pretty birthday things.

i think i said "i'm spoiled" about 84 times this weekend. make that 85.

the birthday festivities started off with a thoughtful little gift from paulie; a macro lens for my camera, saying "i thought you might want it so you can take nice close up pictures for your blog. i know you like doing that". this melted me. i don't know why, it just did. i don't need expensive jewelry (although i'd take it) or fancy perfume (i'd take that too) to make me feel like i'm spoiled rotten, my man knows the shit that's gonna turn my crank. on top of the lens, he signed me up for a 'canon camera' workshop at a local camera shop. it's only for a few hours, but i think it will help me learn some of the terminology and functions that i have avoided learning since we got the camera over a year ago. 

i just want to be able to pick it up and do my thing, but i guess a little education never hurt anyone.

he also took me to east for sushi, where i was able to cross off another item on my 30 by 30 list. i was a little apprehensive about trying it, but once i smashed the first piece in my mouth, i couldn't stop. from shrimp tempura to salmon sashimi, i was loving all of it. my favourite was their 'king of fish' roll, which was avocado and asparagus with salmon. because we had never tried sushi before, i didn't want to lead on that we were newbies, so we watched how everyone else ordered and ate their dishes. the couple next to us mixed their wasabi right into their soya sauce, which absolutely blew my brains. of course i copied and could not get enough of it. i could put that little combo on anything. steak? sure. pasta? fuck yes. i'm drooling. once we were stuffed to the point we had become "rolls" ourselves, we headed to "the office" for some after dinner drinks--including a dirty martini with a fly in it. hell, i asked for it dirty.

 now, you know how you have that one friend who always seems to top the last present they bought you? whether it was for christmas, or your birthday...or just because they saw it and it made them think of you, they always manage to find a gift that makes you say "this is so me. this is perfect". it just so happens that all of my friends are that kind of friend. for reals. and it was never more true than on this birthday. with a house full of my favourites, we busted out a 'dance central' pre-party, a couple of cocktails, the yummiest homemade cake pops and a few of the prettiest gifts. bottles of wine (my fave), sticky notes for listing (also my fave), a beautiful book of crochet gift ideas "so you can cross off #9 on your 30 by 30 list and make us all gifts" and a mirror made up of hand mirrors for my dining room. i said i was spoiled. 

we ended the night with a quick trip to the casino for some gambling and dancing. which both ended quickly as no one hit the jackpot, and the cougars at the bar in the casino were burning holes through us with their skeeving eyes. come on ladies, we aren't all after your prospective man meat. if all my birthdays could be this special, i wouldn't hate every minute of getting older. 

but we all know what they say about "ifs": if!? if!? if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.