i normally wouldn’t have an entire post dedicated to a random birthday, but i did some cool stuff, ate some good food, hung out with fun friends, and well, i didn’t want my november post to have 60 photos, so here we are.
first of all. two days before my birthday, six weeks after my knee surgery, i was cleared by my knee surgeon doc to resume “non high impact activities”. i enlisted my outdoor/hiking friend heather to take it on a test run. i wasn’t sure how i would feel (my knee and my cardio), so we opted for moore’s knob at hanging rock (4.5 miles/900′ or so) and took it nice and slow. the day was beautiful, the company was fantastic, and the trail was empty. what more could i ask for?
my knee felt great. mostly. and my cardio hadn’t declined too much over my recovery. i am back, baby.
anyways. before we parted ways, we hit up a local cafe in danbury, where i had a very delicious post-hike sandwich and then met another woman who was celebrating a birthday. (she, however, had not just gone on a hike and told us about how she went to the gym that morning just to swipe her card and have the reader chime happy birthday to her and then she turned around and left. haha).
that evening, i spent a few hours with anna at an open house thing at the high school (!?!?!) but then it was time to celebrate with the fam.
derek got me fancy new ear buds, a quilt themed t-shirt, and a fat gift certificate to a fabric store, but check out that wrapping paper. :). anna, founder and owner and head baker of annababy cookie cakes, made me a pumpkin cookie cake, decorated like dwight schrute decorated the office for kelly’s birthday. it couldn’t have been more perfect.
then, he surprised me with a prime rib dinner. and pumpkin cheesecake. all on top of the pumpkin cookie cake. i was so stuffed.
the next day, i went out to lunch with some of my friends from work. i don’t have any photos, because it was sort of top secret, because we didn’t invite everyone, and that place is super drama like a middle school. i don’t think any of them read this blog. or at least i hope. ha. anyways. after lunch, one friend (kathy) and i went to the very store that derek gave me a gift certificate to and i spent it allllll. (they were having a big clearance sale). anyways. here’s my haul……
and then, to cap off my birthday, i went out to dinner with my pal heather. technically, this was to celebrate both of our birthdays, since hers is a couple of weeks before mine, but it’s harder and harder to squeeze in time these days. anyhow. it also happened to be during a bills game, so she generously offered to meet somewhere that the game was playing on tv and even played the part of a loyal bills mafia member. ha. (they actually played well and won, which is a rarity so far this season).
anyways. that’s the tale of my birthday festivities in the year 2023. forty seven, man. i’m not sure how, but here we are.
Sounds like a great kick-off to your next year!