On My Birthday...

My ideal birthday would look like this:

• Sleep in.
• Eat warm cinnamon rolls in my pjs.
• Take a walk.
• Get all dressed up pretty.
• Long, lazy coffee/lunch date with bffs.
• Nap.
• Puppy snuggles.
• Dinner with family.
• Cake.

Instead it looked like this:

• Wake up early.
• Put on my Stink Week shirt.

• Pack lunch and make toast.
• Work with kidlets for hours.
• Watch them cry and knock chairs over and make weird noises.
• Eat cake for lunch.
• Chop several inches off my hair.

• Laundry.
• Dinner with my family.
• Cake.
• Best voicemail ever from my favorite Michigander.
• Phone call with the bestie.
• Bed early.

I guess that what happens when your birthday is on a Monday and you've had a cold for 8 days. Come on 29+2...be awesome!

Birthday Eve

On Birthday Eve Day I snuggled on the couch and watched Pitch Perfect for the billionth time while it snowed pretty, pretty snow outside. Then I headed to the outlets to buy myself some birthday presents (new polka dot scarves and a necklace) and stopped for gas. I snapped a photo of the gas prices for 2 reasons. 1) I take iPhone pictures of everything and 2) I've been having REALLY weird dreams lately and last night I had a dream that I accidentally pushed the mid grade button instead of the regular button and couldn't stop from loading up on more expensive gas.

I headed to my parent's house and immediately dressed up my puppy in my Stink Week shirt. She willingly let me put it on but then REFUSED to look at me while I took a photo. Don't worry I gave her doggy treats afterwards!

There were purple birthday flowers...

Everyday Aunt, Uncle and niece/cousin came over for dinner. We built some structurally unsound bridges and FaceTimed with Everyday Brother and his now live-in girlfriend.

After a yummy dinner I let Everyday niece/cousin decorate my carrot cake birthday cupcakes with flowers and mustaches.

We watched Beyonce shake her thing and while I was excited about hearing some Destiny's Child I kept waiting for Tina Turner or Aretha Franklin or some other surprise guest to come out. I headed home in the fluffiest snow I have EVER seen. Big fat flakes that were so light they built up like bubbles instead of snow.

Happy Birthday Eve to me!

Birthday Recap: Episode 3

After making the trek home from Mohegan Sun, I took a quick nap to supplement the 2.5 hours of sleep that I got on birthday eve. That afternoon, I headed to my parent's house for a family birthday party.

There were more flowers:

a delicious dinner, big presents for a big birthday, lots of Superbowl watching and an awesome birthday cake:

The birthday cake from Everyday Auntie was an homage to The List on my blog. There were 56 books including The Secret Garden, there was a pile of golf balls, a Rubik's Cube, all the new foods I tried, the mountain/dune that I climbed, and me writing my memoir.  <---I told you it was amazing!

Turning 30 was not the heinous experience that I expected. Instead, I celebrated with colleagues, friends, and family and it turned out to be an exhausting yet awesome weekend.

 

Birthday Recap: Episode 2

Now that it's been a week since my birthday, I thought I should get around to recapping the rest of birthday weekend.

Saturday was my actual birthday (and ironically, the only day there was no birthday cake consumed). I tried to sleep in, lounged on the couch for a bit, did some laundry then got to packing for the big trip. My friends and I trekked to Mohegan Sun for a night of fun. 

The girls surprised me with a 29+1 shirt and matching Team Amy shirts! We had some wine, ate some snacks, put on fake eyelashes and headed out. We ate at the always classy Bubba's BBQ then hit the slots. I had received a generous donation to my gambling fund from the teachers at work so when K suggested that I try the Amazon penny slot, I was game. The slots confused me! They were all computerized and you had to bet on a number of lines then place a bet per line. With the guidance of the nice gentleman next to me, I randomly hit some buttons. Eight dollars in, I hit the jackpot and earned 15 bonus games. From there my winnings multiplied and after only 3 minutes, I cashed out with $96.90!

We bet a bit more after that but only proceeded to lose money. But I still walked out with more than I walked in with!

Before heading home, we hit up a bar with REALLY loud r&b music. We had a few drinks, people watched, judged the youth of America, and participated in our own Whip Your Hair music video. You see, there was this...person who at first glance I totally thought was a woman (I was not the only one to think this) but actually turned out to be a man with a really long pony tail. And he whipped his pony tail back and forth and back and forth. His pony tail whipped me in the face at one point and I thought M was going to punch him. (She wanted to.)

Mid-whip. And yes, we took like 6 pictures trying to capture the pony tail in all its glory.

It was a fun night. I tried something new and although there was lots of smoking, babies awake at midnight and neck tattoos it was a good time. We didn't hit up the felt table games but that just gives us a reason to go back. 

Thanks to K for planning a wonderful night and to S, O, M and all those who were there in spirit!

 

Birthday Recap: Episode 1

Birthday weekend began early Friday morning. There was an impromptu stop at Dunks for a hot chocolate then arrived at school to these beauties. 

The teachers I work with planned an early birthday party for me! There were flowers. There was cake:

Which was delicious...like a brownie with frosting! There were so many cards. Cards from the principal, cards from the class, and cards from every single student. These are some of my favorites:

A dinosaur card
A card for Mr. (instead of Ms.)
A card that opened backwards and said, "Dear [Student Name]
A card that says it's awesome to be 22. <---The kids started singing "are you 1, are you 2, are you 3..." so I stopped them before they started hyperventilating so according to my class I'm officially 22 years old!

And yes...I covered incriminating details with Starburst wrappers.

 

It's Official!

While birthday weekend actually started yesterday, the real festivities begin tonight. Some things you should know:

• Nails will be painted.
• Hair will be did.
• Goodie bags will be given.
• Fun will be had.
• So much fun.
• Drinks will be drank.
• Food will be eaten.
• Money will be gambled away.
• I will win big!
• Memories will be made.
• 30 will be awesome.

And the theme song of all this awesomeness (minus the outfits) is: 

Also, along with an epic birthday recap, updates on The List are forthcoming. AND, you guessed it...a NEW list is on its way!