Happy Birthday to Me!

Here I am, trying to look normal.

Yesterday was my birthday. How old am I? I am older than the original Superman movie, Papa John's Pizza, and MTV (I am also old enough to remember when MTV used to have something to do with music).

I spent the day with my mom. She bought me lunch at Vin'tij (if you're ever in Destin, FL, I highly recommend dropping in to say howdy), where I had a lovely pan-sauteed flounder with a vegetable orzo and fresh tomato salsa. Mom had one of the most handsome-looking roasted chicken sandwiches I have ever seen.

And here I am, partaking.

We did some shopping and then headed back to her house, where I partook of some pale ales while waiting for my dad to come home. My grandparents also stopped by later, and we had pizza and cake.

Sounds pretty wild, right? Well, I've never really had birthday parties. We tried to. Once.

When I turned five, we had a birthday party for me at our house. Of all of the kids I invited, only two showed up and they got into a fight with each other and left.

Worst. Birthday. Ever.

So, that was that and from then on, we did quiet family get-togethers, although even with that arrangement there are still no guarantees that someone won't get into a fight with someone else and go home. It cuts the odds, though.

It was a nice birthday. I had nice pizza, nice beer, nice cake, and nice presents. Oh, and nice people, of course.

The cake was super-cute. I requested a chocolate cake with a vanilla buttercream frosting. My mom is a wonderful cook and baker, and she has a flair for decorating.  She used Oreo cookies as the base for some icing sunflowers, and red M&Ms and black icing to make ladybugs. Apparently, I was called "Ladybug" when I was little, although I don't particularly remember that. "Ladybug" is a cute nickname - I've been called worse.

Next, the gifts. Look what Wally the Wonder Turtle got me - gorgeous handmade glass soap dishes from BPR Designs! That sweet turtle done good this year. He even wrote me a little note: "jenny this for you to hold you soap so you have happy birthday." Aww! I had mentioned to Wally that I wanted some nice new soap dishes for the bathrooms, and he knew that I admired Beth's glasswork. You know what's super-cool about the soap dishes (besides that they're beautiful)? They have three raised slats in the middle to keep your soap high and dry between uses, extending the life of the bar.

Check out BPR Designs on Etsy

My brother (who I didn't get to see because he lives near Atlanta) bought me a very nice Sharper Image immersion blender. Funny thing is, I had been thinking about maybe dabbling in lotion-making, and I planned to use this stick blender for that. But after I got it and started looking at it, I decided to use it for food (what a concept!) and just get a cheap stick blender for my lotion-making adventures, if I decide to give that a go. I mean, it's got a whisk and chopper attachment, too!

I also got a cookbook (I'm a bit of a cook and baker myself) and an IOU for the fourth season of "Dexter" when it's released in August (yippee!).

My husband was away, but he sent me a lovely bouquet of roses, which are now in full bloom. He has promised me a birthday celebration dinner soon, so I kinda get two birthdays!

It was a good birthday. Great success!