I Wish, Part 2

And so the saga continues:

THURSDAY
It was another long day at work. Needed to get to the gym, but forgot my socks. So, sped home, grabbed some socks and went for a run in the cool night air. Well, I did some walking up Seattle Hill cause it's a killer. It was colder than I thought so had some trouble breathing, but still managed to do my run up to Safeway and back, which was about four miles. On the way back, Jason Mraz was belting out "I'm Yours" and the sky lit up in the most amazing shades of pink and orange. It was one of those blissful moments - like you're living in a movie and the perfect soundtrack is playing in the background. As I turned to come down the hill, MxPx starting belting out "Punk Rawk Show" while Mt. Pilchuck and Mt. Baker came into view on the horizon. So... Day #5 of my Birthday Celebration Week is the Joy of Seeing Beauty Everywhere.

FRIDAY
I had to hit a deadline, so managed to squeeze in five hours of work. Then, changed hats and became a domestic diva - vacuuming, dishes, sweeping, mopping and laundry. Sadly, no aerobic exercise today, but felt very accomplished anyway! Day #6 of my Birthday Celebration Week is the Joy of Elbow Grease. Dave had told me he would have to work late, but actuallycame to find out he's been secretly working on my "BIG-ANTIC Birthday Gift". Details and pictures to come - but suffice to say, this guy of mine is A-MAZING.

SATURDAY
Early morning for us, with a wedding to attend and a long to-do list! Through a constant barrage of rain showers, we rushed down to Bellevue to attend Tony & Nelly's sealing. Beautiful couple, beautiful day to be inside the temple - and it was such an honor to take part in the establishment of a new family. Got home and did a few things around the house before we just collapsed out of sheer exhaustion. Day #7 of my Birthday Celebration Week is the Joy of New Beginnings. Oh, huge guilty pleasure confession here: The So-Bad-It's Good Joy of SyFy. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit this, but we watched the SyFy original movie "Mega Python vs. Gatoroid" while folding gobs of laundry - well, Dave fell asleep half way through, but I watched. Until the bitter end. Uh, yeah - you read that right & can't believe I'm sharing this. But, it starred the talents of 80's teen sensations Deborah (Debbie) Gibson & Tiffany, so I was morbidly curious. These old-school popstars seem to have had nothing better to do than star in a horrifically written & acted B-movie, with the worst CGI effects I've seen to date. SPOILER ALERT: They both die in the end, at the hands of, you guessed it, a huge python and steroid-enhanced alligator. I found myself laughing. Ahem - anyway, admitting it is the first step to recovery, right?

SUNDAY - Birthday Eve
Crazy awesome day. I woke up feeling like a million bucks - I'm sure thanks to the previous night's inspirational movie (*wink*). Although I missed most of sacrament meeting and all of Sunday School (we're slowly acclimating Benjamin to nursery), Dave came in for the last hour so that I could attend the 5th Sunday joint meeting. We talked about Following the Prophet - and I had a lot of little moments of revelation during that powerful discussion. Made me realize that I need to make a lot of little changes in my life. Went to see an update of the "BIG-ANTIC Birthday Gift", ate crockpot chicken chili and then napped way too long. We rushed, very very late, to my birthday dinner at my in-laws. Dave's mom made my favorite meal - taco salad. We washed that tastiness down with a good helping of triple-chocolate, fudgey decadence dream cake, and a little side of vanilla ice cream. I let the little kiddos help me blow out the candles; blowing out 6 whole candles is a lot of work! Got the cutest little pink crayon note from Lucy, a thoughtful gift from my in-laws and Julie (Dave's sister) made me some little re-usable sandwich bags (fabric and plastic lining). Day #8 of my Birthday Celebration Week is the Joy of the Little Things.

MONDAY - The Big Day
Today has started out with a BANG! I woke up to dozens (already!) of sweet notes on FB, which I read while on the bus; definitely feeling the birthday love and grateful for everyone's thoughts today. In hindsight, it would have been really smart to take the day off, but instead I hopped on the bus at o' dark-thirty, in my cutest outfit, for a day of birthday fun at work. (Note how I am *really* trying to eek out the Joy in this one!) Day #9 of my Birthday Celebration Week is the Joy of ?? - TBD later!