Did you have Monday off??? If so, this is because it was National Observance of Karyl's Birthday.

Tee hee.

So yeah, now I'm 27. I must be incredibly ancient... no, wait -- that's my sister Michele!!!!!

Just kidding.

I'm not the type of person to do a whole lot for my birthday. As long as I get recognition that it's a special day from folks like my sister and my husband, I'm good to go. In fact, I even told Kurt he really didn't have to get me anything. I just wanted to have a good day. That was present enough for me.

Of course, he ignored me and got me something anyhow.

What did he get me???

First, some background. When we were discussing birthday presents in general, I told him, "maybe I should just get myself a new outfit because you know, I'm tired of wearing jeans and a t-shirt all the time." (I dread turning into one of "those" stay-at-home moms, the ones that wear sweatpants and a ratty t-shirt all the time, never wear makeup, and have their hair looking like a rat's nest at all times. I may be a stay-at-home mom, but I'd like to be one with a tad bit of style!)

So Kurt went to the NEX while I got groceries at the commissary, and he managed to find an outfit for me, remembering that conversation!!! I was so floored by that!!!!

He got some lovely stretch sage green pants with a dusty purple 3/4 length buttondown blouse. That's the other thing that completely floored me -- he knows I don't like long sleeves (woe to my short arms), he knows I love purple and green, he knows my sizes!!!! He didn't try to "make me feel better" by buying me a smaller size!!

I am a size 16, and proud of it because a year ago I was busting outta my 18s. And I'd been a size 18 for YEARS. Now I'm happy being a 16.

The problem is the pants are tight. Like insanely tight. They're still comfy because they've got so much stretch to them, but they're like two sizes too small. They must be cut small.

Gracie got me a pink V-neck shirt with sequins on the V-neck and a little bit of white in the deep part of the V. Apparently she grabbed it off the hanger and handed it to Kurt, so she must have good taste too!!!

I kicked off my birthday just after midnight by opening Michele's present to me -- beautiful rose gold filigree earrings. They're so pretty!!! I love rose gold anyhow.

For my birthday itself, we went down to Tacoma to see my friend HC!! I needed to go to Nordstrom's because one of my French bras had popped the wire out, and Nordstrom's has an awesome return policy. So we went to the Tacoma Mall (but avoided getting shot, which is always a plus, especially on one's birthday), and I successfully returned my bra for the exact same one. Hopefully the wire won't pop again. It didn't do that on the toffee-colored version.

We headed out to an Italian restaurant for lunch, which tasted wonderfully but we ended up with crappy service. That's okay -- the waitress got a crappy tip!! I'm very conscientious about tipping at least 15% and more like 20% when we get good service. But when the waitress takes well over ten minutes to come over to us before taking our drink orders when the restaurant isn't even busy (and there were plenty of other servers so it's not like she was the only one there), and then completely forgets that my husband has water and fills the glass with iced tea, and then takes another 20 minutes after putting in our order to get it to us as Grace and HC's kids are acting up because they're starving to death, she doesn't get the 20% or even 15%. I think Kurt gave her just over 10%.

But the food was good. :o)

On the way back to HC's house we stopped at Baskin-Robbins and I got me an ice cream cake!! I loooooooove ice cream cakes, although Baskin-Robbins has NOTHING on the old Carvel ice cream cakes I used to have as a kid. Those were amazing. Once at HC's house, we loaded the kids up with ice cream cake till they were spinning out of control on a sugar high!! But we all had a good time, and that's the most important thing!!!

We started heading back home around 5:15pm, at which point Miss Gracie completely passed out in the back seat. We decided to stop by the big NEX on the way; however, my plans were foiled when we got in the store and they announced they were closing in 15 minutes at 6pm. They must have been on holiday routine. But I did manage to pick out a couple more shirts for myself. I naturally gravitated towards the baby area, but Kurt grabbed me and forcibly took me to the misses' department so I could get something for ME.

So all in all, I had a great birthday. Thanks to everyone who made it happen!! :o)