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Well- I’m another year older! Before I get any further, have you checked out my birthday giveaway yet? This year I had a really great time celebrating my birthday, which was Melissa’s goal as soon as she found out that I wasn’t really excited about my birthday this year. (Also- once you enter my giveaway that’s linked above, stop by my Team in Training Page– this is one of my big goals for this year of life!)
While my birthday was actually yesterday (the 6th), my celebration kicked off on the 31st. Meg, Melissa, Marci, and I had planned to go out to dinner that evening (not for my birthday- just because it was the first time that Meg was able to come down on a Thursday). When Meg, Marci, and I got back to Melissa’s, she had set up food for a little surprise party for me! I was really surprised- I hadn’t picked up on anything all evening!
Out to dinner
Birthday Cupcakes- I was REALLY excited about them 🙂
With the mugs that Marci painted for each of us.
We ate a little, danced and twirled in the living room, and of course took some pictures. Marci had also painted insulated mugs for each of us- perfect for keeping water ice cold at the pool in the summer! She did such a great job on each of them, capturing our personalities really well (mine is covered in sparkles and glitter! 😀 ).
Poor Fitz was a little overwhelmed with the excitement.
Twirling
After that, it was about 10 pm, and we decided to head down to the pool (open 24 hours a day) for some jumping and twirling into the pool. Like children, we jumped in and then got out and did it again over and over again, and had a great time doing it! After that, we headed in for a sleepover, which involved nail painting, cupcakes, talking, and watching “The Other Woman”. It was really fun.
The next day we spent at the pool, enjoying the warm weather and sunshine.
It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it (plus- so nice to have ice cold water for a few hours in the mugs)
The second part of birthday celebrations came on Saturday when we went to the Keith Urban concert. Keith does NOT disappoint in person, and I absolutely loved the concert. I’ve been listening to his songs non-stop since then.
On the Monday before my birthday, I went with a co-worker on a 64 mile bikeride, hitting a metric century! I’ll have an entire post on that next week! I had to prove that I’m still young, and it was a great time.
My actual birthday, Wednesday, I was at a camp for a 2 day retreat for work, so it wasn’t really a work day at all, but it wasn’t a completely free day like the last few years either. The day was really fantastic though, and it was fun to have a laid back place to spend time with co-workers! Of course I had to start the day with my annual birthday run. This is the 4th birthday I’ve had as a runner, and I really enjoy my reflective runs. This run was only 1.75 miles (we had an early breakfast time and I was up until 2 am playing games), which was enough because it was really humid (my glasses kept fogging up!) and there were some intense hills at the camp (I don’t normally run hills, so this was a different sort of workout!). The run was fantastic, and I kept a pace up that I know I couldn’t have done on my birthday last year. I’m thankful that I can move and exercise, that I have a great stress reliever, and that I can feel the freedom in it.
Very late to bed, up early to run= very tired eyes
So, like I said, although I wasn’t so excited about my birthday, I had a great time. This last year of life has been really tough for so many reasons, and for those reasons I’m not too sad to leave that year behind. However, the last year of life has brought about so many great times too, and for that, I’m thankful. I’m thankful for the races I’ve run, friends I’ve made, things I’ve done through work, moments with my siblings, ways I’ve grown, and for another beautiful year of life, even when it’s been tough. And now- here’s to the next year of life!
Happy Happy Birthday! Belated, of course haha. I had a thought yesterday that instead of thinking about birthdays as “birthdays,” I am going to think of them as anniversaries of the years that I have spent with my friends and doing the things that I love. And, if that is the case, you didn’t do too badly!
Thank you! I love that view of birthdays!