Celebrating My 46th Birthday | There Is No Shame In Divulging My Age & A Self-Portrait

Yesterday I wrote about celebrating my mom's 80th birthday and I thought I should also post about celebrating my birthday. I turned 46 on February 19, which was three weeks ago. People asked me why I divulge my age, shouldn't that kind of information be kept secret? Well, I don't see why age needs to be a secret. Am I supposed to feel ashamed (thus the secrecy) that I am no longer young and literally in my mid-life? But I guess people make all kinds of assumptions and generalizations about people based on their age.

But this is my opinion about it - only insecure people feel the need to keep their age a secret. Each to their own but this is my take on this whether people like it or not. I might be wrong and presumptuous but who cares 🤷‍♀

I accept and love myself totally and I don't feel insecure about being in my forties.

Anyway, I didn't have a big birthday celebration because I feel it wasn't necessary and also a waste of money. Well, unless I am old as my mom, I probably wouldn't mind having a birthday party 😂.

❤️ Mini Celebration With Family and Friends ❤️

Here are some pictures taken on that day. My friends had a mini birthday surprise for me right before the church service begins. It was on a Sunday, so every Sunday morning our family go to church. I did casually mention to my friends that my birthday was coming but it wasn't a hint for them to plan anything. So this indeed was a lovely surprise. My friends gave me a slice of cake (yummy!) and a birthday card.

And blowing the solitary candle with a couple of kids watching behind me. This was held in the Sunday School room. I was there to send my son for his Sunday lesson.

Me taking a couple of pictures with my birthday cake. I was wearing a hat in the first picture. That hat was a gift from my kids. I posted this same picture on Facebook and someone commented I should take the hat off because I look better without it. The audacity 😠. Of which I replied that the hat was a gift from my children and I will keep wearing it regardless of what others think of it. One of the greatest blessings of being in your 40s (and beyond) is that you stop being insecure about your look and you wear whatever makes you happy. You stop caring about people's opinions and stuff. Who cares...life is short and I am not a teenager to still feel so insecure about my appearance. How silly 🤦‍♀

And some photos with my loves...

My husband and I had a simple date that evening and he treated me with my favorite meal - Japanese beef teppanyaki 😍.

❤️ A Gift For Myself - A Self-Portrait ❤️

I thought of splitting this post into two but then I decided since it will be the same topic, I might just put everything in one post.

The last self-portrait I drew was a couple of years ago. I made a post about that here: Self Portrait In Colored Pencils With Time-Lapse Video

I feel empowered and strong whenever I completed my workout, specifically my fitness boxing routine. I have been doing fitness boxing for a couple of years. I don't spar though and had never been in a ring. I am doing this solely for health and fitness reasons. I even made a post about my love for fitness boxing here: Girl Power | Three Reasons I Fell In Love With Cardio Boxing

So I thought why not draw a portrait of myself in my workout gear? And that exactly what I did. I didn't capture any progress photos (except one) of the drawing but I did recorded a short video that you can watch below:

And one progress photo.

And the completed portrait.

Materials I used:

• 165gsm acid-free A3 paper
• Mars Lumograph Black pencils
• Derwent Graphic pencils
• Black marker
• Black pen
• Black and silver color pencils
• Sakura White Gelly Roll pen

And of course a selfie with the completed and framed drawing. I am very pleased with the result and it was a perfect birthday present for myself 😘

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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.

Note: All images used belong to me unless stated otherwise.

Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!

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