My Birthday

My birthday turned out pretty good. As did my weekend. Below are my detailed details.

I didn't want to have to plan a big to-do, so I just had a family dinner on Friday. In fact, it wasn't even a full family thing, just Mom, Dad, Kate, Dan, the girls. I invited Phillip over, and that was the end of my guest list. (Tracy was at home in bed cuz she's working 7-10s; ten hours a day, seven days a week) Auntie Katie and Miss Faolan went shopping for some decorations that afternoon as I watched Kieran. They decorated the backroom and then surprised me w/ balloons, pink and orange streamers, and a Strawberry Shortcake themed table when asked to go downstairs. Appearently, Faolan picked everything out herself - including an appropriate birthday card for her very favorite auntie w/o even being able to read it first. :>) Dad loved the fact that I was obsessed w/ this lovely pink-n-red chick as a little girl, that she's been resurrected from the dead, and is popular again w/ a new generation of little girls... We had lasagna, garlic bread, sauteed green beans, corn, and green salad for dinner, then cheesecake for dessert. Happily, all was homemade by either me, Dad, or Phillip. :>)

As for presents, I wasn't expecting much, but I did receive some very nice gifts. Dad and Mom gave me a sizeable check at Christmas for a Christmas/Birthday present to help me pay for my new TV. But, Mom being Mom, couldn't resist. I now own a few more gift cards to food places, gas at the Dublin Safeway, and a massage. Phillip sent me a gigantic bouquet of flowers w/ balloons that everyone oooohed and awwwwed over. Both Kieran and Faolan loved them. Kieran kept smelling them in her cute, little, 2 1/2 yr old way, and my favorite comment from Faolan was: "... and they're REAL!". Yes, they are real and they're beautiful - esp since they've had a chance to open more over the weekend. My room smells nice and unstuffy. My brother wants to give me a high-tech DVD player to go w/ my new TV. Lisa sent me a funny book, 50 Jobs Worse Than Yours, Luke sent a helpful book about careers, and Heather's present is still in the mail. I was able to see Krishneel, briefly, on the actual day for coffee before he ran off to work, and he gave me a lovely, embossed, hardcovered journal. I haven't had one since college, but now I have an excuse to begin again. Katie's present to me was to treat me to things around town....

To those of you that are reading this: THANK YOU! :>) :>) Thank you to everyone for your thoughtful presents. Thank you to all that called, mailed cards, sent emails, or sent e-cards. It's always wonderful to be remembered on your birthday.

....

I went to San Jose this weekend. I arrived at KT's place around lunchtime on Saturday. We had lunch at a tex-mex place and I really enjoyed it. We hung out for a while and purchased tickets to a comedy show that night. I can't remember the name of the guy we saw (cuz they took our entire ticket when we entered the building), but he is, appearently, fairly famous. He had a TV show on the Fox network and recently had a comedy special air on Comedy Central. He was at Tommy T's in Pleasanton. It was a VERY good show. At one point, I had tears in my eyes. I'd repeat the situation, but you just had to be there. KT and I had a bonding moment cuz I saw tears in her eyes as well. Afterwards, there was no bar experience to be had. It was too late, much to KT and Jen's dismay. I was fine w/ it b/ we got back to KT's place at about 2am.

On Sunday, we went to our massage appointments. We went to La Belle Day Spas & Salons, the Stanford Mall branch. KT'd been there a few times before and liked them. I had very few complaints to the service I received. The extreme relaxed-ness after the 75 min massage and a small snack (a small bar set up w/ the cucumber water, brie, crackers, melon, and grapes) was fantastic. We then went to lunch and did a little shopping. I bought National Treasure at Target and we watched it at her place. Not a bad buy. There is this fun aspect to the movie as you watch the bounus features. You get letters to solve the puzzle and get a second, special area of bonus features. I haven't looked at all of the second level yet, though. I got home at almost 10pm...

Twas a good weekend.