It's a Wonderful Weekend

Forgive me if this doesn't start green, but last weekend was so awesome, I have to share. I know my posts have been sporadic lately, but understandably so, as my life has been non-stop lately. We also have a situation brewing that seems to be getting much more complicated than I thought it ever would, and all because of a very selfish person, that I can't say anything to. Grrrrrr...I'll explain more in a few months after it all comes together/falls apart(?).

I did take a 5 day break from work that allowed me to catch up on life a little, and enjoy my birthday which is something I rarely take time to do. In fact, I can count my awesome adult birthdays on one hand. My 21st was absolutely crazy and weird, my 29th was a drunken karaoke blast, and last Friday, the Hermit gave me another birthday I'll never forget.

He definitely went out of his way to sweep me off my feet. Last year, we had to cancel a dinner reservation, because he didn't solidify a drop-off time for the step-kid, so I told him I was going out with my girlfriends for my 32nd. It was not the first time we had to drop plans due to a lack of communication, so I was really mad. However, I decided to give him another chance after he surprised me with reservations to the Bistro San Martin, which is the nicest restaurant north of Everett to Bellingham.

I started the day by going into town, to my favorite Philipino Great Clips hair dresser so I could donate my 11 inch braid to Locks for Love. I didn't know that they cut your braid off with an electric razor, and my eyes must have been the size of saucers, because he stopped and asked if I was sure I wanted it cut, twice.

I have to admit, I was kind of nervous about short hair, after all the short hair disasters my mom made me wear in my childhood. You know, first the Dorothy Hamil bowl-cut, then just horrid, short cuts that severely needed layers to ease the mushroom effect. He did a great job with my thick, curly hair, though. I'm not used to people stopping me to rave about my hair, so I've felt rather bashful lately.

That afternoon, we caught the step-kid's JV game with my mom and step-dad and the kids. Afterwards, I got a griddle from my mom, and they took the kids to their place. We had a few hours to kill before dinner, so we hit the Tulalip Casino to blow forty dollars each. Having ADD, I hate slots, but I sat there and kept winning as I waited for the Hermit to lose his money so we could move on. Next, we hit the roullette table, and I placed my first chip on 12 for my birthday. Sure enough the ball landed on 12! I kept winning, and had to lend the Hermit chips to keep playing. When we left, we were still up $70 despite his bad luck.

We wrapped up the night at the Bistro, where we had Merlot and Ceasar salad to start. For my entree, I of course chose the Dungeness crab cakes, then felt kind of guilty the next day, as I read about fishery regulations for my Resource Economics assignment. They were absolutely delicious, but I promise no more crab cakes until the crab population stabilizes. When we got home, he gave me Ken Burn's latest documentary, "The National Parks, America's Best Idea," but I had to promise I wouldn't make him watch it again. Last fall, I hijacked the t.v. for a week to watch the PBS special.

The next day, we went shooting with the Bro-in-law on our lower property. I successfully emptied a .45 magnum nailing the target almost every time! Hell yeah! Who could be a bad-ass Ranger if she wanted to? Actually, it seems that the larger gun is easier for me to handle than the smaller calliber firearms.

Afterward, my step-sister came up for dinner with her two kids, and my 3 year old niece entertained us with a Jayden show on my piano. She cracks me up. After they left, Tay started getting ready for her first formal dance. She definitely has more fashion sense, and more of a social scene than I did in 7th grade. At that point in my life, I was only focused on good grades, softball and conquering Super Mario Brothers. Her dress was stunning, and all of the girls looked gorgeous.

For Valentine's Day, I got my weekly Starbucks date in the morning, but instead of rushing to work, I came home and made brunch with Tay. She made omlettes, and I shuffled between the stove-top and the new griddle making hashbrowns and blueberry pancakes. Of course, we wrapped up Valentine's Day with the annual bacon-wrapped steak meal. All-in-all, it was a great weekend that was much needed.

It's M' Birfday!

31 years ago this evening, I came to this Earth, and 200 years ago two great men did as well - Darwin and Lincoln. I know there are people that would want to debate the great part of that sentence, but I say to them - go take some science classes and shut it.

There's actually good economic news today on retail sales, maybe my 401K will go up a little for a change. This week has also been a good change from last week, aside from another sick kid. We got snow early in the week, but the sunshine yesterday made it so beautiful out here in the mountains.

We got A LOT done at work yesterday and still stuffed ourselves with pizza and pre-birfday treats. We also teased the new boyfriend of co-worker Nun at lunch, writing her a prescription for "Diamond Therapy" from Dr. Secks Moore. Oddly enough co-worker H gave Dr. Moore an English accent, and it made for a hilarious day.

Today we have a draft presentation of our first robot project in Engineering and our Power Point is looking good, including media clips. I'm going to post the driving by Braille clip to YouTube when the class is over. We're supposed to do Yoga before our public presentations, but I'm contemplating whether I want to do Yoga in public. Xanax anyone? Just kidding.

I've got to give a big shout out to my fellow birthday peeps (and personal heroes) before my busy day begins. Happy Birthday Abe Lincoln and Charles Darwin! Thanks for your pioneering spirit! Two-twelvers rock!