A Birthday

So yesterday was my birthday. Most of my adult life I've been a little traumatized by getting older. As much as I love to celebrate my birthday with family and friends, I don't mind if my birthday quietly passes by so I can live in denial about aging.

Anyway, it was a fun birthday. Last weekend I went out with some friends for a little pre-birthday celebration. We went to one of my favorite restaurants - Hacienda Colorado and to the movie 27 Dresses. Super fun! Then yesterday, most of the day was business as usual. I went to the gym in the late afternoon and when I came home my cute little family was waiting with a cake and candles and a round of Happy Birthday! Then Jeramy and I left the kids with a sitter and went out to dinner and to a movie. What a treat to go out in the middle of the week! We went to a fairly new Asian restuarant called Jing, which was so yummy and then over to a new movie theatre. The theatre was really cool - it is $12 a ticket, which is about $2 more than the other theatres - but your ticket includes all your popcorn and soft drinks. For an extra $2 you can upgrade to VIP which gives you prime seating, really huge chairs with a little arm rest and place to put your popcorn and someone comes and takes your order and brings you your drink, popcorn, or whatever else you want. It was fun to try the VIP, but, personally, I think the non-VIP seats are more comfy. Also, someone will only come bring you stuff until the previews start - not during the show. Finally, as buttered popcorn is one of my passions, to have the opportunity to fill my own popcorn and layer the butter is such a treat! It's not a job I would entrust to someone else.

In addition to all the food and fun, I got a little spoiled this year. For Christmas 2006 I got a new camera - the Nikon D80. I had my eye on a lens to go with it, which cost nearly as much as the camera itself. Obviously I knew I wouldn't be getting the lens anytime soon, so I opted to get only the camera body and use one of my old 35mm film lenses. I didn't want to spend the extra $300 to get a mediocre lens that I knew I would want to upgrade anyway. This combination has been OK but not great. So for my birthday, Jeramy got me the lens I've been drooling over for the past 15 months. It's a Nikon 18-200mm lens and is supposed to be fantastic. I'm so excited and can't wait to get it out for a test drive. I think I'll take the kids out on Saturday and torment them with a little outdoor photo shoot. Here is the lens. It's a beauty!

Also, I got an adorable necklace from Ella. The other day I was online looking at the new stuff from Anthropologie. Ella had seen me looking at the earrings. After I left my computer, I guess I still had the window open, so she hopped on my computer and zoned in on a pair of earrings she loved and wanted to get me for my birthday. She had Jeramy take her to the mall to Anthropologie to buy the earrings, but I guess they didn't have them. So she looked through everything and decided on this necklace. The one she got me is a different color, but the style is the same. So sweet!

In addition to those I got a yummy and beautiful arrangement from my sister and her family from Edible Arrangements. I got a new filter for my lens from my parents and from my friends I got The Holiday on DVD (love that movie!), some great hand cream, a gift card and a cool wallet calendar called a WhoMi. Completely spoiled!!! So thank you everyone for your e-mails, calls, cards, gifts and love. All your love and thoughtfulness helps dull the pain of another year older. Despite getting old, I'm looking forward to another wonderful year!