My friend AS had called me yesterday morning to see if I wanted to meet her and her little girl at the park after lunch. Of course, since Grace's and my schedules are so out-of-whack with the rest of the world, I had to hurry up and feed Grace lunch only two hours after she had breakfast, but oh well.
As I'm driving down to the park, it's fairly warm, in the 40s. The sun is out, the sky is amazingly blue, the clouds that are present are big and white and fluffy. You couldn't ask for a better day. There were some occasional grey clouds that hid the sun for a few moments, but in general it was a lovely day.
Grace and her little friend spent almost two hours at the park, running around the playground equipment and going down the slides. There's this slide that is actually three slides in one, and so her little friend goes down on side, and Grace will go down the other side at the same time. Or her little friend will try to go down the curvy slide and get a bit stuck, and Grace will land on top of her. It's so fun to watch them play.
Then we went down into the little town and got some coffee at a coffee shop. I also got lunch since I hadn't eaten, and AS bought a ginormous chocolate chip cookie to share with everyone. All four of us were sitting at a table, enjoying the cookie, when AS's table tilted at a crazy angle, and her coffee went flying. I tried my best to catch it, but as I did so, the lid popped off and the cup itself slid through my hands. I ended up with coffee all in the inside sleeves of my faux fur coat, but poor AS was covered in coffee from the hips down. And there was coffee ALL OVER the floor. We got some paper towels from the person working at the coffee shop and managed to wipe all the coffee up, but we still smelled like coffee.
Oh well. There are worse things to smell like!
We went back to the park and let the kids play a little bit of soccer with a little ball AS had brought. But then a couple of dogs came up to the field too. One was this really pretty mottled black and grey dog, full grown, and the other was a puppy who was part boxer. The puppy was just TOO CUTE. She loved me. She kept coming over to me and snuggling and kissing me. I was in love. Puppies are so adorable! But then the large black dog went after the girls' soccer ball, which was just a regular small plastic ball, and when he grabbed it in his mouth, he punctured it. He didn't want to give it back, either! AS had to trek over to the other end of the field to get the ball back, which is when she realized it was now a deflated ball.
After all that play, I felt like going shopping at the NEX. All I wanted to get was some cream eyeliner by Clinique, but I fell prey to the adorable new spring and summer clothes that have just come out. And remember my rant about no good dresses for toddler girls?? There were TWO entire racks of cute, casual-type dresses by Carter's and by Healthtex. Of course, Grace needed new dresses. And then there was that Hello Kitty outfit she needed, and I needed new sunglasses and a sunglasses case, and Kurt's birthday present (shhhh I can't tell you what it is!), and some diapers...
I about fell over when I saw the total. I don't normally spend that much in one fell swoop except at the commissary. But it's okay -- we got our tax refund a few weeks ago and I haven't spent any of it yet.
Once we got home, it was time for my birthday celebration to continue!! My friend HC had called as I was driving home to see what I was doing because we'd discussed her coming over and spending the night. So she headed up here, where I fed her my now-famous bean & barley stew (which she loved), as well as mixed greens salad with feta and tomatoes.
I found out Grace LOVES tomatoes. Maybe she likes the squirty factor of cherry tomatoes; I don't know. I guess I will have to keep fresh tomatoes on hand.
After dinner I made my birthday cake, my now-famous Emergency Chocolate Cake. Then it was off to bed with Grace, which annoyed her to now end. She hates going to bed when someone is visiting because she thinks she'll miss something. Poor girl. HC and I then watched Office Space. God, I love that movie, but you know... I don't think I've ever seen it from the very beginning all the way to the very end. There were scenes I swear I'd never seen before.
Once the movie was over, I was exhausted. I guess it was all that fresh air I'd gotten at the park! HC decided it would be better if she headed home, and once she left, I crawled in to bed to read a bit. The funny thing is, she forgot my birthday present at home, so I still have one present to open in the next few weeks, whenever I see her again.
And speaking of presents, my good buddy Art sent me a birthday card with a gift certificate to Starbucks tucked inside!! What a fantabulous present!!! I shall have to go indulge in some lovely Starbuck-ian goodness soon.
Mmmm coffee.