So, yesterday was it – my 30th birthday, or (since Jake prefers Roman numerals for this), XXX.
I had a great day! Though it actually started Friday, when 10 of my co-workers joined me for one happy hour and then I went to another one with different folks afterwards – I had to turn down the many drinks I was offered so that I could, you know, drive home :-) At work, cards and visits from everyone (I managed to escape cake and silly hats because it was the first day of school). My supervisor got me a Harkins gift card, so I’ll probably go see a movie this weekend.
On the downside, obviously facilities management didn’t care it was my birthday yesterday, because the a/c was broken and it was over 85 degrees in our building. Ugh. I was sweating like a pig, but since I had dinner reservations and I wanted to look nice, I was able to duck out early and cool off at my house. (The air’s fixed today, thank goodness.)
Jake and I had dinner at Medizona Lounge, which was very tasty (if not very busy on a Monday night – we were the only people there!). I had a salad with goat cheese, almond brittle, and cactus vinaigrette and then a large chile relleno on corn risotto, and Jake had gazpacho and sea bass. The mixed drinks were also awesome – I had a splendid gin and tonic and he had what he said was the best Long Island Iced Tea ever (sorry, DD, I know you don’t want to hear that right now!).
Then at home he gave me my gifts – I was very impressed at how much he was able to squeeze out of our budget, but he said that shopping in a down economy gives you a lot of bargaining power! Here’s my haul:
- A crockpot (most boyfriends get in trouble for stuff like this, but I’ve become sort of a hobby cook and have been asking for this for months),
- Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker cookbook (he had to fight a vegan for the last copy in the store),
- Two paperbacks by one of my favorite fantasy writers, Sara Douglass,
- A fancy salt and pepper grinder (because I’ve decided to take up salt collecting – did you know there are dozens and dozens of different flavors of salt?),
- An air popper (so I can make Weight Watchers-friendly popcorn),
- New pillows for our bedroom (this was kind of a joke, because I’ve been complaining about our pillows giving me neck pain and getting kinda old and dirty)
I have no qualms about being in my thirties – I feel like I’m finally as old as I’ve always felt like I was on the inside. I haven’t talked to my dad yet (I meant to call him Sunday but forgot), but I’ve been e-mailing with my sister some and she’s going to send me a “care package.” This is always sort of fun because she leads a very different life than me and tends to get me things that she would enjoy, so it’s a sort of window into her psyche.
I also got tons of “welcome to the 30 club” messages on Facebook – I’m younger than most of my friends so I’m one of the last to turn.
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