Tales of Birthday Week

Yes.... OK, so officially Birthday Week is over.  I know. Sad isn't it? But... it was amazing while it lasted and I was hoping you'd still be hanging around to hear how it all turned out?  Are you up for it?  Good.  I tried to not only BE thankful on Thursday since it was birthday eve... but actually show up and write about it but alas.... the Internet people had other ideas.  Apparently I should have been thankful for working Internet and maybe it would have hung around. 

So where were we?  Thursday.  Birthday week Day 7.  It was great.  LATE that day, in preparation for THE day, I posted this picture on facebook as a birthday gift to all my FB friends. I mean am I wrong or who wouldn't want a swim suit photo of me... .Even if it is from 1968... and I was 2.. .and yes.. this was taken on my 2nd birthday.  It seemed fitting for birthday week don't ya think?  Hard to believe that is my little 2 year old self isn't it?  Or am I still just that cute? Um... I am thinking not so much, but its OK to humor oneself during birthday week.  A fact that was proven when I received this card from a friend. 

The picture didn't come out the greatest but the shoes are glitter shoes.. and the skirt has a glitter edge and it says "I get to because it's my birthday."  On the inside it says "Make this your Motto."  Now trust me when I tell you  I could not have said that better myself... Did someone make that card just for me?  Cause it is perfect and totally sums up my philosophy on birthdays.  A very wise person must have written that card... and I know a wise person gave it to me cause they were totally speaking my language. 

In Honor of Birthday Week and Thankful Thursday I gave myself permission to be completely irresponsible and head to the beach for the day.  Good decision.  Although when a fight almost broke out at the beach midway thru the day...yes seriously... I was finding myself thankful that it didn't end up including the police! A group of people apparently made a comment about another man and his wife... and um they picked a fight with the wrong guy.  I don't think most of us knew anything happened until the shouting started, from the guy who had evidently been insulted.  He was shouting things that were um most un-blog-worthy words... Turns out the group that started the problems should have been having a Thankful Thursday of their own that yelling guy's wife and Mother got him off the beach... at least twice because he came back... because later in the story we discover that yelling guy was a professional fighter and you can trust un-conflict loving Monogirl when she tells you that this guy was M A D... not to mention football player big.  Not a pleasant scene to pretty much be sitting in the middle of.  The life guards were involved. Yelling guys Mom was involved.  His kids were there.  The head of the park guy was involved... and a good time was not had by all.  Not a pleasant addition to Birthday Week and are we remembering how too much stress affects CFS Monogirl?  Not helpful. 

My day 7 gift turned out to be two more beautiful little antique bowls.  The one in back is PINK and they both are such pretty cut glass!  Can't wait to get our remodeling done and find the perfect spot for these!  I am thinking the husband quite outdid himself this year.  Agreed?  Because if that wasn't enough to be thankful for, my husband arrived home after work with this beautiful birthday cake for Monogirl. 

It is a 2 layer... tons of frosting, 12" yellow cake, same as some of the cakes we had for our Vow Renewal last year.  The lady that made them is SO sweet and even remembered how I liked pink and came up with this beautiful design with the roses and my name.  All together now... Awwwwww.  Somehow I manged to restrain myself and we did not cut into the cake until actual birthday day... um night... since it was closer to midnight than anything by the time we got to it.  ha!  

After work we headed to dinner in the Big City.  Of course it was birthday girl's choice, so she decided that Longhorn would be the perfect spot.  There was a spicy shrimp appetizer... there was a perfect Filet Mignon... yum... there was grilled shrimp with an amazing glaze.... not to mention great bread and salad AND...

A complimentary birthday Sundae for two.  YUM.  They were very nice to us.  The waitress asked if it was my birthday because my husband had a pink package sitting on the table.  I said that it was and said "why?  Didn't you think the pink present was for him?"  Bwa ha ha ha....

And this... is what was inside the pink package.  A beautiful little antique tea cup with a pink flower on it.... so cool... and a pretty new ankle bracelet.. which was something I had requested.  With all my pretty dishes packed away during the remodel I had forgotten how much I enjoy my pretty tea cups.  Not to mention a nice relaxing cup of hot tea.  Perhaps I need to put this one to good use... and soon.

Other birthday highlights would have to be the pink roses that my husband had delivered to work, the Youth Choir boys invading my office to sing Happy Birthday including harmony and the all important big finish, and cards from my parents and in-laws.  I also received some very fun gifts from friends today... but I need to take a picture so you will just have to consider yourself teased until Tuesday on that one. 

It was an awesome day.  It was an awesome week.. and yes my husband completely spoiled me and um YES we both enjoyed every minute of it.  Every minute. 

Blessings!

Birthday Week Day 6

Are we seeing a theme to birthday week?  Chocolate... Kit Kats... and um antique dishes?  I am thinking I couldn't have picked a better theme myself.  Found this beautiful bowl sitting on the bathroom sink this morning pretty much exactly as you see it.  It's hard to tell from the photo but it's PINK!  Because pink is the one thing that you can add to anything to make it better.  Am I right?  How pretty would this be with a pretty fruit salad in it.  Too bad I don't make fruit salad.  ha!  Kidding.  Darrel's mom used to make the best fruit salad on Sunday morning... I need to find out if Darrel's sisters know how she did that.  I am thinking there wasn't an exact recipe.  Anyway.... loving birthday week and pretty dishes and a very thoughtful husband.  He just might be too good to be true. 

This was today's hairstyle of choice with this lovely animal print scarf (a gift from my sister some years back).  I liked the look... it is an oblong scarf, tied a bit differently, but it gave a fuller look on the drape of the scarf that I liked!  However... wearing animal print on my head.. .in this style... caused me to wonder if I looked like Wilma Flintsone today.  Or does Wilma wear a bone in her hair... even if she does, I am thinking an animal print scarf would be a good option for her as an alternate to the bone....  Looking like Wilma wouldn't be such a bad thing I guess...I mean have you seen her waistline?  Sign me up for that. 

Was just trying to text my husband about dinner and apparently I rely on my swiftkey app way too much because I'm trying to type about chicken and potatoes ... from KFC... and the word I ended up with was looking something like supercalifragilisticexpealadocious.... Also a fine word... but not helpful when one is trying to communicate about chicken and potatoes... Unless of course the chicken and potatoes were just that fabulous.  ha! 

And there you have it... Day 6... which of course means THE day is fast approaching.  There will be cake.... and dinner out... and it falls on date night!  How fun does that sound?  Meanwhile.... I just got home from work... and am in dire need of my comfy at home clothes... I told my husband my head was really in need of his shoulder too but I guess that will have to wait till he gets home.  Definitely worth the wait. 

Until tomorrow... Blessings!

Birthday Week Day 4

So this morning I was greeted with the unusual sight of my birthday week gift in an actual gift bag with tissue.  See usually... they aren't wrapped, just placed in some strategic location.  Today?  There was a gift bag on the counter.  Well I couldn't resist that could I? 

Well look what I found?  More treasures from the antique store.  I mean can you not see these pretty little glass bowls filled with strawberries or something equally as yummy?

I love love love that he even thought to visit the antique store.  I mean I know he knows I love pretty antique dishes... .but we haven't been in a store searching for them in ages and ages.. I doubt I would have thought of it for myself!  Good thing I am married to someone who probably knows me better than I know myself.  All in all?  Another very fun birthday week day.

As far as Monday's go... and my lack of love for them, it wasn't too shabby of a day.  Got to work.  Got some work done.  My husband grilled me chicken and potatoes for dinner.... pretty awesome right?  When we sat down to dinner I took a bite of my chicken, looked at the chef and told him he got a nice char and caramelization on the chicken..... He thinks perhaps I have been watching too many Chopped episodes.  Bwa ha ha ha...

And now?  Monogirl needs to sit back in her chair and rest for a bit.  Got a cough going on.. the back ache... the fatigue... and this is after a 4 hour nap yesterday and a good nights sleep.  Is there ever enough sleep?  Monogirl thinks not.....

Until tomorrow.  Blessings!  

Birthday Week Day 1-3

OK... but first.. Miss Sophie just leapt in the air to catch her toy and landed.... directly on the dog.  Tanner was NOT a fan of this game and is presently still grumbling about it.  And OK I may be partially responsible because a) I swung the wand toy and um b) I might still be laughing about it. 

But yes!  It is Birthday week.  As I mentioned on facebook.... everyone sing.... "It's the most wonderful time of the year." I love birthday week.  I mean what's not to love right? 

Well Friday, the first day of birthday week my husband texted me before I even was out of bed to tell me that for that day's birthday week, he wanted to give me the gift himself so it wouldn't be till later.  Well I am thinking that was a good decision because what it meant was that he walked in to start date night with a dozen pink roses in his hand.  Smart husband.  Loved that and they are currently sitting directly in my line of sight making me smile at every glance. 

Saturday was day 2 and when I got up that morning I was greeted with 2 Kit Kat bars on my vanity.  YUM.  We have both been having a taste for Kit Kats lately since enjoying them at the drive in movie a few weeks ago.  Well... we sort of enjoyed them.  Darrel had grabbed a bag of the minis and we thought they were regular ol' Kit Kat's.  WRONG.  They were a bag of mixed regular, white chocolate and dark chocolate.  I didn't even know the other 2 kinds existed and um we found out we had different ones when biting into them in the dark at the drive in.... kind of a surprise isn't it when you are expecting one taste and get another. 

Day 3.   Sunday.  After a loooonnng nap when Monogirl got home from church and lunch, she received this cute little ceramic crock.  Croc?  Crock.  We will go with that.  I think the other spelling is only for the things you wear on your feet?  bwa ha ha ha.  Anyway.  The smart husband apparently went shopping at an antique store no less and found this cute little dark pink vessel.  When I first saw it I thought it was Fiesta Ware.  Looks a lot like it, but it has different markings on the bottom.  This will be very nice for either my scrap table or desk to hold some cute little desk type necessity.  I asked him when he went to an antique shop... without me... and he said I couldn't ask questions on birthday week.  Funny.  That was the same answer he gave me on Saturday morning when he was texting with some anonymous person......

And there you have it... you are current on birthday week.  Wondering what fun pink things tomorrow could hold?  Me too.  Tune in tomorrow same bat time.... same bat station... to find out.  OK who remembers them saying that when you'd watch batman on UHF after school... and OK... who even remembers UHF?  Just us old birthday type people perhaps.

Blessings!

Ten On Tuesday Birthday Week Recap

1) So yes, birthday week and then birthday festivities and the days that followed got a wee bit all consuming... Is that like an oxymoron?  Wee bit all consuming?  Well it was and then I got behind on blogging which just means I had one more thing to add to the list of all the numerous things I am behind on!  Did you follow all that?  You are good! 

2) Birthday week day 7, last Wednesday, was very fun.  My sweet husband left me some studio calico hearts and arrows, and a chipboard title in the house.  One in my make up case, one by my toothbrush in the medicine cabinet and I thought we were done.  Then I found these Tim Holtz cards in my car!  How fun is that.  Plus... he went shopping at the LSS all by himself.  He did pretty darn good too don't ya think?  Studio Calico?  Tim Holtz stuff?  That man has been paying attention. 

3) I got to work on that Wednesday and before long... I see a florist truck pull up outside.  Now who doesn't love seeing the florist truck pull up?  The nice delivery man.. of course he's nice, he's bringing me pink flowers... come in and hands me these!  Aren't they gorgeous?!!  I was surprised because I knew on my actual birthday we were going to Indy, and we had already gotten some flowers on date night so I wasn't sure he'd do more.  Never fear.. he did.  I told you he is good. 

4) Wednesday night we got to sample the made from scratch just for me yellow cake!  He said he needed to write on it and then decided it looked "pathetic."  Now I ask you... do you see anything pathetic there?  Why did he think that?  Um because Mr. detailed drafting person did not like that icing does not come out of the can evenly and so the T and N were thicker than the other letters.... I so do not think that equals pathetic do you?  More like extremely cute and sweet!  He got candles too...

And yes... all 46 fit on the cake.  Although my friend Lisa saw the picture and said next year I might need a bigger cake... Very funny... not. He did also sing the required Happy Birthday too you song and then we got to sample the cake!  It was quite yummy... all the butter and eggs.. almost like pound cake.  Good stuff! 

5) On my brithday on Thursday I had the day off already and Darrel took a vacation day and we headed to the really big city, Indianapolis, for some yummy food and very fun shopping.  We got to go to Stir Crazy for lunch, we shopped at 2 malls and ended our day at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  We snapped this self portrait during a rest break at the mall.  We were using the front facing camera which always makes you look at the image which makes it look like we are looking down.... oh well.. I like it any way! 

6) This is my birthday gift from my husband!  They are Swarovski crystal earrings.  I think they were called Gilian.  LOVE them.  The crystals are sooooo pretty and I love the shape.  Plus they are dangly and sparkly and girly... what's not to love? Was just thinking about the matching necklace... maybe Santa will bring that for me.  I've been a very good girl this year... so far.  

7) I have mentioned that I am working on growing my hair out.  Well Saturday I was getting ready to head to the beach and got to wondering if it would go into a french braid yet?  It did!  How cool is that.  It has been maybe 8 years or so since I had enough hair to do that?  Love it!  And was happy to find out that I remembered how to do it!

8) I did go to the beach Saturday. It was great weather.  The water had cooled down some from the 100 degree days and felt awesome.  I normally just use my beach chair but that day, I had decided to bring my raft and float.  While I was floating I accidentally bumped into my beach chair causing it to tip over backwards.  This meant that my towels, my cover up, my cooler bag and my beach bag all went into the water.  My beach bag is water resistant, but not water proof as it is open on top.  I had my Kindle, my phone, and my ipod with me.  All in the beach bag.  All three were in a puddle inside the smaller bag inside the beach bag.  I was SO upset.  I hurried home and got everything in rice but was very scared my 2 month old Kindle and my 4 month old phone were done for.  My ipod managed to survive, I think saved by the fact that my Nike plus was attached which blocks the openings into the device.  The phone and the Kindle?  Not good... and they sat in rice for the next 3 days. 

9) Can I just say God is amazing. When my Kindle got wet, it had lines across the screen. I thought it was toast. I called Amazon to find that the water voided my warranty and that I could try the rice, but the lines across the screen were not a good sign.   I was heartbroken. I love my Kindle and use it every day.  It's been in rice for 3 days. I tried to turn it on this afternoon. Nothing. Dead. Lines on the screen. I tried to reset. I tried plugging it in. Light wouldn't even come on to charge. When I was a little girl my Sunday school... teacher told me if its important to you, its important to God.So yes I prayed for my Kindle and told God it might be silly, but I knew He could fix it if he wanted to. I opened my eyes, the light came on for charging at that moment. Still lines on the screen. Tried hard reset few more times? The screen suddenly cleared. It showed charging. My home screen just came up. All my info was there, and it even synced with my old Kindle that I had been using today. God is so cool. He can do huge things and sometimes just throws in those little things just because he can and just because it makes me feel so loved. Which I do. Did I mention God is so cool? Just wanted to make sure you got that. The jury is still out on my phone.  It will turn on, but we can't get it much past that.  Still feeling like its going to work out and trying not to worry.  We put it back in the rice in case it hasn't dried out all the way.  Hoping it will be restored to service too.  Soon.  I miss my phone.

10) Sunday we spent some time with family celebrating our niece Lauryn's birthday.  She is 17.  How is that possible?  One minute she is looking all mature and grown up and the next minute... this would be her licking the melted ice cream, from her ice cream cake... off of the plate. Very cute.  I am thinking she'd probably appreciate me posting this on her facebook wall.  Don't you? 

I know I missed the new weight loss Wednesday last week as promised.  I haven't forgotten and hope to kick things off tomorrow.  Life has been a bit much to handle lately with some of my own health issues and some other things going on, but I am really hoping to make a strong effort to get myself out of the ditch and back up on the road and get life back to my routine... which you know I crave right?  So tune in tomorrow evening!  Blessings!

Ten On Tuesday for Birthday Week

1) I don't think I've ever looked this cute while I was baking. Why is that?  He just looks cute no matter what he does and is especially so when baking his wife a birthday cake.  Yes.  I finally made a cake decision.  You'd think it was rocket science or something for all the time it took me. The official decision?  Yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  Yes.  Like the wedding cake and cupcakes.  I told you I still had wedding on the brain.  It was so awesome.  Can you blame me?  I told him he could just make a box mix or even suggested buying one from the wedding cake lady.  Did he do that?  Nope.  He found himself a scratch yellow cake recipe on the Internet.  He shopped for ingredients.  He separated 8 eggs all by himself... and he made his wife what I am sure will be a quite yummy 2 layer yellow birthday cake!  It's got 8 egg yolks and a 1/2 lb of butter in it.  What wouldn't be yummy about that? Are you still wondering why I like birthdays so much?  Who wouldn't with a guy like that?  Here is the cake result!

Now how pretty is that? Maybe he should start a cake business on the side.  Darrel's woodworking and cakes.  Wouldn't you shop there?

2) I have mentioned the whole growing out the hair idea correct?  Does it make me goofy or just really really smart... you are of course thinking really really smart right?  I knew you were.  What was my point?  Oh yeah... if I am goofy or smart that I was watching Four Houses on TLC last night and one lady, her name was Brandi, had great long layered hair and I loved her hair cut.  I was all "I need a picture of her hair to show my stylist! What do I do?!!"  Well what one does is pause their show on the DVR and take a picture of the TV screen! OK....maybe it was multiple pictures of the TV screen.  See... you were right on the smart thing weren't you?  Let's just hope my stylist can decipher said haircut!

3) For birthday week day 5 the prince left me this lovely sparkly pink notebook with a very sweet little note for an extra nice little touch!  Now I love pink sparkly notebooks.  Not only because its pink, its sparkly, its office supplies... all very good things... but also because the first birthday week gift for the very first day of the first birthday week like ever was a pink sparkly notebook.  You know I get all dreamy about stuff like that... see, smart husband. 

4) Another favorite birthday thing is getting my free gift from Sephora!  Last year it was philosophy shower gel which I loved!  This year?  It was 2 Sugar Adavanced Therapy Lip Treatments.  One sheer, one tinted.  Hadn't tried them before but am liking them!  Very nice little gift.

5) Have you heard of or tried the new gel manicures?  I saw it mentioned on the Pink Pistachio blog and was looking at the gelish stuff on Amazon.  Intriguing.... I like the idea of a manicure lasting for 3 weeks... not so excited about the expense of the UV/LED light.  Has anyone out there tried this?  Does it really Last that long?  Sephoa has this set.. but also pricey!

6) Birthday week day 6 was today!  My husband gave me more very cute beach stuff, some of my favorite Tim Holtz ink and yes... chocolate.  Scrapbooking stuff and chocolate.  Is there a better combination?

7) So what are you loving on pinterest right now?  Some of my latest fav pins have been these nails, these highlights, this salad, and these brownie cookies!

8) It is almost time for the Indiana State Fair!  yay!  We love having a state fair day!  We haven't yet picked a day but I am noticing they are having a balloon glow again on one of the Fridays.  That was very cool to see last year!  I'd be up for that again.

9) Thought my back injury was all healed.  Felt pretty good for several days.  Then... the pain has apparently moved.  Now its hurting in the upper left shoulder area.  What is the deal?  Getting really frustrated with getting healthy from one thing and starting right in on the next thing.  So.. back on the meds.  Back on the heating pad... and hoping it mends quickly.  Darrel is convinced its still all part of twisting my back when I fell into the car at Hilton Head.  That's the only thing I can think of that could have done it. 

10) Tried out my $29 Orthaheel sandals today.  They are cute,but take a little getting used to.  When I first put them on I totally feel like I am walking on some big lump in my arch but somehow, quite quickly, they feel like a good fit to my foot and are quite comfy. I wouldn't think the arch support would bug me because I wear my birks pretty frequently and they have good arch support... maybe its something with the whole "orthaheel" idea that is supposed to help people with hurting heels?  Whatever the reason I like them and am glad I got a good buy on some cute and comfy shoes. 

Tune in tomorrow for day 7 of birthday week.  I am told there will be birthday cake!  Be very impressed I didn't cut into it yet.  The prince says he plans to write on it and add candles tomorrow... so how could I not wait for that right?  Blessings!

Birthday Week Day 4

Birthday Week day 4 and the boy... seems to think I like the beach.  Where did he get that idea?  Perhaps he knows me oh... just a little bit well?  Today he gave me this very cute beach scrapbooking stuff which included this very cool little 4x6 pad which would be perfect to use if one were doing oh say something like project life and liked visiting the beach and taking pictures... know anyone like that?  I didn't think so. The inside pages vary from just pattern paper, to journaling spots to quotes.  Very cute.  I am liking this page especially.

And was already thinking how cute the little Very Vera beach day instagram I took the other day would look with that in a 4x6 slot on a project life page.  There may be hope for my continuing the project life journey yet! 

The debate is still not settled on which birthday cake to pick or what to do on said birthday.  The prince and I are going to be discussing that here shortly. Although... as soon as I narrow down my choices I begin to regret the choice I just discarded and the whole debate begins again.  Of course this is all happening in my head... is that a sign of anything.... like old age.... or perhaps mental illness?  Don't answer that. 

Did I mention that my birthday happens to fall on my day off this year?  And... did I further mention that my husband had an extra vacation day and is going to use it to spend the day with me?  Happy Birthday to me!  As far as the birthday plans I am torn between sleeping in... breakfast together... beach time somewhere with some water... and then dinner out OR shopping day out on the town together and perhaps dinner at oh somewhere like the Cheesecake Factory?  That choice is currently in the lead in the imaginary birthday happenings race in my head. 

Today's been good. We got to use a anniversary gift card for a nice lunch at our favorite place.  The prince headed to the big city for some birthday shopping.  Don't you just love a guy who goes birthday shopping?  Monogirl was pretty tired by after church time so she had a nap and has pretty much been resting today.  I am thinking if you add up all the rest I've needed this year, its probably equal to all the rest I've needed in my previous 44 years of life!  Sure feels that way. 

Hope you have a great week planned!  I know I am looking forward to mine.  Even Monday.. and I never look forward to Monday.  It's like the morning of the week... and NOT a morning person doesn't even begin to cover it.  ha!  Blessings!

Birthday Week Day 2 & 3

Ok so please tell me I don't look like I have bug eyes.... Spiderman?  No?  Thank you.  Because these would be my $8 Vera B. sunglasses.  $8 for $70 sunglasses I am thinking they should at least look cute! They arrived yesterday which made for some extra birthday week fun on day 2 of birthday week! 

Also arriving on birthday week were 2 tops and a pair of sandals I had ordered thru Zulilly.  Do you Zulilly?  I am not always sure its a good idea cause some days it can be dangerous to the pocket book.  One of the tops is an orange leopard print tank top.  I had to check with Darrel today to make sure it didn't cause me to look like Fred Flinstone.  Not the look I was going for.  I was also hoping it doesn't make me look like I just stepped out of Jerseylicious cause um those girls are a little over the top even for me.  The sandals are Orthaheel, and are this style.  $90 for $29 on Zulilly... see what I mean?  Dangerous.  I hadn't tried the Orthaheels before but my friend Kay wears them and they are supposed to be comfy and good for your feet! I'm all for comfy cute feet. 

Birthday week gift for day 2 was 3 beautiful pink roses given to me on date night! We headed to the Big City first for date night and ran a few quick errands while we waited for the time for the drive in to draw a little closer.  Since it is no longer 100+ degrees outside we figured a drive in date night might not only be possible, but enjoyable.  Well if you are taking 3 roses with you, I am thinking that was a pretty good start.  Especially when the flowers came from the wedding flower place... a fact the pink princess birthday week bride throughly enjoyed. 

Either right before or right after the roses... I can't remember... getting old dontcha know.... I asked if we could try the Gigi's cupcake place I had spotted while we were at Michaels and get a little date night dessert.  So we stopped and checked out the cupcake selection which, near closing time, was getting a little slim.  We did however manage to leave with these two. 

The one on the left was Darrel's.  Strawberry cake, chocolate icing...yes.. that tall stuff that looks like ice cream?  That's the icing.  And then his was dipped in chocolate ganache.  Mine is on the right... It was devilsfood cake, vanilla cream cheese frosting and mini chocolate chips on top.  Quite yummy and quite heavy!  All that icing apparently adds some weight.. well ok... in more ways then one.  In fact... since my Mom loves icing, especially cream cheese icing I shared a picture with her but since she is diabetic told her should she eat one of these.. I am thinking she would need an extra shot! 

After the all important pizza that we brought with us for dinner and then the yummy cupcakes we settled ourselves down to watch a double feature!  Spiderman was first and Men in Black 3 was 2nd which is a contrast to the normal rule that the 2nd movie, by definition, must stink.  ha!  We liked them both.  I loved Josh Brolin as young Tommy Lee Jones.  Wow.. I kept trying to figure out how they made Tommy Lee look so young.  He totally had him pegged.  Very good.  We love the drive in and it always makes for a fun and relaxing date night.  Although - the late hour returning home was not so good for mono girl and she has been kind of out of it today.  Yes.  That is still giving me a little trouble.  It's much better but totally not gone.  Darrel keeps reminding me that the DR said I could struggle for up to a year.  Isn't that happy news? 

For birthday week day 3, I received this lovely and also yummy bag of ghirardelli chocolate caramel squares. Another wedding goodie.  Cupcakes, pink roses, the same candy, perhaps there is some wedding theme to birthday week that I am just figuring out?  I'm all for that.  Does that mean at the end of the week I get jewelery and we get to go to Hilton Head again?  Sign me up!

On the way home from the Big city I heard this song for the 2nd time.  LOVE this song.  Love it. 

Big Daddy Weave - Redeemed (Official Music Video) from big-daddy-weave on GodTube.
Especially love this lyric:
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me "son
Stop fighting a fight that's already been won"

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off theses heavy chains
Wipe away every stain now I'm not who I used to be
I am redeemed

And I don't think I could think of anything much better to close with for today.  See you tomorrow for day 4! Blessings!

Thankful Thursday for Bday Week Day 1

Yes my friends... it is the long awaited, much anticipated birthday week.  Well OK... maybe I was the only one waiting and anticipating but since its my birthday week... that is exactly the way it should be am I right?  And this year's birthday week started with some lovely art work from my husband left on our message board to be found by the pink princess bride whenever she roused herself out of bed at a princessy hour... of oh.. 10:00? Can I be the pink princess bride for birthday week? I'm thinking its not only OK.. it should be required.  I told you, I am still on a wedding high.  Every time I look at my ring and think about reading the vows that we wrote to each other?   I get all dreamy and girly and like 18 again and feel the need to swoon.  But have you seen the groom? 

Cause look at him?!!  I thinking hubba hubba and now you understand my need to go weak in the knees at the thought of this man saying he still wants to be married to me.  Not only that... he is like totally on board with the whole pink birthday week idea and he was actually the one who started it!  What's not to love?  In case you are wondering the origins of birthday week, cause I know you love history, especially about pink stuff.... it begin in 2007 and is documented here...

Well to add to the birthday week fun, the first official gift was left on the counter for me.  Pink Alpha stickers and some yummy looking chocolate.  Is there a scrapbooking girl that would not be happy to have alphas and chocolate?  I didn't think so. 

He said he wasn't sure if I'd like the chocolate because he wasn't familiar with the brand, but he knew when we were at Godiva I sometimes like their chocolate hazelnut stuff.. so he thought this might be good.  Now he wins husband points right there because a) he noticed and remembered the hazelnut thing and um b) he is a guy and he thought all that thru.  I am thinking A+ on that one.  Perhaps now I should eat some chocolate and scrapbook something and put my pink stickers to use and remind myself that I am in fact a scrapbooker. 

I was off work today.  It's summer. It's July.  It was hot and sunny and oh yeah... its birthday week.  So I am guessing you can probably figure out where I spent the majority of my day? 

Yes I had a very Vera day at the beach! I am thinking I had no less than um 5 Vera things in this picture?   This is the official beach chair set up.  You start with the perfect beach chair that sits low so you can be in the water and not like melt while you are at the beach.  You then attach your pretty new Vera towel to the back of said chair with your very cute PINK flamingo towel clips, a birthday week gift from my friend Lori year before last I think while Darrel was in Haiti.  Then you sling your Vera cooler bag with the all important snacks and water and OK diet Pepsi over one clip and after one hoses themselves down with tanning spray... the pretty pink Vera bag gets slung over the other side.  I am in love with the chair clips because they keep the breeze from blowing my towel in the water while I am taking a dip... and... they make a secure place to sling your bag over the chair without having to worry it is going to slip in the water.  If you are an in the water beach sitter... you learn you must think of these things.  At this point... I pretty much have the whole beach chair set up down to a science.  Trust me. 

So obviously I am thinking the first thing on my thankful list this week?  Birthday week.  I love birthday week.  I love birthdays.  I love presents.  Have I mentioned that?  Yes?  Just checking.  While I was at the beach today there was some thunder, yet it was sunny.  We all stayed put and enjoyed the water until the lightning appeared.  At this point the lifeguards had the rare opportunity to blow their little whistles and make us all get out of the water.  Yes, even the pink princess bride and her beach chair.  Well I just backed up about 6 feet or so and settled myself down on the beach to wait it out.  They said we didn't have to leave, but we weren't allowed back in the water for 1 hour from the time of the last lightning siting.  Since I would NOT like to have lightning anywhere near me, I am thinking it was a good plan.  Did I go home?  Um no.  I am counting the number of beach hours I have left before the beach closes um like next month ... can you believe it... so I decided to wait it out.  My phone weather radar had me reasonably sure the storm was just passing us by so while everyone, and I do mean everyone else left the beach, I had the peace and quiet and my pretty pink Kindle all to myself! A little thunder and lightning in the distance was not going to chase me home after a mere two hours... Nope.  All in all, it actually was a pretty peaceful and good beach day! 

I am also feeling very thankful for

• my Dad.  He is dealing with an illness right now and I am thankful for the peace God is giving us and how I see him working.  God is good. My dad is awesome.  :)
• praying with my Dad and family
• a husband that started the birthday week fun and continues it each year
• beach time!
• reading at the beach
• the smell of suntan lotion.... it reminds of the beach.  ha!
• growing out my hair and not losing my mind at what to do with it in the process... so far.
• Amazing wedding pics and an amazing photographer that took them
• Vera stuff !
• God giving me scripture verses to share with my Dad
• my new wedding ring.  I like look at it alllll the time.  Love it
• life starting to get back to a normal routine.  I like routine
• Sophie and Sydney
• a very fun date night last week at Olive Garden and the mall!
• new dress and shoes
• having my thank you notes 1/2 done. 
• Sunday lunch with my parents and sister and her family
• the boy going to the beach with me last Saturday
• singing at church
• did I mention new pink platform shoes?  its worth repeating
• Sophie and Sydney
• good friends
• a house that is cleaner at the moment than it has been in months.  how did that happen?
• the fact that I am still reliving and enjoying our 2nd wedding day
• pink pedicures
• ankle bracelets
• summer shoes
• finding this blog thru pinterest that gave me some great tips on styling my growing out hair.  I tried some of her volume tips today... they work and are also the reason I had to order this brush... I also plan to try the hairspray she mentions
• seeing this mini book that I LOVE and realizing that I have a $10 credit on 2peas from winning a contest that would make the base book free.  :)
• that perhaps with that last revelation I realized there is still a scrapbooker in me somewhere .... she has just been asleep with mono girl for awhile.

And there.. you have it.  Thankful Thursday for birthday week!  I am not sure if I will get to post for birthday week tomorrow because its date night.  And I even promised in my newly recited new vows to always protect and give preferential treatment to date night.  :)  Yep I did.  So probably look for me on Saturday sometime for day 2 and day 3.  Until then, have a blessed week!

Ten On Tuesday

1) So I was going to start with date night since I've been trying to get time to blog about that for what... 3-4 days? But then I thought... how could I not start by sharing my most favorite wedding picture? I mean look at the handsome guy in the black suit. Is he not amazing? 25 years later and I still can't believe he is looking at me like that. Wow.. God is so good. Love the angle of this picture, love how the pinks look. Love the flowers, love the outdoor lighting, Love it! Either right before or right after this picture she took one of us kissing which is definitely my 2nd favorite.. if not tied for first!

2) Date night. We headed back to the big city for the first time since a week or so before the wedding. We received a few restaurant gift cards for anniversary gifts so we decided to head to Olive Garden for a date night treat! Very fun to order a nice meal, including a spicy shrimp appetizer and not have a bill! We skipped dessert because we thought a little Baskin Robbins after the all important visit to the mall sounded like more fun... especially when the bride wanted to try the flavor of the month....Oreo In Chocolate... and can I just say... YUM. Definitely need to get me some more of that. But... before we hit the ice cream.... I believe I mentioned a visit to the mall.

3) Look what we found at the mall!!  Well OK... Darrel spotted them and pointed them out.  You would think he would have hidden them right?  Nope... he is such a smart husband.  Unbeknown to him, I had been eyeing these shoes on the web since the beginning of summer!  The reason I didn't own them?  Um the $70-$80 price tag.  Well Macy's and their fabulous clearance shoe rack which I do not seem to be physically capable of walking by without looking.... had these shoes marked down to 55% off I think?  SOLD!  LOVE them.  They are pink.  They are shiny.  They have a 5" cork platform wedge.  I was surprised my name wasn't written right on them somewhere because um what's not to love right? There were tons of great clearance sales going on.  Darrel had some fun too.  At one point he got so interested in a sweater that he discovered was only $10 he walked away from the cashier and left his change.  He said it was because he knew I would get it... but I still maintain he was more worried about the sweater.  Besides, if I knew he thought I was getting it I would have gotten it and put it to good use! ha!!  I also found a $8 PJ top, a $12 pink crochet very cute top, an adorable $29 black and white dress (that looks very cute with pink shoes...) AND a pair of Jessica Simpson Waleo pumps in a beautiful bright blue for $15.  Fifteen.... for $89 shoes... this is them on zappos.

4) Here you have a lovely assortment of beach goodness by Vera Bradley.  The resort tote is the one I bought at Hilton Head.  I already happened to have the e-book cover for my Kindle in the matching pattern.  I know... how amazing that I own some Vera B in the matching pattern... not.  Well I liked the resort tote sooooo much, that then I decided I just must have the matching beach towel.  Scored when of those at Dillards.com when everyone else appears to be sold out since this was a limited item.  Then... I found the matching resort cosmetic bag and told the birthday fairy my mother about it and guess what showed up a few days ago on my back porch?  Now am I all decked out in Vera style for the beach or what?  Now I just need my day off to get here so I can actually go to the beach!

5) Speaking of the beach... I am hoping its not going to disappear soon.  Me and the boy headed to the beach this past Saturday and due to the drought the water level continues to decline.  It's a little scary!  Can you see how far its down?  Usually only the orange painted part of the post is showing above the water.  The lake must be down a good 2 feet at this point!  We like to sit in our chairs in the water to stay cool and Saturday this meant sitting right in front of the first rope. Usually its up to my thighs at that point when I am standing!  Low water or not though the boy and I did have a very nice beach day and got some serious sun and accomplished some serious reading!  In case you are wondering why I referred to my husband as "the boy..." you might remember me telling you about it in this post. 

6) Speaking of serious reading, I just finished reading Divergent and Insurgent.  Have you heard of these?  I saw them mentioned on Goodreads and they said if you liked The Hunger Games books, you would like Divergent and Insurgent.  I believe Kayla reviewed them on her blog also and said the same thing.  Well I would agree!  Very different story line than The Hunger Games, but at the same time still felt like I was reading that style of book.  Really liked the both of them and was very sad to discover the 3rd book in the Trilogy does not come out till FALL 2013.  Are they serious?  How can I wait that long after the bombshell at the end of book 2? 

7) If you are up on current events... then you know what happens this week right?  Day after tomorrow... birthday week!  yay!!  How happy am I?  The master of birthday week ceremonies... that would be my husband... would like to know what the bride... that would be me (I am still on a wedding high so I figure I can still be the bride)... wants for her birthday cake this year.  Would you find it hard to believe that I can't seem to narrow it down from 4, yes count them... 4 choices?  I am always hungry for Eclair Cake on my birthday and that is my usual choice.  But this year?  After the yummy wedding cake and cupcakes I have thought about a yummy chocolate cake from scratch with homemade icing too.  Then I thought about the awesome chocolate sheet cake that I made for Easter this year?  And that is sounding pretty yummy.  Then... I made the mistake of browsing over at Pinterest and found this recipe for yummy ice cream cake like from DQ! I cannot make up my mind... and now since I seem to keep having warm fuzzy thoughts about the yellow cake with chocolate icing from the wedding cake lady... I swear I've contemplated calling her up and ordering a birthday cake from her... happy birthday to me! Is it wrong to have 5 cakes for your birthday? 

8) This is what our tables looked like at our reception.  This is the only picture I have!  Can't believe I didn't take any pictures that day.  My husband took this one with his phone that day because while I was home getting ready and packing, he had gone to pick up the flowers and had brought them back to the church and was placing them on the reception tables.  We used a mixture of 3 antique canning jars, or other antique glasses and containers on each table.  We had white table cloths and then doilies in the center.  The doilies were ones I have, Lisa had some, and then my sisters-in-law and mother -in-law brought me some to use.  Loved the look!  Lisa made the fabulous confetti for the tables and placed it on there so perfectly and then we had a candle in the smallest container, a pink rose in the next size and then a white/sprayed pink hydrangea in the large jar.  We ended up with more tables than we thought so Lisa's father-in-law let us have some of his blue hydrangeas and we had those on the small tables.  It came out soooo pretty and looked just how I wanted it to look.  Here is a better picture of the hydrangeas.

I took this picture the next day in the car on the way to Hilton Head.  I brought some flowers with me so I could enjoy them as long as possible.  Weren't the hydrangeas gorgeous?  I love how this one looks heart shaped!  Perfect.  I also wanted to enjoy my bouquet as long as possible since it was totally gorgeous and just what I wanted... here is how it looked in Hilton Head a I think like 3 days after the ceremony?

The bottom part started to wilt the most at first, but as long as we kept it in water, it pretty much lasted the whole week.  I loved it.  Wish I could have somehow preserved the whole thing.

9) Did I ever show you our wedding favors?  How cute did these turn out?  Darrel and I made them together.  Sounds like fun right?  Well the first 10 were... after that? Scoring 120 some pieces of cardstock, folding, punching, gluing, etc... well it got a little old.  Still glad we did it though because I love them! The idea started with something similar I saw on marthastewart.com.  Hers looked like these with the little 1/2 heart standing up.  I liked those, but when I saw that, I thought of my anywhere heart punch and wondered how that would look.  Then I figured my draftsman husband would be the perfect guy to figure out the dimensions and score lines measurements, etc. to make it to fit around 2 ghirardelli chocolate squeares.  So he measured and made a prototype, we got ourselves a little wedding favor assembly line going and viola!  Wedding favors.  We just had to cut the kraft into strips.  I designed the little D&D 25 in publisher, Darrel got it to work in CAD and we printed a whole cardstock sheet of those and cut them into squares.  Next we scored the cardstock for the folds.  Darrel punched the hearts.  Together then we glued in the pink insert and then glued them around the candy.  Love how it came out.  Not looking forward to doing it again anytime soon.  ha! 

10) This has not been a good year so far for my weight loss journey.  Last year was a struggle too with a long plateau.  Then you hit this year and add in the whole mono deal?  Not helpful.  Have not been working out like I'd like or like I was.  Eating has not been what it was.  Not happy with where I am at.  My birthday is coming up next week, July 19th.  I am going to be setting some new goals with all this in mind and with my birthday as a starting point to that goal.  I am going to be blogging about the whole renewed weight loss journey starting hopefully tomorrow, Wednesday.  If that doesn't work out as planned, definitely next Wednesday.  I want to use Wednesday as a weekly report on the journey and for accountability.  I hope you will join me as I begin moving forward again! 

Well.. now that blogger has driven me completely nuts being totally contrary this evening.. I shall close this post and call it good.  If the spacing is all crazy.. I am going to have to call it good and try to not let it drive me nuts...although we all know it will.  It's a Deanna thing.  :)  Hope your week has been good.  Thanks for staying with me.  Blessings!