Birthdays and Watches

It was my Birthday!

You may or may not know, but December 18th was my birthday!  These days birthdays are getting a little less exciting to me, I have to admit.  I turned 26 this year, which means that I am now headed towards my late 20s which means I'm getting closer to 30.  I have to say, I am really not one of those people that freaks out about age.  I've never put time constraints on anything I want to do in life, so I (hopefully) will never be disappointed if I don't accomplish something in my timeframe.  Anyway, I'm digressing.  Like always.  :)

For my birthday this year, Matt and I just hung around the house most of the day.  We've had a pretty busy few weeks and really just wanted to relax!  We also wanted to recuperate from the night before, because one of our buddies birthday is the same day as mine and it just so happened that he's 5 years younger than me...so if you do the math, you will know that he turned 21 this year!  We went out Tuesday night around 11:30 and he had his first drink at midnight!  I volunteered to drive us home, so I had one cranberry and Grey Goose (happy birthday to meeeee) at midnight and drank water until it was time to go.  We had a great time and our buddy was so happy when we left the bar!  Success!

Wednesday, as planned, we laid around the house until we decided that we were hungry, so we went out to grab a bite to eat.  We had lunch, dropped by a few stores (including the liquor store for our buddy of course) and came home to toss around the football!  We live right next-door to the high school football field, so we walked on over with the football and threw it around for about half an hour.  I couldn't believe how cold it was as the sun went down!  Brrrrr!

For dinner, we went to Outback Steakhouse with my parents.  This was my decision, as I got to choose for my birthday and Matt and I hadn't been in a very long time!  I enjoyed a Sugar Plum Martini and a steak salad!  It was delicious!

Right before dessert, my dad went "to use the restroom" and came back with a giant wrapped present, along with a smaller present and set it in front of me.  There were two cards to go with it, one from my dad and stepmom and one from my mom.  The cards my dad gets from my mom every year are very special to me.  Many people don't know this about me, but we lost my mom to cancer when I was 7 years old.  Every year, when it's a special occasion, my dad makes sure to include a card from my mom.  It's very thoughtful of him and I'm not sure that he realizes how much it means to me.

I couldn't believe what my first present was!  It was a Garmin Forerunner 110 running watch!  I had really only told Matt that I wanted one and I don't recall mentioning it to my dad.  I could have sworn that Matt must have told them what I wanted.  Come to find out, dad just kinda figured it would be a good gift.  And boy was it!  (More to come on the Garmin in future posts, don't you worry!)

My second gift was a huge art set!  It's a portable easel and carrying case, complete with oil paints, acrylic paints, brushes, pastels, coloring pencils, and graphite pencils.  It is quite amazing!  I've been wanting to pick up painting again, but didn't want to go out and get the supplies.  Now I have no excuse!  I can't wait until a nice warm day where I can sit outside and paint!

I know this was a really long post and I applaud you for reading the entire thing if you did.  My birthday this year was a fun day and I am so excited to get some good use out of my gifts!  

Did you have a good birthday this year?

What is your favorite birthday that you can remember?