~*~May Day~*~

Good morning friends! Happy weekend! April is at an end and that means tomorrow is MAY DAY, otherwise known as Beltane. Beltane is an ancient Celtic festival that celebrates fertility, new beginnings and the arrival of summer. You can celebrate May Day by weaving a wreath of flowers for your hair, singing and dancing the May Pole!

(Source)

(Source)

May Day is very special to me for a couple reasons. The first one being that it reminds me of my mama, who passed away when I was 18. She was such a magical, faery, witchy woman who loved to celebrate May Day. When I was little she called it May Basket Day because every year she would make this sweet candy popcorn, put it in little baskets and deliver it to the door steps of all our neighbors. She also taught me a very important May Day tradition. 

"Wash your face in the morning dew and you'll be beautiful the whole year through."

I do this every year :-) 

May Day is also the anniversary of the my first date with Woody! 

Unfortunately this is not a photo of Woody on our first date. This is a couple months later, but I just wanted to show the Woody that I first began hanging out with two years ago. 

I guess you can't really call it a first "date," it was just the first time we hung out. We had been seeing each other around for years as we had a lot of mutual friends. As I mentioned in an earlier post, when Woody first saw me he asked my friend Lindsey, "So, who's the faery?" :-)

Even though we knew of each other for years, we didn't start hanging out and getting to know each other until the spring of 2009. I was going though a heart wrenching breakup with my boyfriend of almost six years and was feeling lost. I ran into Woody at a friend's birthday party and we immediately connected. I was in need of some comfort, warmth and sweet friendship and Woody emanates those things. Woody suggested that we go for a hike someday and I was all about it. So, a few days later we got together. It was a chilly and rainy May 1st that we set out on. We bundled up in our rain coats, bought some chocolate and hit Willow Creek trail with my doggie, Kona. I told Woody about my mom and our May Day traditions. I told him about washing your face in the morning dew to be beautiful the whole year through. We laughed when we realized that we were taking it a step further by straight up showering in May Day rain! We thought, wow, this is probably going to make us REALLY beautiful! :-)

After hiking in the rain for several hours and getting soaked, Woody took me to his house. He built a fire, gave me dry clothes to wear, fed me homemade chicken noodle soup and gave me a bottle (or two...or maybe three!) of his home brewed beer. So romantic, right?! ;-) My mind was no where near any thoughts of romance at the time, I was just appreciative of Woody's sweetness and friendship. Later on in the night, we headed over to my house to watch some faery tale movies and eat cookies. We pretty much became best friends after that and started hanging out almost every day. 

It was a slow, gradual blossoming from a bud of beautiful friendship into a full grown flower of love. 

I am grateful beyond ways of expressing for this beautiful, extraordinary man I have in my life and for all the fun and amazing adventures we've had together!

I think my mama would be so proud. If she were alive today, I know she would absolutely adore Woody! My mom loved faeries, and Woody actually helped me build a FAERY TUNNEL in my old house. My mom would have loved this!

That was such a fun project! I loved having that magical walkway in my house. It smelled like bay leaves and made me feel like I was in the forest whenever I walked through it. :-) 

Well, my friends...I just HAD to do this post today. But if you are only here for the food, then don't worry! I will be back to posting some food pics and recipes tomorrow. But it will have to be after Woody and I celebrate by going on our annual May Day hike. 

Don't forget to wash your face in the morning dew tomorrow! 

Have a beautiful blessed Beltane! 

Love, 

Aaina Rose