Another Year Older

I had a fabulous birthday in which I was definitely intoxicated enough to forget how old I’ve become.

Seriously, how did this picture even happen? I’m very excited about that shot in my hand. Am I in the wind? Did I whip my hair back and forth?

That gif makes me laugh a lot.

Hubs and I drove out to Cocoa Beach and stayed at one of the hotels out there for a quick little birthday getaway. Over 10 of my favorite people came out to help me celebrate, so it was a good time. We spent the day at the pool.

Yeah, the beach was right there but the pool had a bar and bars win. At night, we hung out at a few pubs and enjoyed drinks paired with general laziness.

The whole Rhonda thing doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

My friends made sure the band sang Happy Birthday Rhonda to me as well. And of course all of my Facebook friends made sure to get in on the action.

We got a lot of comedians out there.

By the end of the night, I was answering to Rhonda on instinct. Also, I was told that I was offered donuts and declined them. I’m not even sure if that’s true or not. Paula would never do that but maybe Rhonda would. I’m not liking this Rhonda chick so much anymore. Forty-seven more days I can be my donut-accepting self again.

The next morning, we all went to IHOP, which I think is just what you do after a night of drinking. I mowed down a lot of pancakes. So, so many pancakes. That made up for the lack of donuts the night before.

Ken decided the syrup looked like Wolverine, so he asked the server for toothpicks and scotch tape, which she provided without question. What exactly are other people asking for that she didn’t question the toothpicks and scotch tape?

I hope the next people at our table enjoyed their syrup.

Besides all the IHOPing and beaching bar’ing, Hubs and I saw The Fault in Our Stars on Friday night. I can’t even with that movie. I felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest and stomped on for the last 30 minutes.

The dude that played Augustus was just about the most adorable thing ever and he was perfect for that role. So the movie was really good (and hubs even liked it) but I’m just not emotionally equipped to handle that crap in public.

On Sunday, we saw Edge of Tomorrow, which I liked a lot. It was fun and I dig a good Tom Cruise action flick. Oh, and I didn’t cry during it. That was a nice change. Overall a really good weekend but I’m sad it’s over because that means my movie picking privileges have gone from 100% back to 50%.

A last note for anyone who’s local: Michelle and I will be at the Mellow Mushroom on Wednesday from 5:00-9:00pm. Well, maybe not the entire time, but we will be there for a lot of it. If you come in during that time and say you’re with spirit night, 10% of your bill will be donated to the charities we’re supporting for the Chicago Marathon. So come on out and have a beer with us. 🙂

Birthday Goodness

So, the birthday was good. Really good.

I took the day off work and slept in, continuing my long-standing tradition of never working or going to school on my birthday. When I woke up, hubs had already made a trip to Publix for some groceries (I love when I don’t have to grocery shop) and then he brought me breakfast.

Hubs never calls me Paula, so it’s weird to see my name on the cake. That’s a chocolate chip cookie cake with a layer of frosting in the middle. If you think there’s too much frosting, then we just can’t be friends anymore. Or, we can be friends and you can give me all your extra frosting. Yes. That sounds like the right thing to do.

Speaking of that cake, I’m not proud of what I did.

I am not exaggerating –  I ate that all in one day. Hubs had two small bites. When he saw the cake later that night (because apparently he has self control and wasn’t hovering over it all day), he said, “this is why we can’t have sweets in the house.”

After I had my way with the cookie cake, the presents started rolling in. I’m going to assume there was no hidden meaning when the cake was immediately followed by a new pair of Crossfit shoes and running shoes with a note that said, “Use these, fatty.”  < — part of that sentence may be false

I got pink New Balance Vibrams for Crossfit. Super cute.

And Brooks Glycerin 10’s for running.

I can’t believe hubs bought me something that has to do with running. Ahhh. #love

I tried on the 11s and they felt super weird compared to the 10s. I didn’t like the look of the 10s on the shelf but loved them on my feet. Since they didn’t feel any different than the Ghost 5s (which I currently wear), I decided to take a chance on a new style (a.k.a, there could still be a bitchy post about them later on, but I’m pretty sure I’ll like them). I’ve been eyeing new running shoes for awhile now, so I’m excited to try these out.

Ok, slight detour there. Let’s get back to birthday stuff. After gifts, the foodapalooza of things I don’t normally eat started and went on all weekend. Like, this Reuben from 903 Mills Market. (That place is amazing if you live in Orlando.)

See how I got the thousand island on the side? That makes it healthy.

There was also pizza from Ale House which is mostly a seafood restaurant, but we went there specifically for pizza. That’s when you’ve hit rock bottom, my friends. When you just pick the closest restaurant you know of with pizza.

It was still delicious. There were also steak quesadillas, a bacon cheeseburger, fried cheesy jalapenos, tater tots, and nachos that all went unpictured because they were covered in my shame.

Ok, so the birthday festivities started at Mucho. Mucho is a Mexican restaurant/bar that I frequent because they have my favorite drink in the land. If you come to visit me, I will take you there, but you will probably have to drive me home.

Lisa (the BFF), moi, and Janice while I was still coherent.

There were so many friends I didn’t get a picture of that came out to help celebrate, but I guess not thinking about pictures is a sign that I had a good time. I did manage to get one of Michelle who decided that I was more important than her baby and made her first sans-baby appearance.

After Mucho closed, I really wanted to go next door to The Abbey, but they were booked for a special event. The Abbey usually hosts small concerts, plays, and private parties, but late at night on the weekends, they open the bar to the public. The place has good music and really cheap drinks, especially for being downtown, so I was bummed we couldn’t get in. Little did I know my friend, Greg, went next door, noticed the party was dead, and talked the host into letting 15 of us in. So, we ended up crashing someone else’s private party.

Sweeet.

That’s Greg, charmer extraordinaire. I swear he can talk people into anything. He is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Teri (on the left) is lucky to have snatched him up. (Ok, she’s not bad herself.)

Did I mention it was a masquerade party? We were slightly under-dressed.

The girl in the costume was celebrating her and her fiance’s mutual June birthdays and their engagement. I can’t even tell you how many times I thanked her for letting us join the party. I even donated money to her face-painting friend that was raising money for some important charity that I can’t remember, like Lonely Kittens Against being Lonely.

The next day, when I looked at the pictures on my camera, I was a little bummed that hubs and I didn’t have any together. At least, I thought we didn’t until I found our only commemorative birthday picture posted by our friend on Facebook.

Yep. That’s about right.

So basically, I had a fabulous birthday hanging out with good friends and strangers dressed like Downton Abbey. Then it took me two full days to recover which has never happened before.

I am officially old.

Picture Perfect Birthday

8:00 am – Woke up to an already fed bunny. It’s the little things.

9:30 am – Me, the treadmill, and my Nook. Walked 2.5 miles.

10:30 am – Crossfit workout (really similar to this deck of cards workout)

Noon – Brought these new babies home. Brooks Ghost 5. Also bought a pair of Saucony Kinvara 3s but they didn’t have my size so they’re on order. It’s time to find the right pair of shoes…again.

1:30 pm – My first shellac manicure. And probably 5th manicure in my lifetime. I don’t think the girl did that great of a job and why can’t they speak English? I know they were talking about me!

I didn’t love the selection of colors and this one turned out a little too neutral for me. I still like it, though.

4:00 pm – The death of me.

4:30 pm – Birthday siesta!

5:45 pm – Second workout of the day (spin) to prepare my body for an onslaught of cupcakes. My nails glowed in the black lights!

8:00 pm – Bestie comes over and I open gifts! The dress I’m wearing is one of them. After seeing the pictures, I will definitely never wear that belt again. (It didn’t come with the dress.)

9:00 pm – Time to go out and celebrate! Downtown Wall Street Plaza.

9:30 pm, 9:45 pm, 10:15 pm, 10:30 pm, …..

Whipped vodka and club soda. But then I switched to sweet tea vodka and club soda, which rocked my pants off. I was wearing no pants because they were rocked off.

Sometime after midnight

After bar hopping downtown and about 10 poorly played games of Erotic Photo Hunt, we caught a cab home. It was a really good birthday.

I Love BJs

Yesterday was a good day. 🙂

After the Hubs got home from work, we went to dinner at BJs Brewhouse (Birthday Girl’s choice).

We got almost exactly the same thing as last time because it was so amazing and we didn’t want to screw up a good thing. I forgot my camera, so please excuse the reuse.

We had Chicken Lettuce Wraps as an appetizer:

Creole Tilapia for the main course.

And the Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Pizookie for dessert.

(That’s a pizza cookie by the way, and if you haven’t had one before, run don’t walk to BJ’s and get one.)

I was a little worried about the walnut part of the dessert since I hate them, but I couldn’t taste them at all. It was DELICIOUS. Like, TOO delicious. We ate half the dessert and then walked out. 😦

After dinner, we went to see X-Men: First Class.

It was really good and I loved how it tied into the other X-Men movies. I could nerd out on the different actors in the movie, like Jennifer Lawrence as Mystic and how I think I’m going to love her in The Hunger Games now. Or how one of the actors was the same chick from Bridesmaids and Insidious…but I won’t.

Ok, I will. 

 

The only thing that annoyed me is how much James McAvoy did this:

We get it. You’re using your powers and the ole finger-to-the-temple signifies that. But really, did you have to do it ALL the time?

Speaking of, I love me some James McAvoy. Is it the accent? Is it the blue eyes? Is it the fact that if I saw him at a bar, I’m pretty sure I could hit that? I don’t know.

Now, I’m back to work. It was so nice having a day off randomly in the middle of the week. Now just two more work days till the Katy Perry concert on Thursday. 🙂

Who do you love that’s not an obvious heart throb? (Besides James McAvoy, I love Topher Grace. I’m sure Michelle will remind me of the others I love in the comments. Hee.)

What’s your favorite comic book movie? (X-Men 2 hands down. Hulk is second – the first one with Eric Bana, not the Ed Norton one. Dark Knight is probably 3rd for me. Don’t judge my placement of Dark Knight. This is my blog! 🙂 )

Reasons My Friends and Family are Awesome

First of all, thank you to all my blog friends and real life friends that left birthday wishes in the blog comments, Facebook comments, and tweets. You guys are seriously the best. I get all giddy reading them because I’m sappy like that.

Today’s been a good day so far. I got up early because I had a headache and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I took advantage of the time and did the dishes, cleaned the bathroom, and picked up around the house. You’re probably thinking, “that is the lamest start to a birthday ever.” But trust me, having everything in order is the only way I can relax later.

After cleaning, I headed to the gym. I copied Michelle and did a tempo run on the treadmill since I hadn’t received my email from my running group yet.

Workout: 6 miles (57 minutes)

It was the best run I’ve had in a LONG time. So good, that every song on my playlist was doin’ it for me. So I’ll post it!

I like my dirty words to stay in my songs, thank you.

Now onto reasons my friends and family are so awesome. It’s because they do things like this for my birthday:

I did know bunnies could write, however.

Once I have alcohol, cupcakes move to the top spot for my heart. Oh, and more alcohol.

And the day isn’t even over yet.

Now, I wouldn’t wish unemployment on anyone that didn’t want to be unemployed. But, I’m a little excited my friend Kristianna is unemployed right now. Because she’s coming over to hang out with me.  

And really, it’s all about me.

Gratuitous Birthday Post

Someone’s turning 35 29 today!

I’ve already had a cupcake for breakfast. It’s gonna be a good day.