I’ve been obsessed with This Is Ground’s chic leather tech accessories ever since I first saw them. So when they offered to let me try out a few of their products, I was really excited! I chose a beautiful new laptop sleeve and a Cordlupa to keep my computer cords tamed. I was especially excited about that Cordlupa because messy, tangled cords are one of my biggest pet peeves. And it’s awesome! The laptop sleeve is sooo pretty too. Now I’m thinking of excuses to take my laptop out of the house so I can show my new case off!

Besides these, This is Ground has other awesome leather accessories that I think you’ll love. Check ‘em out!

1. Squiggles envelope iPad case - $56 / Cord tacos - 5-pack for $30 / Gold sunglasses sleeve - $37

I’m especially a fan of those cord tacos. Such an adorable name and a genius idea! And they come in a bunch of different colors.

Thanks to This Is Ground for partnering with me on this post!

I don’t share photos of myself on here very often, but since today is my birthday, it felt fitting to do a more personal type of post. I thought about sharing a list of my goals and plans for the next year, but honestly I don’t really know what they are. I just want to play it by ear, and see where the year takes me...without trying to force anything or stress myself out too much. I have a tendency to compare myself with others who are my age, and to my own expectations of where I thought I would be by this time--and sometimes, that can be motivating! But this year, I want to cut myself some slack. I’m 25 today, and maybe I don’t have as much figured out as I thought I would by this age…but that’s okay. I don’t have any kids (and don’t plan to for a few more years). I’m not quite sure what I’m doing with my career, and we definitely won’t be ready to buy a house for at least another year. But I’m happy overall with my life and the direction it’s going in, and I have faith that we’ll look back later and realize that everything happened in just the right time and the right way. So I’m not making a list of goals or plans this year. I’m just going to enjoy my birthday and see where this year goes! 25, it’s a big one…halfway to 50, and a quarter of a century. Ohhhh, man.

Since it’s my 25th birthday, I decided to share 25 random things that you might not know about me. In no particular order, and for no particular reason, here they are!

1. I’m half Chinese. Can you tell? My mom is Chinese and my dad is totally white. My mom tried to teach us Chinese when I was growing up--I even went to Chinese school on Saturdays for several years--but none of it stuck. I can’t speak it at all! Kind of sad, I know.

2. I love playing games. Most weekends, we get together with friends and play games at least once. I like any and all games, but I actually really enjoy strategy games that others *might* classify as nerdy. Two of my recent favorites are Lords of Waterdeep and Firefly. If you like Settlers of Catan, you should give them a try!! Don’t judge a game by it's box...

3. I’m the oldest of three kids. I have a younger brother, Leon, who is in California at a Bible school, and a younger sister, Megan, who is in high school.

4. I loooove popcorn. With lots of butter and salt. Not the microwave kind, the kind you make in a popcorn popper and drizzle with melted butter yourself. Before I got married, I used to make a huge bowl of popcorn and eat that for dinner sometimes. Now, Ben won’t let me. He says it’s not very healthy (men…what do they know?).

5. I also love going to movies. Growing up, we never ever went to the movie theater. I think that’s part of the reason why it always feels like such a treat to me. So a movie at the theater plus a big tub of buttered popcorn? Heaven on earth. In fact, that’s probably what we’ll do for my birthday tonight. Any suggestions for what we should see?

6. I’m really picky. I don’t like sour cream, mayonnaise, eggs, ranch dressing, or cheese. I also used to hate tomatoes, brussel sprouts, kale, and asparagus…but now I can eat all of those. So I’m doing better with vegetables! I still order pizza without cheese, though, and the thought of a quiche or an omelet pretty much makes me want to gag.

7. But ice cream is my favorite. When I first moved to Seattle for college and did my own grocery shopping, I used to buy this one ice cream from Safeway that had ribbons of peanut butter in it and chunks of toffee and peanut butter cups. SO GOOD. I gained a freshman fifteen just from that ice cream--I’d polish off an entire carton in one night. And not just once, I did that regularly. I literally lost 10 lbs in a month when I stopped eating ice cream. I still buy it sometimes, but I can’t have it in the freezer at all the time, because I have no self control. I will finish it.

8. I’m really scared of spiders. I like the house we live in for the most part, but last year, we got a lot of spiders here (it’s a daylight basement, so right on the ground level). Our lease is up at the end of this month, and part of the reason I’m not sure if I want to renew it is the spiders. Seriously. If we can find an apartment that’s on the fourth floor or something, where the spiders aren’t likely to come, I’ll feel so much better. Speaking of which, does anyone in the Seattle area know of a great place to rent (preferably not more than $1300/month)? Let me know. It’s so funny, because I saw so many places with “For Rent” signs before, but now that our lease is almost up I feel like I can’t find anything good.

9. I’m super awkward in front of the camera. You can probably tell from the photo above, and from the fact that I rarely post pictures of myself on this blog. I never know what to do with my hands, or my face (should I smile? should I look casual? what should I look at?!), etc. But I want to be able to share more about my personal life on here, so I’m going to try to get more comfortable with having photos taken of me.

10. My favorite scent is lemon. My second favorite is lavender!

11. By day, I work as an assistant buyer. I don’t really talk about my “real job” on here very much, but in case you ever wondered, I work as an assistant buyer at zulily. I’m in the toy department…it’s pretty fun most of the time, but also crazy busy.

12. My middle name is Rebecca. 

13. My favorite colors are pink, mint green, robin’s egg blue, and yellow. That probably doesn’t come as a surprise if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile! I always gravitate to those colors.

14. I have a hard time keeping my hands still. I always have to be doing something with them--doodling, cracking my knuckles, writing things down, or doing something on my phone.

15. I get my hair cut once, maybe twice, a year. I’ve never dyed it, so I don’t have roots to take care of. And I don’t really like myself with short hair. So I pretty much keep it the same all the time, and just get it cut when I start noticing a lot of split ends.

16. I’m a major cheapskate. I can’t buy anything online without checking first for a coupon code, and I looove thrift stores. In fact, a couple years ago when Ben asked what I wanted to do for my birthday I said I wanted to go thrifting. Haha!

17. I believe that bacon makes anything better. Burgers, waffles, maple bars….just about anything. I even wrote a post about it (a long time ago) here.

18. My favorite time of the year is summer. I’m excited that it’s just around the bend! I love backyard barbecues, iced drinks, going to the beach, and laying outside with a book. And most of all, I love the sun.

19. I’ve never broken a bone. It's probably because I’m a pretty cautious person. My mom said that when I was a baby, she never worried about me crawling into the street or anything. She’d just put a blanket down on the yard and set me on it. I’d go to the edge of the blanket, touch the grass, and then head back to the middle of the blanket…I was a little scaredy-cat. Ever since he heard that story, Ben calls me “blanket child” whenever I’m being unadventurous.

20. My favorite flowers are peonies, garden roses, ranunculus, and anemones. I’ve posted about more of my favorite flowers here.

21. Eventually, I want to have four kids. Who knows if this will actually happen (we’ve got to have one first, after all!) But I like the idea of having a big family, and a house full of noise and commotion and laughter.

22. But I’m not a big pet person. Sorry if that makes me sound terrible. If my kids really want a dog or a bunny one day, maybe we’ll get one. But for me personally, I’m not interested in spending a bunch of time taking care of an animal. And I’m allergic to cats!

23. I’m addicted to Pinterest and Instagram. And I’m also getting more into Twitter lately! Follow along, if you’d like--just click the little social media icons at the top of my sidebar and say hello.

24. I’m an introvert. I’ve never gone to any blogger conferences and I’ve barely met any other bloggers in Seattle. I’m definitely a homebody too--I’d rather stay at home with a movie, a bowl of ice cream, and my hubby than go out to a fancy dinner and a big party where I don’t know anyone.

25. I love cheesy jokes. Puns and plays on words are my fave. I have one for you guys: Why do you never hear a pterodactyl in the bathroom? Because it has a silent p! Ahahaha. I know, groan. Anyone have a cheesy joke for me?

Whew! That was kind of hard. 25 turned out to be a bigger list than I realized it would be. Do you have any questions for me, or things you’d like to know? Feel free to leave a comment! I also wrote a post with some other facts about myself here, and I have an FAQ page here.

Ben and I decided last week that we need a little vacation, a little bit of time for just the two of us to hang out and relax. My birthday is next week, so we figured it would be the perfect time. Our plan is to spend a long weekend in Friday Harbor--a little town in the San Juan Islands here in Washington. We’ve never been there before, but we’ve heard good things about it. Have any of you been there?? I know I have a lot of readers from the Northwest, so I’m hoping you guys can help me out since we’re planning it so quickly!

We literally have nothing planned yet…no place, no activities, nothing. So I’m open to any and all suggestions!

Photo via Discover Washington State

This is a week full of features for me! Which is really fun and exciting--but you see why I was so overwhelmed before? Lots of behind-the-scenes projects! I still have a few more that I’ll be sharing later, but not quite as many coming down the pipeline… I’m trying to learn how to say “no” sometimes, although this is still a challenge for me. On that topic, when I do say “yes,” I’m really trying to partner with companies that you guys will genuinely be interested in (and that I can feel good about recommending). It’s important to me that partnered posts integrate smoothly with the rest of the blog and contribute to it, not detract. So feel free to leave me your honest feedback on that topic! I know I’ve been doing a few more lately. Do you guys find them valuable? Is the frequency too high? Have you noticed them at all? I’m curious. But back to today’s post...ModCloth is definitely a company that I can personally recommend, and I’m really excited to have partnered with them to share some Mother’s Day brunch ideas!

I’m kind of a shy person, so I’m not really a fan of big parties, and I definitely don’t like being the center of attention. I’m not a mom yet, but I know that when I am, I’ll prefer a simple, intimate brunch with my own family over a big party with lots of people.  So that’s what I envisioned for this brunch! Something small and simple, but still special.

Little details can do a lot--like making bacon in the shape of hearts, and cutting out honeydew with cookie cutters. Obviously, flowers are a must too!

My favorite breakfast foods are donuts and bacon (healthy, right?!). These ones are from Frost Donuts. If you’re local to the Seattle area, they are deeelish.

Head over to the ModCloth blog to read all my tips for planning the perfect Mother’s Day brunch!