Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Birthday Wrap-Up

I can't believe I went so long without a single, solitary post! Bad blogger, bad, bad blogger! But I suppose with my birthday last weekend and everything I got a little distracted. :)

I Have the Power of Touch

In deference to a recent post, the first order of business is definitely: I GOT AN IPOD TOUCH FOR MY BIRTHDAY!! Aaaaahhhhhhh!!! :D

Of all people, the guys at work gave it to me! It was such a surprise, I was totally content with nothing at all; a card, maybe. But they took me to lunch and everything. It was so touching. :) (No pun intended!) I guess my boss was actually listening when I wouldn't stop raving about it! And they even had it engraved with my name and number, just in cases. Now I can't stop playing with it! I'm constantly checking for a wi-fi connection everywhere I go...so addicted. It even kept me distracted from the cold last night at the dog park. [I don't know what it is about that place, but with the open area and grass it seems 15 degrees colder than everywhere around it!]

24th Birthday Weekend

Y'know, its funny, I've kinda gotten over birthdays since high school - only one real party since I turned 17. As I see it, the best part about a birthday is that it's a really good excuse to get all my friends and all my family together - doesn't really matter what we do, or if I get gifts or whatever. Although I have to admit I don't mind milking it in order to go eat somewhere we normally wouldn't! (Like the Mission Inn's Sunday brunch last year.) :)

The previous weekend we had gone to dinner with Chris' family in order to celebrate my and Hillary's birthdays, since we were so close together. His grandma made her Texas sheetcake...mmm....and his parents got me a lovely bag and bracelets. :)

So that yummy work lunch last Friday kicked off my birthday weekend (and it didn't hurt my mood that I got off work at 4!). That night "the gang" took me out (meaning Chris, Mindy, Nikki, Katie, Colby, Nancy and Kris) to the Commonwealth Lounge for dinner and drinks. It was all going pretty well (except our terrible waitress), and they had a great 3 piece jazz band that played a set, but after that they changed the music to 70s disco! And beforehand it had been the Rat Pack! Kinda ruined the mood, especially since in downtown Fullerton it's de rigeur to play the music really loud no matter what, so ignoring the background music isn't an option. Thus, we decided to head back to our apartment, and wound up having a really nice time just hanging out with everyone.

Saturday morning we actually got up at a decent hour and Chris and I went to old towne Orange so that I could pick out my gift - a potentially wallet-deadly idea on his part! I'm still kicking myself for not bringing my parents' camera that I was borrowing for the week, as it was gorgeous that day. About 73 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, light breeze...perfect. I dragged Chris through three vintage warehouses (they can't possibly count as stores with that much square footage!) before I finally found just the right thing. Good thing too, because we were starting to go cross-eyed from all the stuff they manage to cram in those stores!

Turns out that a lovely vintage pearl necklace from The Antique Mall was just what I've been looking for! I've been meaning to replace an old fake strand that I wore out, and this one said hello. (See further down for a photo.) The coolest part (I think) is that the pearls have that lovely off-white, aged color to them, and they're natural so they're just slightly misshapen, which I prefer anyways. :) I think they're quite the find, considering what he paid for them. But it was really fun going together - it took out the guesswork for him, let me find exactly what I wanted, and also made us take some alone time away from the apartment and the pup (and we weren't running errands!).

Saturday night we packed ourselves and the pup into the car and headed up to my parents house for dinner. While we were waiting for Eirik to drive over from work (picking up his awesome girlfriend on the way) we had some yummy pink champagne and my aunties called to sing to me, as per usual. Here's me opening their card (click for larger):

Even though I seriously despise the birthday song, I tolerate it from them because it's tradition, especially because Grandma isn't around to sing it anymore. You can see my new necklace in the photo - and this awesome dress from the Gap, of all places, that I couldn't resist getting myself. So cute, and it has pockets! I actually wore it to work today too. :D

Once everyone was present we headed over to the local Mexican place called the Whole Enchilada that I love. Even though they don't take reservations, my mom convinced them to set up a table for us, since we were 7 people and the place isn't all that big. So delicious, and I had a strawberry pina colada too. Yum! Then it was back to the house for my birthday cake that I've been dreaming about for the last two months - mom bakes it for me special. It's a torte with fresh dream mixed with orange liquer in between the layers, with a thick layer of marzipan over the whole thing. SO good!! It's a pretty complicated cake to make, so she usually only does it for my birthday. :)

Then Sunday was a nice lazy day, which I really needed too. All in all a really fantastic weekend!

More Pages

I was incredibly inspired the past couple of weeks, so here's a few of the results (if you want more, check out the gallery links to the right):

"To Me, From Me"
For credits and info, click here.

"Take Along A Friend"
Again, for credits click here.

"Daily Dose of Love"
I know, I know, yet another pup-photo layout, but I can't help myself! The dare was about something you do every day, so don't blame me. ;) Credits can be found here.

"Summer Girls"Aren't my cousin and her friend so cute? Been meaning to work with this photo for long time. Go here for more info.

And last but not least, this one -
Definitely one of my new favorites! Credits are here.

Now we're getting ready for Halloween and the rest of the holidays - just got Jacopo's costume tonight, but I'm not going to tell what it is until I have a photo! :) Hope everyone else is doing well!

~Trude

Quote of the moment (a fun one!): "Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand." ~Kurt Vonnegut

2 comments:

Librarian Elise said...

You aren't a bad blogger but I am a bad friend, I completely forgot about your birthday! So I will now say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRUDE. I'm glad you had such a fantastic day(s). And woohoo for the ipod touch, Garrett bought himself one for his birthday a few weeks ago, it is very very cool.

Anonymous said...

How great to have too many good memories that not one stands out. That's happy living!
Love,
Yo Mamma