This is 46
Today is my birthday. Forty-six trips around the sun. More lessons than I have time to share. More experiences to enrich my existence. More time to learn about myself. More insight to make me a better version of me.
I learned a long time ago that the best way to gain peace and clarity is thorough letting go. Letting go of the things which I cannot control. Having faith in powers which are stronger than me. Trusting the universe and her plan for me. And with each passing year, I feel more evolved, I feel more educated, I feel more relaxed, I feel more fulfilled. I feel more like myself. I suppose it takes a lifetime to finally feel like ourselves, doesn’t it?
For my 46th birthday, I thought it might be fun to share 46 random things about myself. Some you may already know, others maybe not. Also, I selected 46 photos from the past 46 years to share with you all. I hope you enjoy them.
(1) I am 5 feet, 6 3/4 inches tall. I always hated being tall so I tend to round down to 5’6” instead of rounding up to 5’7”. And it’s not even that tall anyway.
(2) I was a competitive swimmer from the age of 4 until 21. I went to college on a full swimming scholarship.
(3) I graduated from Lehigh University in 1996 with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Philosophy.
(4) I also minored in Religious Studies.
(5) In 2003, I graduated from Rutgers University School of Law and was admitted to both the New York and New Jersey Bar Associations. I walked away from the entire career in 2007 as I felt my soul slowly dying.
(6) I have always been a giant nerd. My favorite time of year was back to school especially shopping for school supplies.
(7) When I was a kid, I used to sneak chicken bouillon cubes from the spice cabinet and eat them whole.
(8) I slept with a blankie until I was in my 20’s. It was the baby afghan that my mother made and swaddled me in on the day I was born. I wrapped both of my boys in the same blanket to bring them home from the hospital.
(9) I am obsessed with unicorns and don’t care how childish that may be.
(10) My favorite place that I have ever vacationed is Reykjavík, Iceland. I have been there twice and would love to return again someday.
(11) I lost my virginity at the age of 16, about one month before my 17th birthday. (Too much information? Maybe, but who cares, really?)
(12) I was married at 23 and divorced at 26. I didn’t meet Jeff until I was 34.
(13) My husband is 7 years my junior and it clearly is the most successful relationship I have ever had!
(14) Jeff and I originally wanted at least 3 children. We tried for a few years after Ralphie was born. At 42, I decided to have a tubal ligation as I didn’t want to have children any later into my 40’s for very many reasons. Boy, I am glad we stopped at 2!
(15) I am the third of four children.
(16) I shaved my head bald twice. Once in 10th grade and the second time was my freshman year in college.
(17) I have always loved fashion for as long as I can remember.
(18) Fashion Plates were my very favorite toy when I was young.
(19) I am the only green eyed person in my blue eyed family.
(20) I have always wanted to be a writer, but took about a million detours getting there.
(21) I am terrified of heights.
(22) I don’t like birds.
(23) Given the choice of ice cream flavors, I will almost always choose plain old vanilla.
(24) I am a ridiculously hopeless romantic.
(25) I curse. A lot. Frequently. All day, every day. I should probably work on that.
(26) I hate video games and never really learned how to play any of them.
(27) I am terrified of horror movies and won’t watch them at all for fear of having nightmares.
(28) I have struggled with sleep issues my entire life and so I am very serious about my sleep habits and daily structure.
(29) Green has always been my very favorite color.
(30) I am the absolute worst at home decorating and I have really given up any attempts at it at least until my kids are older.
(31) I have a very twisted sense of humor and I thrive on shock value.
(32) I have zero musical talents but I love all kinds of music.
(33) I love reading the dictionary for fun. In fact, I get so excited by words and language that this can actually act as a form of foreplay for me.
(34) Every year when I was younger, I requested meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and pineapple upside down cake for my special birthday dinner.
(35) As much as I indulge in the magical effects of marijuana, I was never a cigarette smoker.
(36) My favorite movie of all time is Young Frankenstein. It was released the year I was born (1974) and it never fails to make me laugh no matter how many times I watch it.
(37) My favorite song of all time is In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel. There is something so powerful about the lyrics that I am moved to tears every time I hear this song.
(38) The song that Jeff and I chose many years ago to represent our relationship is Leather and Lace by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley.
(39) My favorite music artist of all time is Beth Hart. She has told my story in her songs and it is so amazing to relate to that.
(40) My favorite book of all time is Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
(41) I used to bite my fingernails something awful. I didn’t stop until I was 21 years old.
(42) I was the unibrow princess when I was a younger and my mother always told me that natural was beautiful. It wasn’t until college when my boyfriend introduced me to the art of facial waxing. It is definitely the one great thing he did for me!
(43) My biggest pet peeve is dishonesty. I simply cannot tolerate it. It makes me angrier than anything.
(44) My favorite cocktail is mezcal, lime, and seltzer.
(45) I hate exercise. Passionately hate it. I much prefer sitting.
(46) And finally, I really, truly would not change a thing about my journey. All the struggles, all the pain and hurt, all the loss and frustration have brought me right to this place. And my God, this place where I exist right now is so very beautiful. Every single day, I count my blessings with more gratitude than I ever thought possible. My life is abundant with love and stability, happiness and joy. And those things will always, always shine through any darkness.
I cannot thank you all enough for being a part of my journey. I began this blogging gig nearly 5 years ago and now it is so much a part of my life that I simply cannot imagine what my days would be like without it. It is work that I enjoy so very much. Every morning, I wake up looking forward to drinking my coffee while interacting with this beautiful online community. You have given me light in dark hours, you have brought me so much joy, and you have made me feel like an important part of something amazing. I have so much gratitude for all of this, for this life in general.
Cheers to another trip around the sun. I can’t wait to experience the adventures that lie ahead.
Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.
56 Comments
Linda
Love this and love you! Happy Birthday!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Linda, thanks so much! I hope you are well! Love you, too!
xoxo
Shelbee
Mireille
Happy birthday!!! !over all the pics and best to learn more about you. Hope you have a wonderful day!!
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Mireille! I had an amazing day!
xoxo
Shelbee
Patrick Weseman
Happy Blessed Birthday to you and what a great photo set. Love the amazing facts about you. Very nice.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Patrick! I hope you had a great weekend.
xoxo
Shelbee
eva @ StyleMyThrift
happy birthday!!!!!!!
love all of this!
you need to revisit each of these facts about yourself one by one because i have so many things I want to comment on!
the fact that you slept with your blankie until 20 makes me feel better about my 18 year old still sleeping with hers ; )
the chicken bouillion cubes? my mom told me when i was about 4 years old, i’d sneak pieces of raw liver when she made liver–and i am a vegetarian…
love all these details!
xo to you!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Eva, thanks so much! And actually, I think I slept with my blankie until I got married at 23. So yeah, don’t worry about your daughter sleeping with hers. Plus, it is just a symbol of security. I mean we all have that favorite pillow or blanket on our beds that we like to hug while sleeping. So there is no difference.
The liver story might have made me gag a little! Haha My mother used to make us eat liver once a week and I absolutely hated the stuff! I cannot imagine eating it raw! Yuck!
xoxo
Shelbee
jodie filogomo
Happy, happy birthday!!
This was so wonderful to read Shelbee, and I love going back in time with you. It’s funny how we evolve so much yet some things never change.
I used to curse when I was in dental school and around the guys more. Somehow I’ve gotten out of that habit (maybe good, maybe bad)
OOXX
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thank you so much, Jodie! There are definitely certain things about us that stay the same throughout time, but yet I barely recognize the girl I was 20 years ago. Personal evolution really is a fascinating thing! Cursing in small doses and with appropriate placement is not a bad thing, but I need to minimize my frequent random dropping of expletives. My kids repeat too much of it!
xoxo
Shelbee
Michelle
Happy birthday, dear friend! I loved these little glimpses into your journey. “Young Frankenstein” is one of my favorite movies too. 😀 You are not the only person I know who found being a lawyer a soul sucking abyss. I applaud you walking away when you realized it wasn’t the vocation for you. It’s hard choice when you’ve invested the time and effort. I had just finished my Master’s in Accounting (which I started before I met my husband), when my husband decided he was ready to retire. (I’m 8 years younger than he is.) I decided I’d be far happier spending my days with him than using my new degree.
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thank you so much, Michelle! Yeah, I had no choice but to walk away from that lifestyle. I worked in NYC on Wall Street at the time and it was killing me both mentally and physically. I was so sick all the time straight from the inside out. I needed to walk away from it all and get my life back together. It was one of the hardest and one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am much happier doing this, that’s for sure! I am glad that you made the decision that works for best for you. It is surprising how many people don’t do that but rather they stay in soul sucking jobs forever.
xoxo
Shelbee
xoxo
Shelbee
Tiina L
Happy birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day, and a great year ahead.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thank you so much, Tiina! I really did have an amazing day!
xoxo
Shelbee
Nancy
Loved this!! I hope you had a great day love!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Nancy! I had the most fabulous day!
xoxo
Shelbee
Mica
Happy birthday to you Shelbee! What a fun way to look back and learn more about you! I hope I will have a lot of interesting stories to tell by the time I’m your age! 🙂
Hope you are having a great weekend 🙂 We celebrated our wedding anniversary yesterday, just at home with takeaway but it was nice 🙂
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Mica! Sharing our stories over time is one of the best parts of living, I think! I am certain you already have lots of great stories to share. Happy Anniversary to you!
xoxo
Shelbee
Tamar A Strauss-Benjamin
Happy birthday to you!!! I hope you had the best day and have a great year ahead!!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Tamar! I really did have the best day ever!
xoxo
Shelbee
Lisa notes
You’re aging beautifully! 46 looks great on you. Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Shelbee!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Lisa, thank you so very much! I hope your week is off to a great start.
xoxo
Shelbee
Kathrine Eldridge
Happy Birthday my friend! I love all these pics that you shared. So fun seeing your transformation. I loved learning all these details about your life. You are one special lady! XO
https://www.kathrineeldridge.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Kathrine, thank you so very much, my friend! That means so much to me!
xoxo
Shelbee
Jeanna
Happy Birthday, or as I’ve been wished, “Happy Quarantine Birthday!” Maybe the quarantine is over where you are, it was in full force last month for mine. I think “nerd” is an honorable title. Great series of photos.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Jeanna, thank you so very much! We celebrated all of our birthdays this year in quarantine as my entire family has birthdays between March 21 and May 30. Things are slowly beginning to open back up where I live. But we are basically still in quarantine. I hope your week is off to a great start.
xoxo
Shelbee
Kellyann Rohr
Happy Birthday my sweet Gemini sister! This was so much fun to read and I learned so much about you! I LOVE Leather and Lace – one of my very favorite songs of all time. Now I can’t stop singing In Your Eyes either, that really is a great song. I’m so happy you have shared your life here in this space and I love getting to know you better!
xo,
Kellyann
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Aw, Kellyann, thank you so much, my friend! It was fun putting this post together. Although, it was kind of hard to come up with 46 random facts to share! I hope you had a lovely weekend.
xoxo
Shelbee
Ruth Josey
What a wonderful way to celebrate your special day, Shelbee! I loved seeing all of the pictures of you and wouldn’t have been able to connect about half of them (the young ones) with you now. I think you’re at the best you’ve ever looked along with being at the best point of your life right now. And I loved finding out all 46 of the facts about you (LOL! Even the TMI one. It’s just so you to throw that out there for us). I’d never heard that Buffett/McBride song before (and I thought I’d heard all of Jimmy Buffett’s songs) but it should have been playing in the background of the whole post because it sums it up so well, doesn’t it? You have a beautiful family and so much to be thankful for and proud of <3 Oh, and how was that pineapple upside down cake?
Ruth
VogueFauxReal
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Ruth, thank you so much! I totally wanted to have that song play in the background but I didn’t know how to do it! Maybe I will learn that by 47. The pineapple upside cake made me cry. It was so totally on point and tasted just like the way my mom made it. I was flooded with a million childhood memories in the first bite. I ate the whole cake and Jeff made a second one for me! I need to write a post about all that. I hope you have a fantastic day!
xoxo
Shelbee
Crystal Green
I’m so utterly glad you visited my blog when you did. You are my kind of woman. 🙂 I could easily see us chatting over coffee/or some other drink and getting to know each other well and becoming friends. You’ve taken some pretty cool pictures through the years. Happy belated birthday.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Aw, Crystal, thank you so very much for your kind words. And I do love connecting with like minded people who are fun and a tiny bit crazy! I am so glad that we have connected here in blogland as well! I look forward to learning more and getting to know your better. I hope you have a fantastic day!
xoxo
Shelbee
Barbara De Mul
Happy 46, Shel!
Very enjoyable read. it’s probably not somethng you want to elaborate on, but why don’t u like birds? it’s funny cos they’re usually harmless.
and by fashion plates u mean ? 🙂
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Barbara! There is a whole long story about my troubled relationship with birds here. And here is a link to modern fashion plates. But I had the ones back in the late 70’s with 70’s fashions. I hope you have a wonderful day!
xoxo
Shelbee
Joanne
Happy birthday! 46 looks good on you. What a fun collection of facts.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thank you so much, Joanne! This was fun to write.
xoxo
Shelbee
Gail
Absolutely fascinating, those are such cool factoids! You walked away from a legal career….you ate chicken bouillion cubes….loved it. Maybe I could do something similar for my birthday in Nov, although I would need a lot more facts
(60!). Hope you had a wonderful birthday. I bet you did. Your husband has so many medals! Great to see you at #WowOnWednesday.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Gail! The selection of factoids was totally random, too. I just sat down and started typing whatever popped into my head. I would love to read 60 facts about you! And yeah, my husband has a lot of years behind him with a lot of deployments so a lot of medals were earned. I hope you have a great day!
xoxo
Shelbee
Lizzie
Oh my gosh, Shelbee! I don’t know how I missed this! Happy belated birthday, my friend! Absolutely love all the photos you included and all of these fun facts! <3 I hope you had the best day ever celebrating!
Lizzie
http://www.lizzieinlace.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Lizzie! I just put together a post for Friday recapping my birthday! I hope you get the chance to stop by and check it out.
xoxo
Shelbee
Lauren Renee Sparks
Enjoyed this trip down your memory lane!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much for stopping by, Lauren!
xoxo
Shelbee
Pam
Happy birthday! Oh my gosh, this was great! Loved the 46 random things – and the pictures are so cute!! I was a swimmer all through high school, and I did the same thing with the chicken bouillon cubes! (yuck, haha!)
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Pam, thank you so very much! Swimmers are a rare breed, aren’t we? But we had a blast every step of the way! It is always fun to connect with new people who lived through that crazy sport. Haha. And isn’t that so gross about the bouillon cubes? I totally gag when I recollect it.
xoxo
Shelbee
Emma Peach
I loved seeing your childhood photos and reading the fun facts! I don’t get video games either – Isobel keeps trying to persuade me to play a game called Adopt Me, but my goodness it’s tedious! I’ve got my 46th birthday next month but I don’t think I can come up with 46 interesting things about me to share!
Emma xxx
http://www.style-splash.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Emma, thank you so much! My kids are like video game wizards and they are always after me to try. Thankfully, Jeff plays video games with them all the time so I am off the hook. I don’t know if my 46 things were actually “interesting” as much as just totally random things I thought of off the cuff! But you will think of some fun way to celebrate your 46th birthday, I’m sure! Have a wonderful weekend!
xoxo
Shelbee
Jacqui Berry
I feel I know you so much better from this post. I adore seeing all your photos, how lovely to share them with us. thanks Shelbee for the great post. Jacqui x
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Jacqui, thank you so much! This was fun to share and it was completely random and unplanned. I am glad that you enjoyed it!
xoxo
Shelbee
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Kimberly
Shelbee, Thank you for sharing this on Traffic Jam Weekend! It had the most views during last week’s linky party. Therefore, it is a part of this week’s party features that went live on Thursday at 5:00 pm CST.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Aw, thanks so much, Kimberly! I am so honored. I will by shortly to check it out and link up new posts this week. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
xoxo
Shelbee
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Jean | Delightful Repast
Shelbee, love the fun facts! Especially that you love reading the dictionary–I do too! Always have. And it’s a great selection of photos. The one in the lower right corner of the block of four at the beginning is one of my favorites.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Jean, thank you so very much! I have always loved words from the moment I learned how to read! That photo in the lower right corner was my college graduation photo. It makes me laugh when I look at it because I thought I was so fat back then! Haha. If only I was that fat now! The things we tell ourselves. Sheesh.
xoxo
Shelbee
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