A Very Good Birthday!

It really started on the 10th. I went to dinner with my friends. Connie had told me earlier in the week that she was treating me to dinner for my birthday. Being the gracious gift getter that I am, I immediately started to whine, "No, you can't buy my dinner. I want to get the lobster!" You know how it goes---if someone else is treating, you are not going to pick a real expensive thing. She insisted. I laid out my last argument, "So how are you going to feel when I take you to Cinco de Mayo for the $7.25 dinner special?" Still, she insisted and I ordered the lobster. It was fabulous! Then, she got carrot cake for dessert. It was warm and gooey with the cream cheese frosting. Sooo good. Now I really need to come up with something better for her birthday next month. She gave me a couple good ideas through the course of conversation. One thing will be good, but I don't think the can opener will be all that special! She doesn't have to worry, I actually have a pretty good idea! 

I had so many well wishes for my birthday---from emails, Voicemails, texts and Facebook to my blog "family and friends"---I thank you!! Plus, there were all of these:

I got so many email birthday treats and cards from friends. 

Not reflected here are the Starbucks "birthday drink" and Katie's Hallmark $20 gift card that I already redeemed.

And then I got a personal message from the Universe. Here is just an excerpt:
"Barbara, you are so AWESOME! For your birthday, friends and angels from every corner of the Universe, including buddies you didn't know you had, will be with you to wish you the HAPPIEST of days and an exciting new year in time and space. You won't be alone!"

But the "topper" of ALL birthday wishes had to be this personal "shout out" from Sir Paul McCartney! Can you spell "s-w-o-o-n?"

And if all of this weren't enough, I was notified ON my birthday via email that I had won the California Powerball AND that I had forgotten to collect my funds of $2,500,000.00 from the BBC FINANCE DEPARTMENT! How much luckier can one girl get? I am lucky indeed!

Birthday well wishes continued in to Sunday when Sara---my garden girl---texted me that she had made me something. She had found out from Connie that my favorite dessert is bread pudding. 

She topped it with a creamy vanilla sauce. It is incredible. I've given a lot away and am taking some with me on my scrapbook retreat this week. I would not want to see this go to waste.

I did not get the treadmill desk. I didn't really expect to as it's pretty expensive. But, Butch said he's going to make a desktop for the treadmill we have. We'll see how that works. If it doesn't really work the way I think it will, I can always get a mini iPad. I could definitely read my blogs while on the treadmill with that! We've had our treadmill for almost 19 years now. Even though I have not used it regularly for the past few years, we've certainly gotten our money's worth out of it. 

All in all, it was a great birthday weekend. And it's not over yet! This next Friday is going to be my birthday dinner. The family will be here---I'll do most of the prep work, but then they will cook and wait on me. It's going to be fun.

Until then, I'm off tomorrow to scrapbook for the week. I can't wait for some dedicated scrapbook time.