45th birthday
I get my birthday as a paid holiday off work, so here is what I did this year:
* Saw a few weeks in advance that it was day 2 of Sukkot
* Signed up to read a few verses of Torah
* Was advised that they don't always get a minyan for day 2 of Sukkot
* Put up a plea on Facebook and thereby encouraged a few extra members of the sisterhood to come out
* Got up early, opened my birthday cards, and drove to Munster to go to shul
* Got spontaneously offered the Haftarah reading as well. I knew I ought to have looked at it just in case!
* Looked it over during Shacharit and managed to muddle through a semi-cold reading
* Got to shake (shake, shake, shake) my lulav and etrog
* Had grape juice and egg kichel for kiddush, but in the lobby rather than the sukkah, because it was raining
* Went straight from shul to get a pedicure: a lovely orange-bronze-copper color which came out even nicer than I expected
* Collected my free Starbucks birthday drink (triple grande Maple Pecan latte) and free birthday giveaway from Ulta Beauty (black mascara; I liked last year's sparkly pink eyeshadow better)
* Got a burrito from Chipotle for lunch
* Drove over to the local outlet mall (about an hour's drive) by way of the Dunes Highway, which is normally one of my favorite drives modulo the gray and rainy weather. Some other, sunnier birthday, I might want to attempt a fall hike in the actual Dunes.
* Returned a bunch of stuff (that I had ordered online in advance of my birthday) to the Gap Factory Store that is now the only Gap instance within an hour's drive
* Spent about 1.5 more hours noodling around the near-deserted outlet mall and found absolutely nothing that I wished to buy, for myself or anyone else
* Gave up and left for home earlier than planned, so swung by Kohl's on the way and tried on dresses for half an hour, where I did actually find one that I wanted to buy
* Went home and collected the family
* Drove back to Munster yet again, to the Chabad house for Shabbat dinner in the sukkah
* Arrived over half an hour late, due to crappy weather and traffic, but they were just doing handwashing so we were practically right on time
* Had lovely food with nice people (including a few other children of various ages)... in an unpleasantly wet and rainy sukkah, but etrace was a good sport about it
* While indoors for handwashing, Aria spotted toys that she MUST play with and thereafter REFUSED to stay out in the sukkah, causing Mama much consternation until sometime during the main course when the rain picked up enough that everyone else came indoors anyway
* Ate one caramel brownie, went home and sacked out
* Presents from etrace and Aria: KT Tunstall's Eye to the Telescope and Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology
Saturday night, the three of us went out for ceremonial birthday pizza dinner. And Sunday night, my dad came over and took us out for birthday dinner #3 (Indian food) and then, at last, we had cake. Cake!
N.B.: Cross-posted from Dreamwidth; click to view or comment on original post.
* Saw a few weeks in advance that it was day 2 of Sukkot
* Signed up to read a few verses of Torah
* Was advised that they don't always get a minyan for day 2 of Sukkot
* Put up a plea on Facebook and thereby encouraged a few extra members of the sisterhood to come out
* Got up early, opened my birthday cards, and drove to Munster to go to shul
* Got spontaneously offered the Haftarah reading as well. I knew I ought to have looked at it just in case!
* Looked it over during Shacharit and managed to muddle through a semi-cold reading
* Got to shake (shake, shake, shake) my lulav and etrog
* Had grape juice and egg kichel for kiddush, but in the lobby rather than the sukkah, because it was raining
* Went straight from shul to get a pedicure: a lovely orange-bronze-copper color which came out even nicer than I expected
* Collected my free Starbucks birthday drink (triple grande Maple Pecan latte) and free birthday giveaway from Ulta Beauty (black mascara; I liked last year's sparkly pink eyeshadow better)
* Got a burrito from Chipotle for lunch
* Drove over to the local outlet mall (about an hour's drive) by way of the Dunes Highway, which is normally one of my favorite drives modulo the gray and rainy weather. Some other, sunnier birthday, I might want to attempt a fall hike in the actual Dunes.
* Returned a bunch of stuff (that I had ordered online in advance of my birthday) to the Gap Factory Store that is now the only Gap instance within an hour's drive
* Spent about 1.5 more hours noodling around the near-deserted outlet mall and found absolutely nothing that I wished to buy, for myself or anyone else
* Gave up and left for home earlier than planned, so swung by Kohl's on the way and tried on dresses for half an hour, where I did actually find one that I wanted to buy
* Went home and collected the family
* Drove back to Munster yet again, to the Chabad house for Shabbat dinner in the sukkah
* Arrived over half an hour late, due to crappy weather and traffic, but they were just doing handwashing so we were practically right on time
* Had lovely food with nice people (including a few other children of various ages)... in an unpleasantly wet and rainy sukkah, but etrace was a good sport about it
* While indoors for handwashing, Aria spotted toys that she MUST play with and thereafter REFUSED to stay out in the sukkah, causing Mama much consternation until sometime during the main course when the rain picked up enough that everyone else came indoors anyway
* Ate one caramel brownie, went home and sacked out
* Presents from etrace and Aria: KT Tunstall's Eye to the Telescope and Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology
Saturday night, the three of us went out for ceremonial birthday pizza dinner. And Sunday night, my dad came over and took us out for birthday dinner #3 (Indian food) and then, at last, we had cake. Cake!
N.B.: Cross-posted from Dreamwidth; click to view or comment on original post.