Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm one of those people who tends to adopt the attitude that birthdays should be celebrated for several days - full of taking care of myself, enjoying life, having fun, and generally being glad to be alive!

So since I had to be in the Big City for Thursday Night Young Adult Worship, and I had an interesting meeting set up for Friday afternoon, I decided to get a nice hotel room Thursday night and just relax.  So, what did I do?  Well, I ordered Italian Cheese Bread at the Little Caesars drive thru - yes, seriously, Little Caesars has a drive-thru here.  Who knew?  Then I partook of the non-sucky internet in the big city and got some emails sent and blogging done.  I took a nice, long, hot bath (with jets!) while reading N.T. Wright's Evil and the Justice of God.  I cranked the AC up to simulate actual cold weather, microwaved my rice baby, and then curled up in bed with Jesus of Nazareth and The Imitation of Christ. 

Friday morning I slept in, but got up in time for breakfast at the hotel - waffles with blueberry syrup!  I watched a little Fox News (which I haven't done in ages) to get caught up on the Juan Williams debacle.  Then I went to WalMart to get one of the tires on my car fixed and managed to find 27 Dresses in the $5.00 bin while I was waiting.  I went to the Synod Office to check out a couple videos for the high school youth group, hung out at Starbucks for a while, and then had a very interesting meeting that I hadn't been quite sure how it was going to go, but turned out to be very good.

I went back and spent some more time at Starbucks, just enjoying the chance to read and relax, caught up a little more on some email - including hearing from my fav theology prof evah.  Finally it got to be time to head home, and I needed to run by the grocery store first to pick up some "cold stuff."  As I was driving through the parking lot, thinking about some of the things from my meeting this afternoon, I started talking out loud to myself very passionately about where God's grace can be found, and about people who are very good at talking about God's grace.  And then I stopped.  Because it suddenly occurred to me - right then, as I was turning right into the next aisle to look for a parking space - that not four months ago I had said the exact opposite thing.  As I found myself thinking, "Did I really ever say that?  I can't believe I did!"  there was nothing else to do but laugh, and say, "Ok God, I get it!"

On my way out of town I hit up Taco Bell and cashed in my free birthday drink coupon at Starbucks (venti salted caramel hot chocolate...mmm), and headed for home.  In the car, I talked to an old college friend, who I miss dearly, and desperately needed to catch up with, until I ran out of cell phone service and then I proceeded to rock out to Handel's Messiah the rest of the way home.  At home I unpacked, found the flowers and chocolate that had been delivered courtesy of my sis and her BF, and then crawled into bed with the rice baby and books, blissfully content...

Saturday morning I slept in, and when I awoke, found three marvelous text messages wishing me a happy birthday.  I have no idea what time they arrived, because cell service out here is terrible and sometimes the timestamps get ultra-screwed up, but they were very pleasant wake-up presents.  After laying around in bed reading a while, I finally got up and made orange rolls for brunch, listening to more of Handel's Messiah.  Not sure why I'm in that kind of a mood lately; I just am.  For most of the day I alternated working on my sermon with fielding birthday phone calls from friends and family.

I made a fabulous dinner of angel hair pasta with garlic alfredo sauce, sauteed chicken breast and mushrooms, baked acorn squash, and a tossed salad.  For dessert I had carrot cake, and I also made myself a tequila sunrise with fresh-squeezed orange juice.  I watched my movie that I bought at WalMart Friday morning.  Then I opened my presents from the most awesome Heterosexual Life Partner ever, who knows just what I need in life: books, a DVD, a coffee mug, and of course, dark chocolate. 

I'm now curled up back in bed, snuggled up with the rice baby and one of my birthday books, all set for church tomorrow!  Today was a good day...definitely...happy birthday to me!