Today is my birthday, and I have to be honest, I am just obsessed with birthdays. Mine, my friends, my family’s.  It such a fabulous opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated.  Today, I want to give you my recipe for a perfect birthday:

My Recipe for a Perfect Birthday

1. Create your perfect day. I used to be the kind of person who waited around for other people to celebrate me, or plan my birthday. But then I learned that the best birthdays are the ones I custom create for myself. Today is jammed packed with self-care, lunch with friends, shopping and of course a romantic dinner with Jonathan (I can’t take credit for that one).

2. Always thank your mother. She, more than anyone, deserves to be celebrated on your birthday for creating such a miracle.

3. Give someone a gift! More on this at the end of the post;)

4. Reflect on your year. This is the biggy. For every friend’s birthday, I ask them, “What’s the best thing that’s happened to you this year?” They usually find this slightly annoying, but I always get very thoughtful answers… I know they secretly love it. At my birthday dinner this year, Jonathan requested that everyone come up with a unique and thoughtful question to ask me, and I was blown away by the depth, love and clarity that was brought to the dinner through these questions.

Today I want to ask you the same questions my friends asked me this year. Mull them over, answer one or all. And if you want to share your answers with me on facebook, I would absolutely love it.

This year’s birthday questions:

• What has been your biggest accomplishment this year?
• What makes you know you’ll be different from your parents?
• Who do you aspire to become in the next year?
• How has your love changed in the last year?
• What is something you hope or want to do for someone else in the next year?