0 Belated Birthday

This is a delayed posting, but what's new.  My birthday was about a month ago and its one of those unmentionable milestones.

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This year my sister and I decided to have a combined bash.  It was [in the voice of the Incredibles kid] toootttally wicked!  We originally wanted it to be a bit more extravagant as she also had an unmentionable milestone b-day as well.  I'm talking Hollywood theme, costumes, the whole shebang. But funding turned weak and we toned it down a bit.

I was envisioning paparazzi:

Screen Capture from the E! show Kendra: Let them eat cupcakes
One can order this here.

Dressing as Audrey Hepburn:

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Finger foods, cinema decor, etc.  An awards portion for best dressed, best supporting sister, best actor (throughout the night), etc. complete with statues and tickets given upon their arrival for voting.

Here's the original invite I created for the event:

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Here's what it ended up being in the end:

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In the end we ended up renting a venue with beautiful views of the river, a nice turn out with a good mix of family and friends.  We ordered this cute cake of both of us.

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It reminded us that we do not have enough decent pictures of us together, as this one was taken from her sons birthday quite a few years back.  Anyway, the cake was half raspberry and half banana.  The woman who made our cake (from Chris's cake creations btw) is pure genius when it comes to baking the perfect cake.

We still had 'finger food' like quesadillas, crackers and cheese, chips and salsa, etc. I made these cute little signs for the food to try to dress it up a bit.

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We kept a bit of the theme rolling with the black table cloths and popcorn buckets with streamer-thingies popping out.

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I had one brother-in-law incident that was downplayed by amazing Aunts and Uncles.

I am not one to boast, or even accept gifts well but here are some of the neat gifts I got this year:

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For those that don't know, it's nook from my very thoughtful mother-in-law. She said she thought of the idea when we were on the plane home from Cali reading my book.  I looked over and a woman had one, and mentioned I liked the ones where I could read outside without the glare.  What a thoughtful woman!  As a side note, I'm relieved to hear she still wants to remain close.

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The next one I got from the marine and it was new headlights for my car.  Most people wouldn't think this a very thoughtful gift, but it was.  Considering mine took a nice sand blast from California sandstorms.  Buffing them out was a semi-failed attempt.

Click here if you want to buy one.

The next one was from one of my closest friends.  He really didn't have to get me anything.  He's pretty amazing.  He knows I don't accept gifts well, but he does it anyway.  But he managed to sneak in a target gift card.  You may think, boo, lame, etc, but it was a fantastic idea.  Why you say? because he's a tech guy and I always ask him about his review/opinion of tech gadgets. Yep he's that kinda awesome. Again, he really didn't have to get me anything.  Any-who, I've asked him for almost a year his opinion on external Hard Drives.  He always gave his opinion and I finally took the plunge.  Boy am I glad I waited, I got a 1.5 TB [Yes Terabytes with a T] external hard drive all for the low price of $79.99.  Sure, I probably could have gone online and purchased for less BUT I had a gift card and only ended up spending about $20 of my own mullah on this baby.  Did I mention, he really didn't have to get me anything?

Next up, my aunt-in-law if it is even a technical term.  She got me this ornate black flowered scarf.

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And these adorable earrings.

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Last but not least, pops got me a gift certificate to an incredibly delicious restaurant near me. 

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Really these things were far beyond what I could imagine, as I really just wanted every one's presence.  Such thoughtful amazing gifts! 

2 Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

In the famous words of David Bowie: Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes. Yep things are-a-changing.

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Separation papers are in process. It's all too common now for the big 'D' word. [Had to add a little denial in there]

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Now that that bomb has dropped lets see how things are changing (in no particular order):

1. The 'D' causes further delays on a home.  Yes, still learning patience the hard way.
2. Try to focus on positivity and ensure this change doesn't negatively affect daily life especially career-wise.
3. College plans are now free to begin ANYTIME I want.
4. Repairing old friendships and strengthening family ties.
5. Changing focus on daily life and future plans.
6. Remain positive (yes, this is listed twice).
7. Right before it all unraveled, I started focusing on healthy living with diet and exercise.  Maintaining this is key to me personally.

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With Karate every-other-day and running on opposite days, I think soon enough I can add in 100 crunches or so.  Bathing suit-awesome summer here I come!

This post may not make a whole lot of sense right now, but that's kind of how life is at this point.

Signing off.