To live is an awfully big adventure. To live gracefully. To live vibrantly. To fill every crack and corner of life with laughter and tears. To never stop learning or growing or metamorphosing, like a caterpillar into a butterfly, for there is no story without transformation. And there is no Happily Ever After without conflict and sacrifice.

And there is so much more to the story after the Happily Ever After.

Yesterday I turned thirty. I thought I might freak out about it a little more than I did. But the truth is that I know too many people who have not made it to thirty. Three decades is an accomplishment, and I’ve only grown happier with age. I have settled into my skin in a way I never did as a teenager. As a writer, I feel the pull to explain and chronicle and narrate parts of this journey. I now have two places on the interwebs: the blog for the stories in my head, and this, the blog for the real life Happily Ever After. A journey in artistic motherhood and domestic goddessness. There will be crafts. There will be cooking. There will be hiking. There will be Peter Pan references. There will be Broadway lyrics. There might, in the future, be children’s books.

In the words of Tim McGraw:

I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife [husband]
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years

Welcome to the next big adventure.