you say its your birthday

you will probably gather this over the course of several years of living with me, but the beatles are one of my all time favorite bands. i mean, seriously, they have a song that will go with every mood, every scenario, down every path life will lead you on. some of them are sad, some of them are rebellious, some were really drugged out and confusing, but most of them are happy. this is one of my favorites:

"you say its your birthday
its my birthday too- yeah
they say its your birthday
we're gonna have a good time
im glad it's your birthday
happy birthday to you."


the beatles, "you say its your birthday" from the white album

what particularly is great about this song, is that it will always make me think of the greatest scene from the movie 16 candles. if you haven't seen it yet, i am ashamed to call you my children, go out and watch it asap. what else is amazing about this song right now, is that we are wrapping up my birthday weekend and i  had a good time.

despite my sunny florida trip getting canceled i managed to squeeze in some fun over the weekend. it started with a pedicure and massage on friday afternoon, which is always an excellent way to begin a weekend. friday night i finally was able to kill the steak i missed out on at the cattle baron's ball with a trip to the capital grille. we had dinner with the tewells, which is also a good time. what is even better than having a nice dinner at the capital grille is running into some friends from st joe, who very graciously bought our tables dinner in honor of my birthday! i mean, how amazingly cool is that? so kind and so special! i was so surprised and happy i almost forgot everyone at my table was drinking and that i would have to drive them home!

saturday was my actual birthday and daddy brought me donuts! always a win! we went to jack's basketball game and although he has ZERO interest in actually playing basketball, its so fun watch. jack never runs down the court with any sense of basketball knowledge, but lolly-gags, walks, or, my personal favorite, does the robot dance all the way down to the other basket. there is no hustle, but its freaking awesome. this week, you even convinced your best friend, porter, to robot with you.

we had lunch at barbosa's which just seems like the natural thing to do when you have grown up in st joseph. to everyone else, its kinda gross, and not really mexican food but we celebrate our birthdays with pride and cinnamon chips around here.  next was a three hour nap and i was awoken by freezing rain hitting the window. i honestly can't think of a birthday that hasn't produced some sort of "wintery mix." its just par for the course when you have an early february birthday. i recall at least two childhood parties being canceled because of it.

here is the other thing i really love about the above song- when they say "its my birthday too- yeah!" there is a sense of enthusiasm and you really, truly believe that they are happy its your birthday. people may give social networking grief, but over the course of 24 hours spanning my birthday, i received over 200 birthday wishes. that is pretty amazing. naturally, its not like these people really remembered it was my birthday, facebook gently reminded them, but they took the two minutes to help make my day special. that is freaking awesome. it really, really is.

the other thing about that song and its enthusiasm, is, that, not many people really are that excited for your birthday. i am lucky enough to have ONE person who is a champion for birthdays though. my good friend, sara stein, loves birthdays. she really loves birthdays! how could yout not love someone who loves birthdays? how internally happy and just good is she? (i might add, she has a super sweet tooth, so this might intensify her "sweet" love for birthdays and cake!) she organized a very special birthday brunch with my girlfriends this morning for me. it was so nice that my friends were willing to get up on a cold, snowy sunday morning and come eat quiche with me! how girly is that on super bowl sunday? the food was awesome, but the company was even better.

i was sitting at the brunch and i paused to actually count my blessing. on this particular morning, i had 14 of them to be thankful for. looking around this room i had new friends, really old friends and some that fell in between. there were mothers of my children's friends, my two life guiders- my yoda and my life fairy, my sister and honorary sister in law, my crazy friends, my spiritual guider that is always all ears, my musical other half, my best pals, my boyfriend and even my mother. its a bit overwhelming to think about rolling through life and collecting these characters along the way. my mom often says the thing she misses the most about living in st joseph is her really good girlfriends. i can't imagine my life without one of these girls. 

speaking directly to you vivian, woman to woman, your husband will always or should always be your very best friend, but never, never underestimate the power of your friendships with women. they are the ones who will understand what its like to walk a mile in your moccasins. you can complain about your spouse to them, and they won't hold it against him. they get how exhausted you are from being up all night with a newborn or sick child- and they will bring you coffee, food and empathy. your true girlfriends will be your best cheerleaders! they will love you when you life is good and help pick you up when its not. they understand that for your 34th birthday all you really wanted was some botox in that huge crease in your forehead and a big, fat martini but you are equally as thrilled with the little miracle your sacrificing your vanity for. and the very best thing of all, is that they will help you celebrate your birthday, even if it is a party on a cold, wintery sunday morning. 

i would like to note, the "irregular" gifts i received this birthday. most of my friends said they were at a loss since alcohol is their usual go-to birthday gift for me. i have gotten lots of starbucks and caribou coffee gift cards, spa gift cards and items related to eating. this makes a pregnant girl pretty damn happy. i would also like to add, that my mother has taken to wrapping things from my childhood and regifting them to me. this year, i added to the list a quilt that was hers and lay on my bed many years, the original earrings i got my ears pierced with and a package of my baby teeth? i can't help but giggle about all of this! if she starts wrapping cat food filled jello molds, i will start to worry. 

daddy has finally figured out that jewelry is always an appropriate gift. always. this year he got me a stunning amethyst necklace that is about 150 years old. its my birthstone and its difficult to find one that is equally large and brilliant. he hit a home run. 

and that almost concludes my birthday extravaganza, with the exception of birthday/wedding cake cupcakes that will be awaiting me at work on tuesday. it was almost worth going back to work just to get cupcakes on your birthday! grandma wrapped up her ten day stay and headed back to kirksville with a sore back and a cold. poor old lady grandma. it was nice to have her here and we are all going to miss her. 

it was my birthday, and i had a good time.