HBD MJP!
My birthday this year was pretty darn awesome. I laid back and enjoyed whatever the day brought, but I also put in a bit of forethought, and the combination was beautiful.
I went for an incredible breakfast with Stevie. Then Jade and I went to this free piano concert thingy at noon - the Honen's International Piano Competition is on in Calgary, and while it would be cool to see, tickets are $70! But at noon every day they've done a free show by one of the pianists. Pretty cool. Made me want to buy a piano and start playing again. But I need to organize my time and consistently accomplish all the other things in my day before I add yet another thing to the list.
Then Jade set up her massage table at my house and gave me a much needed massage. After that we put on Dexter and watched a couple of episodes - so good!!!!!
Mike arrived home with a bouquet of flowers for me and we all headed to dinner - Steve, Mike, Jade, myself and Kelsi met us there. We went to this new Italian place called Cibo, and it was really cool: elegant and nice, but also really eclectic and funky, and the food is all meant to be shared, which we did of course. Awesome. Mike kept trying to get everyone's attention so he could hand me a card, but nobody noticed except for me, and I was a little weirded out that he was making a big deal of something. I didn't get the card until the end of the night and it turned out not to be a big deal, just a cute card and a certificate to a spa for some pampering.
After supper we headed to the Rose where I'd invited people to come celebrate with me. I didn't intend for it to be a party, I just wanted to see my friends, but was too lazy to throw a proper party. I expected people to come down, say hi, have a beer, then head home (it was a Thursday night, after all). But lots of people stayed for a few hours and had a few too many drinks. Ha ha. I took care of everyone's beers, a $460 tab!! Thankfully I used my free beer chits from working there and didn't pay a thing (just had everyone tip!!) It was a lot of fun.
(Guest list: Lazz & Lindsay, Ashlea & Brian, Jacob & Tara, Veera, Sonja, Kelsi, Jade, Steve, Zee, Detective Steve, Andre & his friend, Daz, Marc, Wip, Anthony, Jeanice, Kevin & his hairdresser Troy, Lill John - 23 people, plus my coworkers who were working but also visiting, and a few regulars who stuck around to wish me HBD. Not a bad turnout!)
Highlight of the night was when Daz showed up with this ultra awesome ghetto blaster, and told me it was all mine! I'd mentioned that I have some old cassettes and mix tapes that I can't listen to, so he procured a player for me - amazing!! Detective Steve brought me a card and Ashlea gave me a couple of books. Veera made me wear these silly birthday glasses and hold onto a birthday rattle - brat! I got my Popcorn Pumper from Kelsi that I'd been counting down to... (She accidentally outed the surprise when she said her present for me was in the mail, and that she'd bought it off eBay, I guessed instantly what it was!!) and she made me some of her delicious salsa as well. Jade gave me a bottle of wine in a monkey wine bottle holder, two pairs of mittens, a sweet, round scarf, and a gift card to Indigo Books. I also got a card from Murray and Debbie when we went for dinner last week, and they gave me a beautiful pendant, a red heart that's made from Cinnebar wood. "From the Cinnebar Tree which grows in Southeast Asia. The beads are made by pressing a pattern into this particularly soft wood, then they are lacquered with a resin to add colour and stability. Stimulates life force and increases one's interest in her surroundings." Cool.
It's hard being the centre of attention though, because I wanted to chat with everyone, and then felt like I was neglecting people when I had to move on to someone else. But it was fun! I only had two pints, I had no desire to get all drunk. Lots of other people had no issue picking up the slack though, and a few even went out afterwards! Maclean had 4 1/2 pints of IPA and then drove us home, which I was super unhappy about when I realized what he'd done.
I got phone calls from DeNai, Shauna, Taron, Dad, Grandma, Shackles & Carl, and Crusty, although I missed a few and only got messages. Mom and Krisann both FaceTimed me, so fun. There were nearly 100 messages on my Facebook wall!! And I got lots of texts as well, including from V and my Beautiful Banga. Ah birthdays, why must you only come once a year??
* I forgot to take a mandatory birthday photo. Oops. I wore my soft red top from Bangkok, my black boots from Barcelona (that have holes in the soles, but I just can't bear to part with them), and my gold and orange sapphire earrings from Sayulita, Mexico. Black tights and curled hair to bring it all together.. Comfy and perfect, and I loved being reminded of my travels and adventures.
I want to send a birthday card to all my friends on their birthday next year. Well, all my relatively close friends, anyway. It'll be a bit of an undertaking, but a worthwhile one I think. I need to start gathering addresses though, as 2013 is drawing near!
Friday Mom and Dad drove up from Lethbridge to take me to lunch, crazy parents. It was nice though. They brought me a card from Grandma (that had $20 in it, and I'm pretty sure I accidentally threw it away, ergh), and my Auntie presents: two red, ceramic frying pans, three cookbooks, and a bird shaped vegetable peeler. Mom and Dad gave me a little box of essential oils, and a big, gorgeous, Candy Apple Red food processor!!! Exciting! One of the wait staff (not even our server) saw the presents and came over, "It's your birthday? Happy Birthday! How old are you? What? You can't be 34!" After we ate he came over again and goes, "So, you're not really 34.." Ha ha. Too funny. He told me I look like a poster girl for Nu Skin, which he was really stoked about because he's just getting into selling it. Random.
All in all, it was a good birthday.
And it's been a good year. I love my house, I love my job, summer was fun and I've been trying to make time to see friends and to be a better friend. We went to Vegas and San Francisco just before my birthday last year, Sayulita was a bit of a bust in February, Vancouver/Victoria in September was awesome.. no major travels at all, but at least I got out a few times. Didn't get to a big music festival this year either, which was a bummer, but then again I hardly saw any live music this past year at all. Strange how priorities change I guess. My art teacher I met during class last year has now become a good friend. I still haven't created a new career for myself, but I'm feeling much more content where I'm at. Although I'm starting to get itchy feet again...
The one big thing that I tried to promise myself last birthday was that I'd either be engaged or single by Oct 25, 2012, and I am neither. Maclean and I have been doing pretty well, but we haven't made any progress forward or learned to communicate any better, we just know each other well enough to move around each other now, I guess. I still don't know what to do. I still feel like every day I'm trying to find a reason that this will work, a way I'll be happy, but more often than not I still don't see how we could do this forever and not resent each other eventually. Particularly since he still does stupid things like stay out all night long. Literally. We went to a stand-up comedy show last night that finished early. I wasn't drinking and didn't want to go out, but I dropped Mike, Steve and Jade off at the Ship at 9pm. Maclean turned up home at noon today. Seriously. What the hell, man??
But, one day at a time I suppose, life is what it is, and overall, I have no complaints.
I went for an incredible breakfast with Stevie. Then Jade and I went to this free piano concert thingy at noon - the Honen's International Piano Competition is on in Calgary, and while it would be cool to see, tickets are $70! But at noon every day they've done a free show by one of the pianists. Pretty cool. Made me want to buy a piano and start playing again. But I need to organize my time and consistently accomplish all the other things in my day before I add yet another thing to the list.
Then Jade set up her massage table at my house and gave me a much needed massage. After that we put on Dexter and watched a couple of episodes - so good!!!!!
Mike arrived home with a bouquet of flowers for me and we all headed to dinner - Steve, Mike, Jade, myself and Kelsi met us there. We went to this new Italian place called Cibo, and it was really cool: elegant and nice, but also really eclectic and funky, and the food is all meant to be shared, which we did of course. Awesome. Mike kept trying to get everyone's attention so he could hand me a card, but nobody noticed except for me, and I was a little weirded out that he was making a big deal of something. I didn't get the card until the end of the night and it turned out not to be a big deal, just a cute card and a certificate to a spa for some pampering.
After supper we headed to the Rose where I'd invited people to come celebrate with me. I didn't intend for it to be a party, I just wanted to see my friends, but was too lazy to throw a proper party. I expected people to come down, say hi, have a beer, then head home (it was a Thursday night, after all). But lots of people stayed for a few hours and had a few too many drinks. Ha ha. I took care of everyone's beers, a $460 tab!! Thankfully I used my free beer chits from working there and didn't pay a thing (just had everyone tip!!) It was a lot of fun.
(Guest list: Lazz & Lindsay, Ashlea & Brian, Jacob & Tara, Veera, Sonja, Kelsi, Jade, Steve, Zee, Detective Steve, Andre & his friend, Daz, Marc, Wip, Anthony, Jeanice, Kevin & his hairdresser Troy, Lill John - 23 people, plus my coworkers who were working but also visiting, and a few regulars who stuck around to wish me HBD. Not a bad turnout!)
Highlight of the night was when Daz showed up with this ultra awesome ghetto blaster, and told me it was all mine! I'd mentioned that I have some old cassettes and mix tapes that I can't listen to, so he procured a player for me - amazing!! Detective Steve brought me a card and Ashlea gave me a couple of books. Veera made me wear these silly birthday glasses and hold onto a birthday rattle - brat! I got my Popcorn Pumper from Kelsi that I'd been counting down to... (She accidentally outed the surprise when she said her present for me was in the mail, and that she'd bought it off eBay, I guessed instantly what it was!!) and she made me some of her delicious salsa as well. Jade gave me a bottle of wine in a monkey wine bottle holder, two pairs of mittens, a sweet, round scarf, and a gift card to Indigo Books. I also got a card from Murray and Debbie when we went for dinner last week, and they gave me a beautiful pendant, a red heart that's made from Cinnebar wood. "From the Cinnebar Tree which grows in Southeast Asia. The beads are made by pressing a pattern into this particularly soft wood, then they are lacquered with a resin to add colour and stability. Stimulates life force and increases one's interest in her surroundings." Cool.
It's hard being the centre of attention though, because I wanted to chat with everyone, and then felt like I was neglecting people when I had to move on to someone else. But it was fun! I only had two pints, I had no desire to get all drunk. Lots of other people had no issue picking up the slack though, and a few even went out afterwards! Maclean had 4 1/2 pints of IPA and then drove us home, which I was super unhappy about when I realized what he'd done.
I got phone calls from DeNai, Shauna, Taron, Dad, Grandma, Shackles & Carl, and Crusty, although I missed a few and only got messages. Mom and Krisann both FaceTimed me, so fun. There were nearly 100 messages on my Facebook wall!! And I got lots of texts as well, including from V and my Beautiful Banga. Ah birthdays, why must you only come once a year??
* I forgot to take a mandatory birthday photo. Oops. I wore my soft red top from Bangkok, my black boots from Barcelona (that have holes in the soles, but I just can't bear to part with them), and my gold and orange sapphire earrings from Sayulita, Mexico. Black tights and curled hair to bring it all together.. Comfy and perfect, and I loved being reminded of my travels and adventures.
I want to send a birthday card to all my friends on their birthday next year. Well, all my relatively close friends, anyway. It'll be a bit of an undertaking, but a worthwhile one I think. I need to start gathering addresses though, as 2013 is drawing near!
Friday Mom and Dad drove up from Lethbridge to take me to lunch, crazy parents. It was nice though. They brought me a card from Grandma (that had $20 in it, and I'm pretty sure I accidentally threw it away, ergh), and my Auntie presents: two red, ceramic frying pans, three cookbooks, and a bird shaped vegetable peeler. Mom and Dad gave me a little box of essential oils, and a big, gorgeous, Candy Apple Red food processor!!! Exciting! One of the wait staff (not even our server) saw the presents and came over, "It's your birthday? Happy Birthday! How old are you? What? You can't be 34!" After we ate he came over again and goes, "So, you're not really 34.." Ha ha. Too funny. He told me I look like a poster girl for Nu Skin, which he was really stoked about because he's just getting into selling it. Random.
All in all, it was a good birthday.
And it's been a good year. I love my house, I love my job, summer was fun and I've been trying to make time to see friends and to be a better friend. We went to Vegas and San Francisco just before my birthday last year, Sayulita was a bit of a bust in February, Vancouver/Victoria in September was awesome.. no major travels at all, but at least I got out a few times. Didn't get to a big music festival this year either, which was a bummer, but then again I hardly saw any live music this past year at all. Strange how priorities change I guess. My art teacher I met during class last year has now become a good friend. I still haven't created a new career for myself, but I'm feeling much more content where I'm at. Although I'm starting to get itchy feet again...
The one big thing that I tried to promise myself last birthday was that I'd either be engaged or single by Oct 25, 2012, and I am neither. Maclean and I have been doing pretty well, but we haven't made any progress forward or learned to communicate any better, we just know each other well enough to move around each other now, I guess. I still don't know what to do. I still feel like every day I'm trying to find a reason that this will work, a way I'll be happy, but more often than not I still don't see how we could do this forever and not resent each other eventually. Particularly since he still does stupid things like stay out all night long. Literally. We went to a stand-up comedy show last night that finished early. I wasn't drinking and didn't want to go out, but I dropped Mike, Steve and Jade off at the Ship at 9pm. Maclean turned up home at noon today. Seriously. What the hell, man??
But, one day at a time I suppose, life is what it is, and overall, I have no complaints.