Birthday Odds and Ends

You people! I don't know if it was just luck or I have more readers than I thought, but I woke up on the morning of my birthday and found the following email in my inbox:

We know you've been waiting and...

The much loved Kennebunkport Dress in Latitude is now back in stock!  We only have a limited amount, so you have to act fast. This email isn't a guarantee you'll get one - hurry to ModCloth to be one of the lucky shoppers who do!

A good omen to begin a lovely birthday indeed.

I can't decide what was the best part of my birthday. There was the relaxing mani/pedi session (notice the purple fingernails above) and pizza with the lovely ladies of my family. There was getting cinnamon bun ice cream with an estranged friend who I hadn't seen in forever. (And never let anyone talk you out of cinnamon bun ice cream. It is TO DIE FOR.) There were presents and a lovely dinner with my family at a swanky restaurant where they wrote "Happy birthday" in chocolate on my plate.

But between the cards and the greetings and the friendly "Did you have a nice birthday, darlin'?" from the restaurant manager, possibly the best part was the drive I took to my friends' house. My iPod shuffle went into ultimate win mode, moving from the Beatles' "Birthday" to Hall & Oates's "You Make My Dreams" to a few Les Mis songs, which I skipped to "Man in the Mirror."

 A great playlist for celebration and reflection on the year ahead. I'm going to be a bit personal here (GASP! Don't worry, I won't go too deep), but I remembered that around this time two years ago, my world was starting to fall apart. Now, two birthdays later, I realized that it's finally come back together again. And I'm glad. Seriously, I couldn't stop smiling.

Now that you've seen my vulnerable side, let's move along as I continue to remind you how sarcastic and heartless I really am. 

The tomato shown above is from Brandon's garden. He has a surplus, so he generously plied me with some to take home. To me, that tomato is about the last weeks of summer. I officially only have one more before I head back to my Large-East-Coast-Public-University, but I'm looking to make that week last as long as possible. At the beginning of the summer, I wanted to rush along back to school. Now that school is looming, I wish I had another month. Does anyone else feel this way?!

I'm also bummed because my birthday money's going to end up going toward textbooks. Hmph. Not if I have my way it won't.