Birthday festivities!

I enjoyed a whirlwind of birthday activities and celebrations when I recently turned thirty. Everything was so much fun, I wanted to make sure that I wrote everything down so I could remember it all. I feel very loved. And I almost feel guilty at the thought that my birthday celebrations haven't really ended, since some friends and I will be traveling to Istanbul this summer (to celebrate that we all turn thirty this year). Needless to say, this new decade is off to a great start!

My birthday festivities lasted for several days. The day before my birthday, I got together with my friend Rachael. She had compiled an eclectic present for me that contained a whole bunch of objects which have some type of significance - either relating to something about me or a story that I've told Rachael. For example, she gave me some Swedish Fish because I told her about the "smut candy" that I used to eat with friends in college. It was such a thoughtful and fun present.

On my actual birthday, I received some very nice gifts from my family members. My favorite gift was from Sam. The night before, he went with J to the store because he wanted to buy me a present "that [I] never had before." And Sam was true to his word. I've never gotten a huge bag of Red Vines for my birthday before. As soon as I opened them, Sam said, "And you can even share this with me, Mom!" I didn't know that Sam liked (or even knew about) Red Vines.

That day I worked in the morning and then stayed on campus to listen to the art historian Francis Pohl give a guest lecture on the Italian artist Mirella Bentivoglio. (I'm such a nerd - I was so excited to see that a lecture was being offered on my birthday, that I made child care arrangements for Sam so I could be sure to go to the lecture.) Afterward, I rushed to take Sam to my mother-in-law (who generously offered to babysit Sam at our house) and changed my clothes. When I arrived at home, I was greeted by a number of packages and a lovely "apple attack" (a version of a "heart attack" with paper hearts, but with apple-shaped bits of paper) from an "anonymous" friend (cough - Carrie - cough). I'm not sure if she picked the apples intentionally (she used to be an elementary school teacher and has creative supplies on hand), but the green apples made me think of this blog's header image. Each of the apples had some comment about me or fun little phrase, and it was a really nice surprise.

Anyhow, after I changed I hurried to pick up J. We had a reservation at Sky City (the restaurant on top of the Space Needle) for dinner, but traffic was so horrible that we arrived downtown an hour and fifteen minutes late! Luckily, we still were able to get seated and enjoyed a really nice dinner (with a bottle of Martinelli's to celebrate!). I've never eaten at Sky City or been up the Space Needle before that point, so it was fun.

J and I then took the monorail (which I have never ridden before) to the 5th Avenue theatre to see a performance of "Damn Yankees." One of the backdrops broke during the second act (the whole audience could hear a big thud), and the stage crew had to close the curtain and set up something different while the audience waited for fifteen minutes. We actually ended up leaving the show a little early so we could take the last monorail train back to the Seattle Center. Luckily, it's easy to surmise that the show had a happy ending.

The next day, my friend Meka and I took an impromptu two-day trip to Vancouver, B.C. It was fun to go out of the country for a few days! We visited the Museum of Anthropology, ate at The Flying Pig, hung out in the rooftop jacuzzi of our hotel, impulsively got haircuts at Bangtown hair salon, and visited Stanley Park.

When I came home, I was greeted with a lovely birthday dinner, courtesy of my in-laws. I've eaten so much delicious food over the past few days, I'm starting to feel really spoiled.

The new haircut!

Here's to a new decade! I'm curious to see what happens in the next ten years. I feel like I accomplished a lot of lifelong goals in the last decade, and as of yet, I don't feel like I have any long-term goals lined up for my thirties. (And, honestly, I can't decide if that is a good or a bad thing.) We'll see what goals and adventures crop up in the next few years.