Where has the time gone?

Thirty years ago next week I  went out to lunch with my sister and a friend of ours on a glorious Tuesday afternoon.  I was 9 months pregnant (I felt like I was 11 and a half months pregnant).  The waitress had just put my plate down in front of me.  Mmmmm...clams in a spicy broth. I was starving.  Then it happened.  I knew something was  - different. I excused myself and went to the ladies room where I discovered my water had broke (if you're squeamish, don't worry - that's as bad as it gets).  Not quite sure what to do at this point, I sat in a chair and thought about it. I contemplated the fact that within 24 hours I would now have a baby. And I got scared.  Some ladies came in and they asked when I was due.  "Any minute" I replied.  They thought that was funny.  Little did they know.  After a while my sister came looking for me.  When I told her what happened she took charge.  Helping me up, she said "let's go!"  She tried to tell the waitress quietly that we needed to leave in a hurry, but the waitress took one look at me and decided to share my dilemma with the rest of the diners, to my embarrassment.  At that point I wasn't in labor, but 5 hours later, I was. Six hours after that, I got the first of the two greatest gifts I could ever receive (the second one came along five years later).

So this past weekend we had a "surprise" party for the most wonderful (almost) 30 year old daughter in the world.

We started in the late afternoon.

And partied into the night.  Birthday girl on the left with her lil' sistah.

That cute little cake is just one of the many millions of things I have learned from Pinterest!

The next morning, with her new baby, Oliver (in her lap) and her boyfriend's  lovely dog, Creasy.

Another fabulous weekend. Hope yours was wonderful too.

all the makings of a perfectly wonderful day

So this was the timeline of my birthday yesterday:

6:00 am: Wake up to find a birthday card from the bf containing a gift card for amazon for the whole year's worth of book club selections for my Kindle.  The birthday card and knowing he remembered my day would have been enough.  And he's not done yet...

6:30 am:  57 Sun Salutations with a dear friend and yoga teacher. I guess to some 6:30 am yoga might sound like torture - 6:30 am anything is torture to some. For me it is the best way to start my day.

8:30 am:  Arrive at my office to find my chair, desk, etc., all covered with banners and glitter, and a Birthday crown sitting on my computer.  To be honest, not unexpected, as I have done the same thing to them on their birthdays.

8:35am - 4:30 pm:   Find facebook messages and ecards from friends and loved ones all day.  Love that.

8:30 - 12:30:  work, work work...


9:15 am:  Phone call and ecard from First-born Lovie.  She sent me a book on my Kindle, too.  What a love.

12:30 pm:  Lunch with  my office pals. The ones who are responsible for the banners and glitter.

2:00 pm -4:30 pm:  work, work, work...


2:10 pm:  Phone call from Second-born Lovie.  She's in Brooklyn right now and I haven't seen her since the holidays, so it was so good to hear her pretty voice.

2:25 pm:  Chipotle Chocolate cupcakes!  Woo Hoo! They were melt in your mouth devine! Oh and there were candles and singing, too.

4:30 pm:  Go home and get ready for the evening.  Little black dress (velvet - it is still winter you know, even though it doesn't feel like it!) with lace patterned tights and black boots.  And the bf wore a nice jacket with his jeans - I love that look on men!  I should have gotten a picture of the two of us.  We don't dress up often, but we do clean up okay.

6:00 pm:  Dinner at my favorite sushi place.  Ahhhh...it was incredible.  Then a little walk down the street to  our favorite cozy little piano bar, where a friend of ours tends bar, for a lovely glass of wine before the theater.

8:00 pm:  Another little walk (it was a beautiful night for walking) to Thalian Hall to see a local production of "To Kill A Mockingbird".  One of my all-time favorite books from childhood.  It meant a lot to me that the bf remembered that and got tickets to this. I give him grief sometimes because he doesn't always seem to be giving me 100% of his attention when I'm talking to him, and then he goes and proves that he does listen - at least when it really counts. And as is usually the case in this town, I was gratified to see it was a full house for this Opening Night.  Wilmington is very proud and supportive of our art community and I love that about living here.

10:30 pm:  Home for (more) cupcakes and dog kisses.

What a glorious day.  A big thank you to all who made it so.

Today is my day!

Today is the day, once a year*, when I tell my mom Thank You! Thanks for all your hard work on that February 2nd, all those many, many, many years ago when you brought me into the world and started me on this adventure.  Thanks for giving me this life! 

That's right...my birthday is on Groundhog's Day. 

Today is also the one day a year I eat a real, red-meat hamburger.  I stopped eating meat 10 or so years ago.  I never really miss things like steak or a roast, but the thought of going without a good hamburger for the rest of my life was agonizing, so I decided I would let myself have one once a year. On my birthday.  So that is what I'm doing today.  Lunch with a dear friend and a hamburger?   A great way to celebrate life.  Tonight will be my favorite yoga class (with my awesome new Manduka mat, birthday gift from the bf) and my favorite sweet potato roll at our local sushi bar.  Life is good.

*Just so you know - I tell my mom thank you more than just once a year.  It's just that today I thank her specifically for having me!

And a note to all who expressed such nice words about Jack and his diabetes - he is doing really well so far.  He gets such a small amount of insulin, and it's such a small needle, that he doesn't even seem to notice, which makes my job a lot easier.  It hasn't slowed him down a bit!