Happy Birthday to Me!

Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post and for the prayers too because I felt so-much-better yesterday. And I feel even better today. My birthday was fabulous, even on a Wednesday, and with no cake. I hadn't quite gotten my appetite back and though I was ravenously hungry at lunch, I couldn't muster up enough of an appetite for cake later. Sooo, on with the birthday recounting of how fabulous my family is.

Travis took the day off which was fortunate since I'd made a Dr.'s appointment. You know *the* Dr.'s appt. Why would I do such a thing you ask? Well, because when they asked me if Wednesday the 12th would work I forgot that it was my birthday. Actually, when I was filling out all the new patient info. I had to keep writing the date and at one point I filled in the date with my birth year- very confusing. But on my way to the Dr. I snapped this picture while I was driving. It's the only autumn leaves picture I've gotten so far. Travis was going to pull over and let me get some shots on the way to lunch but I was *really* hungry for the first time in three weeks so I opted for food instead. And my sweet husband that knows me so well took us out for BBQ at Famous Dave's. No it's not high class and fussy but my man knows I love good BBQ. Of course, it helps that he loves BBQ and if you gave Amanda some barbecue sauce she'd probably just take a bite out of a cow. She's tiny but she's a carnivore. My present from my parents and Trav are passes to the Nashville Zoo that I love so much. My passes expired about a year ago and we hadn't renewed so it will be nice to be able to take the kiddos to the zoo again. The plan is to go this Saturday and possibly have some friends go with us- and then cake. I figure I'll probably want cake by Saturday. I *love* birthday cake. Actual, real birthday cake from Publix. But the other people in my house prefer things like cheesecake or flan or strawberry pink cake so I only get it on my birthday- I'm getting some birthday cake. My present from my beautiful daughter, Amanda was shopping. Yes, shopping. She knows me so well. She bought a gift card to Starbuck's so I could get a coffee and a gift card to Yankee Candle, Bath and Body Works, and Aerie. So not only could I go shopping, I could actually buy stuff. I got a pumpkin spice candle that I plan on burning every second of every day until Thanksgiving. Then it's Cranberry Chutney- which I didn't buy but I'm certain that I can arrange to have one after Thanksgiving since Travis loves it as much as I do. As we were walking through the mall, when I headed into stores that Amanda would typically give me a hard time about, all I had to say was "it's my birthday" and it was like a get out of whining free pass. So awesome! In Pottery Barn she made fun of all the furry critter Christmas ornaments (I don't get the appeal but I guess if you're going country) *but* we found something she liked- nay loved- there. It was the best day of my life! OK, I'm being a little melodramatic- but she loved a floor lamp called photographer's tripod floor lamp. It probably helped that I did the whole "lights, camera, action!" thing when I showed it to her. She squealed with delight and has requested it for her bedroom.

I didn't use my get out of whining free card to go into William's Sonoma because they were cooking and my appetite left again and it smelled awful- to me- I'm sure the food was amazing and if you were hungry you'd love it. I held on to the Aerie gift card because I didn't find anything I couldn't live without- I thought all the PJ bottoms were ugly.

All in all it was a wonderful day and I'm really looking forward to Saturday. It wasn't a *huge* elaborate production but the people that I love the most put a lot of thought into what would make my day special and I got to spend it with them. I'm a very blessed woman.