8 posts tagged “birthday”

Lots of entries about me this week, eh?  :)  I haven't felt like blogging for weeks, and now it's one entry after another, all about me-me-ME!  :D  It's the upcoming birthday thing.  Age has no major meaning to me, but my birthday does mark the end of one 584058562 mile journey around the sun and the start of another, and that seems like a good time to stop and assess where I am in life, and where I want to go (besides around the sun again).

So, my 38th trip around the sun...

I took some art classes again.  That was hella good medicine!  I hadn't had an art class since high school, and I hadn't done any regular art work since college.  To be in that environment and mindset again felt like I'd plugged my almost dry battery back in to a high voltage circuit to get a recharge.  I'd never forgotten that I love making art in all those years of neglect, but I'd definitely forgotten just how much I loved it, how much it was an essential part of me, how much it fed me.  And even still, life gets so busy with details and unimportant things that feel essential, and I put away the sketchbook and start to forget.  It's not even that I forget, it's just that I stop thinking about it, I set it aside for all the other noise in my head.  I haven't done much artistically this summer, and I know when I get anxious and cranky for no obvious reason, I now know what it is that's eating at me.  Never again.  Draw or die!  It's that important to me.  Breathe, eat, sleep, draw.  Those are my absolutely essential priorities.  This was the year I remembered what was missing and vowed never to forget again.

38 was also a good year health wise.  I finally stuck with an exercise routine long enough to feel like it's mine and it's an important part of my day.  I have always tried to eat right as much as possible ....and when I felt like it, but I've taken the blinders off and gotten serious about it.  Asthma and allergies and all of the smaller, less easily labeled physical issues that have made me uncomfortable over the years have become far less of an issue as my body gets healthier and less prone to inflammation.  It's all good, and only getting better.

Thanks to a cavity (grrr), I'm back to seeing a dentist regularly for the first time in over ten years.  I still don't like it.  I think all of their picking, poking and polishing make my teeth way too sensitive, but it is good to get the official word that I still have good teeth and healthy gums.  It's one less thing to worry about.

This was also the first year of my whole life that I decided I was worth more than hand-me-downs, thrift store finds and cheaply made clothes.  I finally took a serious and studious approach to spicing up my wardrobe, investing a lot of time and a good chunk of change into finding quality clothes that made me feel well put together.  It really surprised me to find what a huge difference it made in my self-confidence.  It was definitely time and money very well spent invested. 

So, the theme of my 38th year seemed to be taking care of me.  I remembered some parts of me I'd forgotten, and started taking care of some parts of me I'd neglected.

What I have in mind for my 39th trip around the sun are some e-words: enhance, enrich, express, experience.  I'm going to carry on with what I learned this last year, make art a daily part of my life, continue to get my body in better condition, take better care of myself even in my appearance.  But I also want to add so much more.  I can't really put my finger on it, but the thought in my head is that I want more color, more experiences, more life!  I don't want to just draw, I want to paint, and not just pictures, but walls!  And I want to make and surround myself with beautiful, colorful, fantastical glass creations.  I don't just want to be a better gardener than I was this year, but I want to fill my house (and next season, my yard) with thriving plants.  I want to get my house in order, always tidy, and keep it that way.  I want to continue to pare down my possessions to just what I need and truly love.  I want to get out to see and do more amazing things.  I want to have people over for dinner once in a while.  I just want more!  I want to turn up the volume on this life.  I feel like this past year I finally remembered how to be who I am, and this next year I want to be more than I've ever been.

Since I'm still mentally twelve, I still get pretty excited about my birthday and celebrate it as much as I can.  We're in the home stretch of Jen's Big Birthday Month now.  My birthday is Monday, the 31st.  Craig's taking the day off.  This weekend looks to be fun!

Friday is the first game of the season, and it's a home game!  YAY!  The Delta Panthers are playing Toledo Christian Academy.  So, to kick off my Big Birthday Weekend, we'll probably have some pizza and walk down to the stadium to watch the Panthers maul the Christians (hopefully).  Oh yes.

I was thinking the other day that I really want some sauerkraut.  I had it a few times as a kid and HATED it.  Haven't had it since, but have recently developed a sudden and unexplained craving for it.  (First person to suggest I'm pregnant gets garroted.  Seriously.  That's never been cute or appreciated.)  So the other day when Craig came home from work and said some coworkers were planning to hit up the German-American Festival this Saturday, I thought "brats, kraut and BEER (foamy)!"  So that's probably where we'll be Saturday evening.

I don't know about Sunday.  I might just clean off the window seat, pile it with pillows, and nest there for the day with a good book, just because I can.  :D 

For Monday, my actual bitrthday, there are three things I'd like to do.  I want to have lunch at the zoo (best hotdogs in the city), I want to go out to the lake (rain option is seeing Ponyo) and I'm thinking The Grape Leaf for dinner.

It's going to be a fantastic weekend, even if all of these plans change, because my weekends with my BFF are always fantastic!

The weather for the weekend looks to be perfect too, temps in the 70s and cool.  It's like it was ordered up just for me.  :D

I'm so excited!!!  Is it Friday YET???

The winter course catalog for the museum finally came out this week.  I downloaded the PDF and did the electronic equivalent of ripping it open and madly turning pages to find the class Craig and I want to take.  It was more exciting than any Christmas morning ever.  I found the class we wanted, but was confused by the listing.  There were two five week sessions listed, which our teacher had explained would be the new format, but then I wasn't sure if the price listed was for both sessions or just one.  If it was for just one, we were screwed, because that meant the class was twice as expensive as I was anticipating.

Friday I called registration and asked about the listing and the price for the class and my fears were confirmed.  Because this class was to cover a array of media, the cost for supplies was significant, and the class was WAY out of our price range.  I mean, I could absolutely justify the cost, but we just didn't have the money in our budget for it.  I hung up the phone and pondered this dilemma.  I hadn't been this excited about anything since I was anticipating our trip to Ireland, but I just couldn't afford such an expensive class.  My brain was trying to digest this information, and then my eyes started to well up.  I felt like such an idiot, like some spoiled brat throwing a tantrum.  I willed myself to snap out of it and just deal with the disappointment, but wound up sobbing instead.  I went to take a shower to calm down and gather my wits.

By the time I'd gotten out of the shower, I had it all figured out.  We had it in our budget for half a class, one five week session, so we'll just take that first half of the class this winter, and the second half in the spring.  No big deal. 

Craig came home and I told him my thoughts on splitting the class up, and he said we should just sign up for the whole thing since we'll be getting our tax refund in February and can just use that to pay off the second session of the class.  Just like that he was ok with totally blowing our budget, saying the class would be totally worth it.  I tried to sit on it and think it over for a while like a reasonable and fiscally responsible person, but I was too excited and before long I had the phone in my hand and was calling to register.  YAY!  ART CLASS!!!!  You might think you know how excited I am about this class, but I can guarantee you I'm even more excited than what you suspect!  :D

Yesterday was Craig's birthday and we started the day with coffee and presents.  I gave him the traditional Hallmark Star Trek ornament of the year and a couple of Cylons to start building his army.  We ate a lovely breakfast and then got cleaned up to run into town for some shopping.  We picked up some home-improvement/craft stuff at the general store and then hit up Kohl's so Craig could find some new work clothes.  (I hate Kohl's with a fiery passion, but they do have decent deals in mens' wear.) 

We drove across town in the direction of a newer Japanese restaurant in town and met up with Dave and Kelly for dinner.  It was one of those restaurants where you sit around the hibachi and watch the chef prepare your food, which was quite entertaining.  Well, we watched him prepare everyone else's food.  Craig was there for birthday sushi, and I figured I'd be adventurous and share some sushi with him.  I can say that I give it an honest try every once in a while, but sushi just doesn't do it for me at all.  Now, don't get me wrong!  We had some delicious rolls, and the white tuna and shrimp pieces were pretty good.  I just can't ever imagine ordering sushi for myself.  It just doesn't do anything for me.  And the texture thing gags me once in a while too, especially that red tuna piece I choked down.  Does the world not realize that fish is raw???  :)  Craig was in heaven though.  Even a sushi novice like myself could tell just by looking at the food and the presentation that it was excellent quality, and as long as the birthday boy was happy, all was absolutely as it should be!

After feasting, the four of us drove out to the zoo to see the Lights Before Christmas.  It had only just opened Friday night, and the air temperature was well below freezing, so the place was practically empty.  Every other time we'd been to see the lights, traffic had been backed up a long ways in the street before you even got to the parking lot, so this far less crowded night where we could drive right up to the front of the lot was a new experience for us.  It was ten times as fun having Dave and Kelly with us too.  We walked the whole zoo, drank hot chocolate, sang along with the "dancing lights" presentation, had a hundred laughs or more, saw some fish and bugs and snakes (most animals were tucked in for the night), and talked at length to really nice guy in the reptile house about reticulated pythons named "Fluffy" and how to die by snake.

It was a fabulous day, but all that walking in the cold air *really* kicked our asses.  I haven't been that thoroughly wiped out in a long time.  We came home and had birthday cupcakes and quickly gave up and called it a night.  Slept like logs too and still had trouble getting out of bed this morning. 

Today was supposed to be productive, but my ass is still dragging from all the fun we had yesterday.  Sundays are designed for slack though, so no worries.

Jen's Big Birthday Month/Weekend is over until next year.  It's back to work today.  It was a good ride though.  Five days off is just about what it takes for me to recover from some minor work burnout.  It actually feels good to be back at it today.  ...Not so good that if I had all the money I'd ever need I'd still want to write manuals, mind you!  But it's once again feeling like a satisfying way to bring home the bacon.

Not only am I ready to work again, but I'm wanting to give the house it's thorough autumn cleaning.  Time to start evacuating dust bunnies before it gets cold and I have to shut the house up.

I think it's back-to-school time too.  I might register for a drawing class at the museum.  I might drag Craig along with me on that too.  We both have mad skillz, they're just so dusty and rusty right now they're non-functional.

So I've set down the Wii remote and turned Dr. Mario off.  The last two birthday cupcakes will be devoured tonight.  The presents and cards have been put away.  I've already resumed work and chores this morning.  The party is over... ALMOST!  Tonight we're heading to the fair for the "CLASHING COMBINES" DERBY!!!  :D  I can't wait to see WTH goes on at that!  Then tomorrow night is the traditional DEMOLITION DERBY!!!  Always a good time on the last night of the fair.  And then the next day is Pizza Friday and the start of a new weekend!  Not too shabby at all.

I'm seeing a slight improvement in Jasmine.  The eye drops are doing wonders for her weepy eyes.  She's still congested as hell though, poor girl.  She doesn't mind her eye drops at all, but she HATES her oral meds, which is completely opposite of what I was expecting.  Cats have nothing on wiggling, scratching, tight-lipped rabbits hell-bent on NOT taking their meds.  Ever been kicked by a rabbit's hind legs?  Yow!  Nine more days of this.  Jasmine is definitely letting her displeasure be known.  In fact, yesterday at the vet's, I set her carrier down and opened the door, and Jasmine backed her rear end out just enough to pee all over the exam table, then went to the back of her carrier to hide.  heh.  Hopefully all this fuss will have her feeling better soon!

We got news yesterday morning that my Aunt Jadine passed away Friday night.  She and my uncle have lived in Denver my whole life, so I didn't know her as well as I would've liked to, but I knew her well enough to know that she was an awesome human being, and my heart breaks for my uncle and cousins and for my mom and everyone else who was close to her.

We got that news from my mom Saturday morning, and I asked if she wanted to cancel our plans to spend the day with her, if she wanted some quiet time instead, but she said she was still looking forward to our visit and that she needed the distraction.  So we went out to breakfast, did some quick shopping at the farmers' market, and headed out to Mom's where we spent the day chatting and swimming and eating grilled meats and birthday cupcakes.  Craig and I both got too much sun and feel a little sun-sick still this morning, but it still managed to be a nice day despite the sad start.

This morning I opened my eyes to see Craig standing next to me holding the box of glass I ordered.  Yes, I got mail on a Sunday for my birthday!  Usually the mailman brings packages around first and then walks the route delivering the lighter-weight envelopes.  He came and went yesterday and never brought my glass order, so I figured I wouldn't have a chance of seeing it again until Tuesday, but Craig got up this morning and found it tucked between our front door and storm door.  That was a nice way to start the day.

So far Craig baked a dutch baby for me for breakfast, and he gave me my presents.  He made me a purpleheart "executive" yo-yo in it's own special homemade box - sooo cute!  He also got me a really swank Delta Panthers hoodie to wear to the football games!  It's black and the hood has a green plaid lining - I love it!  And he got me my own weather station!!!  I'm a HUGE weather geek and I can't wait to have it all set up!  :D  He still spoils me.  One of these years he'll likely get sick of me, but I'm glad it hasn't happened yet.  ;)  *love*

Today will probably be a quiet day for this birthday hermit.  I need to take some time to label all my new glass rods,  and I definitely want to work at my torch a little.  We'll probably run into town for a short bit as Craig needs to stop at WoodCraft and I want to shop around for a table/tool-stand for my kiln.  We might pop over to the fair this evening too, to see the fireworks.  Ok, so maybe tomorrow will be a good day for hermitting.

I made a handful of ugly beads yesterday.  That's ok though, I didn't really have a plan and wasn't really trying.  Mostly I just needed to clean up some rods that were left messy and get reacquainted with my small torch after using that fabulous $900 torch on Saturday (WANT!).  I pulled out the dirty and pointy rods and practiced mixing, swirling and striping.  Most beads came out either kind of boring or out-right ugly and misshapen, but I wound up with one "perfect" bead, and by "perfect" I mean it came out looking exactly like I had intended, which for a newbie like me doesn't happen often.  I made one with zebra stripes.  It's slightly lop-sided, but the stripes came out *perfectly*!

Stripes and Swirls and Color Mixing

I'm going to be doing a lot more of that this week.  It was stupid of me to let so many weeks go by without making torch time.  I get my priorities screwed up a lot.

Yesterday Craig asked me, "So, this is your Big Birthday *Month*, right?  Can I give you one of your presents?" then tells me he installed new speakers in my car for me!  *SQUEE!*  He'd been outside "fixing my loose door handle" (or so he said) and already installed them,.  :)  YAY!!!  I can listen to Muse again without having to turn the base almost completely down!

My bunny girls are finally getting along.  I'm not sure I'd say they're bonded, but this weekend I've started leaving them out together without having to constantly watch over them for fear that fur will start flying.  There's a wee bit of mutual grooming going on, but mostly they seem to ignore each other, which is a HUGE improvement over the months of aggression.  Not quite bonded yet, but I do get the impression they're starting to enjoy each other's company, for the most part.

Ok.  Time to get the day started.  This week needs to be very different from last week.

I woke up around 9am this morning to the smell of chocolate birthday cake coming out of the oven.  Mmm.

I came downstairs and was presented with fresh coffee and birthday gifts.  Craig got me a box of licorice (my favorite!), an expensive looking box of the the most gorgeous chocolates I've ever seen, a canister of MAPP gas and a torch igniter (for my glass work - *SQUEE!*) and an amazing box he made for me and filled with chocolate covered espresso beans:

Handcrafted Box

Perfect Birthday Card

Tru & Oo

Oh yeah, one last pic.  (Sorry. heh)  We went to my mom's last night so Craig could do a little home improvement project for her.  When he was done, we had dinner together and than Craig and I went for a quick night swim. 

A few days ago I had an intense memory of waking up to the smell of cupcakes baking on my birthday.  My mom used to make us birthday cupcakes rather than one big cake, and she would write "Happy Birthday" on them.  I immediately called my mom and did something I almost never do, I told her exactly what I would like for my birthday, and she totally delivered.  YUM!

Birthday Cupcakes

We had some last night, and I took home "HAPPY JE", and we had "JE" this morning for "breakfast dessert" (tm).  Craig made scrambled eggs in toast too, just like we'd eat in Ireland.  *happy sigh*  It's been a very good birthday so far!