HAPPY 23!!!

For some reason, Patrick has the idea that I am 22 (vs. 32), but he knows his dad is 34. So when Chuck asked him two different times today how old I was, he said 23!!! Love that!

We had a good day starting with church and then lunch at The Cheesecake Factory with my parents and Russell. After lunch, Nicholas took a 3 1/2 hour nap while Chuck, Patrick and I looked through old pictures. Dinner was all you can eat sushi, and Tiramisu was my birthday cake this year. Regarding birthdays, there are a few stories I have to tell at this point. For my 22nd birthday, I had hinted to Chuck that I wanted this candelabra that we had seen in Portsmouth, NH. I assumed that he would drive up there on his day off and surprise me with the candelabra on my birthday. Well, to my horror (I was 22, remember), he didn't have the candelabra for me on my birthday. He had supposed that we would drive up there on my birthday and I would pick out the one I wanted. Well, we did, and I picked out a nice one (it is still hanging on our living room) and we had a great dinner on the water. All was well until we were driving home and I inquired about the cake. He is like "What cake? I just drove you to Portsmouth for the day, bought you a very expensive candelabra and seafood dinner". At this point I am tearing up about the fact that for my whole life I have always blown out candles on a cake for my birthday. So, we stopped at Star Market and I ran in and got a cake. We had candles and cake when we got home and I think he was about done with me at that point. But, the moral to the story is that I scarred him for life regarding birthday cakes with candles on my actual birth day. Last year, I tried to shrug off the cake as I was dieting and he said, "You don't really mean that. If I don't end up making you a cake then you will me mad." I told him, no, I wouldn't, but he made me a great cake, anyways.

So, here are some pictures we found yesterday and a few stories to go along...

I call this my "Cover girl " shot. I am not sure why we had hay in our front yard. We didn't have horses.

This was my best friend, Heidi. She is married and lives in Chicago now. It's funny that her dad was from Germany, and they had the same brown corduroy couches and wood cut out artwork that Chuck had in his home growing up.

Gotta love the early 80s!

Happy 16th! My mom decided to torture me with an all pink affair. Don't you love the black hair!

This was my cat, Morbid. My mom is probably mortified that I am posting this picture, as cats were normally not allowed on the kitchen table.

Happy 21st! One of our favorite things to do in Austin was to float on the Guadalupe River. Happy 24th! This was one of my favorite birthdays. Chuck sent me for a spa day at a very swanky spa on Newbury Street in Boston. I was there for 7 hours! I was then picked up by our good friends Alisa and Lance who I thought we were going out to dinner with only to be driven home for a surprise birthday party!

OK, this has nothing to do with birthdays except for the fact that my cat, Luna, has now celebrated 17 birthdays with me. When we were looking through pictures yesterday, Patrick asked if this picture of Luna was taken in Boston? Austin? No, I said. It was taken at Nana & Dada's house when I was in high school. Chuck started laughing at this point at how ridiculous that sounded. She is one old cat!

This picture has nothing to do with birthdays either. I just thought it was cute. This was in Austin and I would guess Chuck is maybe 20? Sterling passed away 3 years ago. That is bread around his neck. No, we did not eat the bread!

Thanks for traveling down memory lane with me. When Chuck asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I really couldn't come up with any very exciting plans. I feel like every day is my day because I am blessed to wake up each day with the freedom of choice. So many in this world can not say that.