And a Good Birthday It Was

My expectations for my birthday this year were not high. Last year, I had a really great Mario Kart party with City BBQ, and it was hard to imagine topping that without throwing another large party. However, it turned out that a quieter and less planned out birthday can be just as wonderful. Here is a review of my birthday weekend:

Friday

JR came home a little early on Friday evening so that we could both take Eston to Emma's third birthday party. The first stop was the Kingdom of Bounce, which has six large inflatables. Eston had a great time, especially on the slides, but he still needed help so JR and I both got quite the workout. Afterward, we had dinner at Noodles & Co. Amy made the cutest cupcakes that looked like spaghetti & meatballs but were just as sweet and tasty as a good cupcake should be.

Saturday

While I was at work in the morning, JR gave me one of the best gifts I've ever gotten - a clean car! Sure I vacuum the interior when the layer of crushed cheerios gets to pervasive, but it had been a shamefully long time since I've busted out the armor-all and given it a good wipe down. In fact, JR's efforts decimated an entire dynasty of dust bunnies that have been cultivating that fruitful lands of my dashboard.

After coming home to that surprise, JR and I headed to dinner with some of his work friends. The three lawyers kept topping each other with funny stories about clients, other lawyers and the judges, keeping the rest of us in stitches the whole meal. JR and I parted ways with them after dinner and headed to the mall. Although JR had been shopping earlier in the day and had purchased one small gift, the majority of my birthday funds remained. This was no huge shocker to me, as he had lamented Friday evening that he couldn't purchase anything from Amazon and have it arrive in time for my birthday.

Well, it turns out that this is a great time of year to shop for one's own birthday gifts as there are lots of great clearance items to be purchased at great low prices! At Macy's, I found a pair of hoop earrings, a pair of pajamas and a t-shirt. After discounts and coupons, the total came to $30! JR often teases me that I have a radar that points me to the one thing in any given store that's not on sale, so this type of shopping coup was truly amazing. By that time, I feared that we would have to go home because my high heels were determined to rub every shred of skin off my feet. But JR proved once again that he's a great husband and bought me a pair of slippers. I dumped the heels in my shopping bag and wore the slippers the rest of the evening.

Sadly, I wrecked my streak by going into Sephora to purchase a lip balm at a price so high, I dare not share it with you, gentle reader. We wandered around the mall for awhile more and ended up in Hot Topic, where I either encountered the most motivated Hot Topic salesperson I've ever met or I was flirted with by a guy ten years my junior with enough facial piercings to set off the airport metal detector. Either way, he made tracks across the store when JR popped up. We decided to head home and JR did his manly duty and brought the car around so that I didn't have to trudge through the snow in my slippers.

Sunday

Lee, Jean and Corbin came by this morning for a joint-birthday summit over brunch. We had souffles from Panera, fruit salad and Mom's yummy monkey bread. Lee gave me a book and cd that were on my Amazon wishlist - much better presents than the uninspired blue polo that I gave him. Maybe if he had updated his wishlist sometime since 2008, I might have a better idea of what he would like. I tease him that he's turning into Dad, who would almost rather not get a gift at all, that's how little he wants things.

After stuffing ourselves with food, JR, Eston and I all took a nap. Is there really anything better to do on a Sunday afternoon? I got a really nice phone call from my in-laws,lots of nice messages on Facebook and some new video games.

Overall, I deem this birthday to be a success! The entire weekend was full of fun times, I consumed lots of delicious food and I loved every gift that I got. I feel so fortunate for the life that I have and all of the people who are in it. That includes you, gentle reader!