Our birthdays are very close to each other: Mike's is September 23rd and mine is October 10th. With only a few weeks between them, it's a great time for us to do a bunch of partying!
Michael's Birthday
We didn't do all of the celebrating for Michael's birthday on just one day. We would have had it not been for our school and work schedules: he goes to class before I do, I was at work before he came home, and I worked until 9 that night. Instead of going somewhere and doing something then, we decided to just have a nice dinner the next day. I wish I had pictures, but we were having too much fun to think about getting out the camera!
What we did on his birthday:
- I tried to make his day special by cooking him breakfast. The day before, I bought potatoes, eggs, onions, a green bell pepper, bacon and orange juice so I could make him scrambled eggs with diced vegetables, hash browns (using our lovely America's Test Kitchen cookbook), and...well, bacon. (I ended up making two batches of the hash browns because I didn't make the first one right and it burned, so it was quite icky.)
- After we both were off of work, we went to Jacob and Jane's house, where Jane fed us a SUPERB steak dinner. We were too full to eat the cake right afterwards, so we had to chill out for a while until our stomachs could fit it in. How great it is to have family so close! I love getting to hang out with Jane, listening to Jacob and Michael talk law and politics, and watching Halle jump around like a frog.
What we did the next day:
- We wanted to go to our favorite Jamaican restaurant about half an hour from us (Michael served his mission in Jamaica, and this place had a Jamaican woman cook everything there), but when we called they didn't answer. Mike told me that they weren't getting enough business and that they were going to close down, so we wondered if they were gone now. (Their website is still up, though. http://www.ronniesribs.com/) I thought we might try going to The Chimes (http://thechimes.com/the-chimes/home/) because it's close and a big part of LSU culture, but there was an away LSU game that evening and we figured it would be PACKED with loud, drunk people watching the game on a Saturday night. After asking Jane about her favorite places, we decided on a place called Zea Rotisserie & Grill (http://www.zearestaurants.com/site.php). It was a little bit expensive, but we sure got some amazing food. I ordered a rotisserie chicken. It was weird/funny to see half of a cooked chicken sitting on my plate. Mike got this great salmon dish that was absolutely perfect.
Natalie's Birthday
Unfortunately midterms fell on the week of my birthday (but I got A's on all of them, so that's a nice birthday gift), which meant I had to do a bunch of studying on and around my b-day, but luckily Fall Break was at the end of that week! Like Michael's, my birthday was spread out over a few days as well.
- The first event of the day was dropping my car off at the local Campus Car Care to get an oil change! Then started class, took my Speech midterm, came home, and then picked up my car. After Mike and I got back from that, we heard a knocking on the door. When I opened the curtains to see who it was, I saw that it was my Halle girl! She gave me a rose she and Jane picked from the store. It was so sweet! Jane also gave me a tray of assorted cheesecakes and some left over groceries from her WIC benefits...namely a block of cheese and a dozen eggs! I really was stoked to have them, which surprised me, but even more stoked that Jane and Halle took time out of their day to wish me a happy birthday. After thy left, Michael went to a mock law class and informational session put on by the LSU Law School, and I studied for my Psychology midterm and quiz for the next day.
When Michael came home, I looked over at the door, him dressed up all nice from his law thing, and he had a dozen red roses in his hand! They were absolutely beautiful! I put them in a vase and set them in a prominent spot in our home (namely, next to the computer).
Then we went out to do our own celebrations. I didn't really want to have an actual cake, all I wanted were beignets, so we headed over to Coffee Call (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coffee-Call-in-Baton-Rouge/108057739222848) and ate our fill of those glorious fried, powdered delights and washed them down with hot chocolate. I liked how it felt like a fun date, and the whole time Michael made me feel so pampered and so special.
Our cute little Coffee Call in Baton Rouge.
Hot chocolate and beignets! Yum!
Michael got powdered sugar on his nice black pants. Oh no! We put the really flimsy napkins they provided on the table on his lap....I think it helped.
The aftermath, plus the last beignet neither of us could finish. We put it in a bag and brought it home.
The best part was when we came home. Before we left, Michael ran back inside to "grab something." What he actually did was pull something up on the computer, so when I came home I saw this on the screen:
IT WAS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!!!!!1111!1 :D Oh man, I've been so excited to play this game. I beat it yesterday. What a masterpiece of gaming. Great writing, funny/epic storyline, awesome characters, mind-boggling puzzles... I feel enriched and satisfied. I love my husband so much. - Fall Break started that Wednesday, October 12th, and we had the whole weekend off. We went to Houston to spend time with my family. While I was over there, we did a lot of relaxing, my mom and I did a lot of shopping at garage sales, and Jennifer did a lot of playing Zelda on our Nintendo 3DS... ;) My parents were very kind to us! They fed us yummy food, bought me a bunch of housewarming stuff, and made a chocolate "cupcake cake."
A few of the fun things we got. The red caddy, most of those utensils in it, cutting boards, and a blender I've been using a lot.
We got this lovely thing at a garage sale. It ended up making my official "birthday cake."
I had a great birthday week, but at the same time it's weird how different this birthday has been from how I viewed them as a kid. 22's really not an exciting number... The past few years it's been "License!" "Voting!" "Not a teenager any more!" "Old enough to buy alcohol!" Now it's like "Oh, I guess I'm older today." That's how I felt the entire morning of my birthday. It wasn't a bad thing, though. It just seemed like a normal day. And all I wanted were beignets. BEIGNETS! I didn't want prime rib or Melting Pot or diamonds or clothes or jewelry or a huge cake or a party or anything like that, I just wanted to be around the people I love. I suppose that's how most of my birthdays will be for the rest of my life! I'm lucky, though, to have friends and family who still make it special for me even when I feel like it's just any other day, and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who makes me feel like a princess not just when I'm a year older, but most days in general!
Life's pretty good.
