic and beautiful and inspiring post! So refreshing. Thank you so much!

    Yay for #10 especially…the biggest hurdle of my life. That’s a massive accomplishment lady!

    I just made a raw tiramasu! It was divine, but it needs a little tweaking and experimenting. YUM! Recipe from http://generationthrive.com/

    I just said to my beau: “Aren’t we blessed to have three AWESOME year-round markets?” Ballard, Fremont and University. YES!

    I had vegan donuts this weekend from here: http://www.mightyo.com/ Have you had them? Oh my! I discovered when they sell them 1/2 price and that’s dangerous!

    I’ve been wanting to tap more into herbalism. Thank you LINDSAY for the movie recommendation. I think I’ll watch it tonight!

    Yaaaay for vegan babies!! This makes me hopeful for the future!

    Love your hippieness. :o)

  • http://vegmomof4.blogspot.com April

    OMG We LOVE TheyMightBeGiants! Last year, I bought Science is Real, and would jam to it in the car. Our faves: I’m a Paleontologist and Roy G. Biv. High five for science savvy mommas!

  • http://kiwimartini.wordpress.com/ Beens

    Coconut water is the shizz! I always have a glass after exercising, it’s so refreshing, rehydrating and much more appetising than the sports drinks I used to guzzle. I use Vita Coco, the only brand that’s available where I live

  • http://lynniebee.blogspot.com Lynn

    I’ve been incorporating teas and other herbal remedies for several years as well, and I love it! Your son is ADORABLE!!!

  • http://www.wix.com/StMongo/MoonDragonArtPhoto StMongo

    I am so on board with numbers 1, 2, (hello, I still remember exactly what I was doing when I heard that Kurt Cobain was no longer among us) 8, 9, getting closer and closer to 10, 15, 19 and 29. I would also add the joy of having many many pairs of Chuck’s and all the wonderful colours they come in and sleeping in on Sunday!

  • http://Elilaiann.bloodspot.com Carissa

    Love your blog! I’m adding young my blogroll. Check my blog out when u can :)

  • http://hautemacabre.com Sam

    I cannot wait to turn 30 in June. I love this list!

  • jess

    oh my goodness! what the *hell* is going on with the mormon housewife blog addiction thing?!! I thought i was the only one, and then i saw think on gala darling (which is also where i found you!) and now it’s everywhere! p.s. my favourite is tandsdaybook.blogspot.com!

    p.p.s i love your blog. it’s awesome and I adore that you called your son after my favourite muso.

    kudos. <3

  • Rea

    I think it would be highly inspirational if you were to do a body image post.

  • http://www.thedomesticvegan.com Jess – The Domestic Vegan

    I just found your blog today (OMG, HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT IT?), and I LOVE it! Your baby is so adorable in that video, I actually squealed out loud…

    This is a beautiful list! I was actually in a grumpy mood when I happened upon this entry, and now I feel like my frown as been turned upside down. :) Thanks for cheering me up! I hope that 30 is your best year yet!

  • Sam

    I’ve read this post several times over the while that I’ve been following BA, it’s so happy and makes me want to start doing a Little Things I Love list at each birthday.

    Anyways I was reading through last night during a study break, and I finally clicked on the Mormon mommy blogger links………

    Thanks, Sayward. I now spend all my free time reading these. Officially obsessed. Someone stop ME!! hahaha they’re adorable.

  • vicki taylor

    I love your posts but sometimes the language. Do you know my Jesus.