As I look forward to the next year and that looming milestone birthday, I think I have a couple of major challenges that I’d like to accomplish….I’d like to run another marathon, swim the Alcatraz Shark Fest and climb Half Dome in Yosemite. Yikes! Given my starting point right now (weight: not good; fitness: not good), these would be enormous challenges and accomplishments, but what’s life without a few goals!
This year, I stayed pretty low-key on the birthday celebration front. My birthday fell on Labor Day this year, so it was a nice treat to have a long 3-day holiday weekend, which I decided needed to be all about me!
On Saturday, Susan and I headed out to Tysons Corner Mall, where I watched her drop $2,200 on a new Mac BookPro laptop. She kept wanting to add different accessories and software, to which I said, “Go ahead. At this point, it’s only another $50.” Well, surprise….those $50 add up and all of a sudden you have a pretty little bill! She’s very excited about the computer though so I think the cost will be well worth it.
Not to be outdone, I decided that I needed to take a gander through the David Yurman boutique to pick out my birthday bracelet! Whoops!
The girls and Mom gave me some birthday money to put toward a treat, so I decided to finally splurge on a nice piece of jewelry. To make a long, 30 minute shopping story short, I chose the silver and amethyst cable bracelet. I handed over my credit card to the saleslady, only to have Susan pop off with “I don’t know why you aren’t buying the bracelet with diamonds.” Uhm, ok. Ten minutes and some extra $$$$ later, I purchased the diamond and amethyst bracelet that's similar to the photo above. As I always say, no one loves me the way I love me! What started out as a gift to which I’d only need to add a little bit of money, became a gift to which I needed to add a paycheck!! Oh well, I’m very happy with it and gosh darn it, I deserve it!
As if that weren’t birthday treat enough, Susan and I decided late on Saturday night to drive to NYC to see the US Open. We took the gamble that if we showed up early enough we could scalp tickets to Arthur Ashe Stadium and see Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams and Rafael Nadal. We had a very easy 4-hour drive to Flushing Meadow and needed only 20 minutes to score two tickets at a fairly reasonable price. Yippee!
As we made our way through the gates, Susan got giddy and remarked how much she loved the refinement of the US Open. I responded by saying that any sporting event that has a Ralph Lauren store on the grounds is a sport for me!
She and I made our way to the nosebleed seats high in Arthur Ashe Stadium and had an all-day ball watching really good tennis. The day was spectacularly beautiful – lots of breezes and no humidity – and a perfect way to celebrate a birthday.
We ended our trip with a quick ride into NYC, where we had dinner at our favorite restaurant, Pomodoro on Columbus Ave., and then we headed out of town. It was a lot for one day, but well worth the effort!
On Monday, my actual birthday, it was all I could do to get out of my pjs!! Amber called me early in the morning and picked me up for a birthday breakfast at Panera, which was very fun. I spent the rest of the day puttering around my house doing the things I wanted to do – a few projects, a little cooking, a little Tivo homework and lots of birthday phone calls with friends and family.
On Monday evening, I went to dinner at Zaytinya with Susan, Amber, Chappy and Rita Ogden, who was visiting from San Francisco. It was very fun to have an evening out with the girls and a great ending to my self-declared birthday weekend….
Until next weekend of course!