birthday

On my birthday I woke up to Snoqualmie pancakes made by my husband yum! My gift to myself that day was to take a break from my private practice stuff and do some things for myself: go for a long run, take a bath, wear fancy clothes. Then Don surprised me with two tickets to go skiing and beautiful flowers when he got home! He was pretty sick all weekend so the fact that he was able to go shopping and celebrate with me in some small ways was a really amazing gift in itself. We did take it slow for much of the weekend though, and fortunately he's feeling somewhat better at this point. I think it's because he's a faithful Neti Pot user now!
Don and I had so much fun at my birthday party. My parents had us over. It was a feast! That alone was such a nice birthday present! My dad made wild sockeye salmon (there was a whole fish there!), a crab cluster for everyone, and prepared the coconut prawns (I got to deep fry them, my specialty). My mom made a huge salad, cornbread, chocolate covered strawberries, and chocolate cake. I was so full! In honor of my 25th birthday I got some real grown up presents. I got an amazing knife from my chef brother-in-law and sis, an air filtration system from my parents, and a coffee gift certificate from my other siblings. And now I am a quarter century.
For V-day I took my honey to the Mac Store to spend his Christmas money and out to Chipotle, his fav. Then he took me to buy some clothes, it was fun! He ended up falling asleep in the car, but in the end he met me in the dressing room and helped me pick out a few things. We compromise, as narcolepsy is not always the most romantic of diseases. I had fun! Afterwards we came home for a big meal and watched depressing love movies on tv... wow, Valentine's day is such an interesting American tradition. You should have seen all of those crazy ladies at Victoria's Secret!
Of course, I had to let Donovan know that I hate sharing my birthday weekend with every other woman in America. We had a dinner gift certificate but we couldn't use it because Don didn't want to weather the storm of Valentine's day couples at the restaurant. Maybe later this weekend we'll get to go. But all in all it was super fun. It reminded me of friends that I've spent past birthdays with (Jeannie, Jackie, Megan, Hee Jung, Lauren, George, and Daniel) and made me miss them. It also reminded me of how they were my family when I didn't get to see my family and how sweet they all were to me every day, not just on my birthday. I miss you all lots. We are getting much closer to being able to visit Pasadena soon, yea!