29

Yesterday was my Birthday. I'm 29 now.  Last year of my 20's.  That's pretty huge, people.

With age comes wisdom, and yesterday I learned a crucial life lesson: always take the Birth Day off from work.

Working on your birthday sucks.  It just does. My office does nothing to celebrate individual birthdays; we just have a cake each "quarter" to "celebrate" all of the recent or upcoming birthdays for that season. So no one ever really knows who's birthday(s) we're celebrating. We stand around for a few minutes, eat cake, and then go back to work. It's pretty lame. And it's never on or, really, anywhere near my actual birthday. And despite the fact that my birthday usually sneaks up on me I want it to be recognized. I'm alive world!  Celebrate me!  Dang it!

Don't let my birthday office grumps fool you, though.  I was celebrated. And celebrated well.

On Sunday, we went over to Brad's parents house for an early birthday dinner. Brad's mom always cooks dinner for the birthday person, and you get to pick any meal you want. We had steak and baked potatoes. It was delicious! Last week, I had been telling my Mother-in-law about how I wanted a rhododendron for our yard, and it was the one thing my house didn't have when I bought it. (Which is weird because nearly every house in the PNW has a rhododendron in the yard.)  So for my birthday present, I got a rhododendron!  I'm super stoked about it.  It's a purple one, and I can't wait to plant it.

But it's been too rainy to plant.  Great birthday weather.  Not really.

 
Yesterday afternoon, my mom took me out for Frozen Yogurt during my lunch break. There's a new place just up the street from my office, so I met her up there. The shop is an old residence that's been converted to a commercial space, and the inside is super cute! They have this decorative wallpaper that creates a raised pattern on the wall. Then you just paint over it, so it's a a subtle decoration. I totally want to do it in our bedroom. And the bedroom remodel has been made my duty, so husband can't fight my design decisions. Wallpaper walls, and painted hardwood floors, here we come! Muahahaaa!  Oh, also, the yogurt was good.  But you can't really go wrong with fro-yo.

Last night, Brad planned a little get-together for all our Tacoma friends.  We met at a local bar for foods.  It was a place neither Brad nor I had ever been before, but had heard great things about.  The name of the place had always turned us off.  It's kind of a weird building on a corner alley, with not many windows, and the word "Dirty" is in the name... sounds pretty sketch, right? However, the food was DELICIOUS! And the bar itself, was pretty nice inside, with pool tables.  We had cheeseburgers for dinner that were the most amazing burger I've ever had (which is what everyone says when they go to this place. Because it is true).  The burgers have tomato jam on them, which adds just a hint of sweetness (in a good way), and they come on a pretzel bun.  PRETZEL. BUN. Seriously. They're messy and amazing.

Dirty Oscar's Annex is the name of the bar.  Go eat a Dirty Burger.  Do it.

It was a ton of fun hanging out for my birthday. We had a great group of people, and it made me super happy that all our new Tacoma friends were able to come out to celebrate with me. I'm so happy with the life we're making here, and super thankful for the great people we've got to share it with.

Lastly, here is a picture of my cat using my face as a bed.  I was laying on the couch after work last night, attempting to take a nap/playing with my iPhone, and she walked up between my face and the phone and plopped right on me (with her side, not her butt.  Thank goodness).