Birthday Weekend

I had an absolutely fabulous birthday and Superbowl weekend so I thought I'd share some of the details. I woke up Saturday morning alone in bed. Sounds odd I know but it's great when J gets up with Ollie to take him out and doesn't wake me up. It's nice to be able to sleep in a little when I can.

Once they finally got back to the apartment, I was greeted with awesome balloons and a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. My mom used to get my sister and I the same number of balloons as the age we were turning up until the end of high school. She used to sneak into the school even and leave them tied in our lockers or chairs in class so it's sort of tradition for me to get balloons. I am so happy J has picked up the tradition now too. However, now that I'm older, it doesn't make sense to get that many balloons so I got these babies instead.

Ollie thinks they're pretty odd... and we do torment him a little with them.

I love my flowers, they make it feel like spring in our apartment. I'm a big fan of mixed bouquets because that way you get a little bit of everything.
These green ones are my favorites. I don't know what kind of flower they are though, so if you know, please tell me. :-)
I have such a generous family and BF that I had got lots of awesome things on my birthday. My mom sent a box filled with Starbucks gift cards, some new work out clothes (which help motivate me to actually go to the gym) and a few new pieces for my Brighton Charm Necklace.

She gave me the purple birthstone charm and the "cage" bead (2nd from the right). My sister also got me new pieces too so that was a great surprise. She picked the thin black & white stripe bead and the spacer that looks like a braid (to the right of the birthstone). I love how lots of jewelers are coming out with lines like this now.
My biggest present (and the one I love slightly more than the others) is my new HP printer. I had asked J for a photo album and a gift card to Costco or somewhere so I could get prints made of all the photos I have in my iPhoto. Instead, he decided to get me an awesome printer for home so I could print them whenever I want!

She's just gorgeous isn't she? Okay, I'm weird I know. But really, this printer is so neat. Touch screen, web capabilities, wireless printing and I can even print from it when I'm not home. Just send a quick email to it and it'll be printed by the time I get home.

He also picked out a gorgeous photo book that I spent a good portion of the day trying to fill. I love the subtle colors and the photo-viwere on the front.

I know I can always open my computer and look at any picture whenever I want but there's something different about having physical prints that I absolutely love. I decided to starting filling it with the beginning of 2010 (New Year's Eve 2009) and go from there. I'm also not including big vacations like Hawaii because I want to have a whole separate album for those things.

I love looking back at older pictures and thinking about all the fun memories. Like my 21st birthday last year....

Or catching frogs and drinking beers in the water at the lake....

I also got new pillows for the bed (that I have been asking for/complaining about for soo long), a new regular size and mini muffin pan and a giant cooling rack for all my baked goods. See, I told you I was spoiled.... and extremely grateful for the people in my life that I love.

We went on a walk around the lake in the afternoon and enjoyed the 70 degree weather we've been having here lately. (I'm sorry if your stuck in a blizzard right now and want to punch me for bragging about our weather.) We stopped by Starbucks on the way home for an afternoon treat and picked up the apartment a little for the following day.

Then J and I got all dressed up to go out for the night. We went to see Country Strong and it was a fabulous movie. If you're a country music fan (and you probably need to be to enjoy the movie to the fullest) then I highly recommend seeing it. There were so many great songs, I need to buy the soundtrack one of these days. We ended the night with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Yum-o! We ate way too much delicious food, had some great drinks and headed home to eat Red Velvet Cake instead of ordering cheesecake. J knows how much I love RV and surprised me with it.

And how do I feel now that I'm 22? Older.... not really. Happy.... definitely.