24

My 24th birthday was Monday, and I can honestly say it was one of the best yet.  Last week Robert brought me Panera one day at work since he was to be working all day on my actual bday and wouldn't be able to eat lunch with me then.  Panera is still one of my all time favorite restaurants.  On my actual birthday week we started celebrating by Robert making pumpkin pie lasagna for our Sunday School class to celebrate.  I'm so glad Robert is good at and enjoys cooking and baking.

Mittens was obviously pumped to celebrate

Monday morning we ate breakfast together at the house which doesn't always happen.  It's nice to be able to chat a bit before leaving for work.  Blueberry coffee cake and scrambled eggs definitely tops oatmeal on the go!  When I got to work I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my decked out cubicle!  Mary Beth decorated it with streamers and balloons, and it looked great!  And MB included purple because she knows it's one of my fave colors.

It ended up raining all day which would ordinarily be a bummer, but the rain meant work got cancelled for Robert which was the best thing about the whole day!  It meant I didn't have to go home and be by myself all evening.  Robert and I ended up going out to eat at Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill.  It's pretty much like HuHot, and it was very tasty.

The Hubs even shaved for my bday!

Right before we had left for lunch I got flowers delivery from Jim & Taylor and my parents.  So pretty!  I got back to work from lunch and MB had red velvet cupcakes ready for everyone.  Julie gave me a new dessert plate that she had hand-painted at a pottery store.  It totally caught me off guard and was so sweet.  She picked pink because she knows it's my other fave color.  It really is a good feeling to know people listen to you and really know you.  The whole office had signed a card for me, too.

Later in the afternoon Mom's 4th graders called to sing happy birthday!  And then one of our vendors found out it was my birthday and called just to wish me a good bday.  How sweet!

I got home and our Sunday School teacher and 4 daughters had decorated our apartment, and it was beyond awesome - balloons, streamers, a sign, posters, banners, and window paint.  Robert prepared a delicious mean of grilled steak, mashed potatoes, veggies, and rolls.  I also spent some of the evening talking to lots of family on the phone. :)

I did something very unlike me and practiced self-control by not opening my presents until my actual birthday.  I'm glad I waited!  The presents were so thoughtful.

My first infinity scarf, courtesy of my parents

Happy birthday to me!

I had such a great birthday on Sunday!  My parents had been in town last weekend which was a wonderful birthday present.  Robert did an awesome job of finishing all of his homework for the weekend by the time I got home on Friday.  That was a huge present because it meant we could have fun all weekend without him having needing to study at all.

On Saturday we went to The Olde English Tea Room for lunch.  It was delicious, per usual.  They have their shopped open downstairs.  Right now they are working on clearing out the inventory from the previous owner so everything is 25% off.  Once those items are gone they will restock the store with new inventory starting in October.  We will definitely have to go back once that happens.

Next we went over to The Giving Tree.  This is seriously one of the coolest stores.  It's a thrift store, but all of the profits go to Wake county schools.  It's an old house that they've turned into a store.  It's very clean and well-organized.  We ended up purchasing two games that were still in their original wrapper, and they were only $1 each.  We will definitely be going back.

We rounded out the day by getting all caught up on Grey's Anatomy.  I never thought I'd live to see the day that Robert would watch this show with me, but this summer he watched the entire series with me and loved it!  Now we're ready for the season premier this month.  After that, I got to take a nap while Robert cleaned the kitchen and made homemade pizza.  Yum!

Our church started a new budgetary year on September 1, and we started a new three year initiative on September 8 - I like to think of that as my birthday party.  So on the 7th we had a 24 hour prayer vigil.  Sunday School classes signed up for one hour time slots, and our class got 9:00-10:00pm.  I can't say that I've prayed for an hour straight many times, but it was a cool experience.  We had printouts of very specific prayers.  Praying specific prayers is something Pastor has been teaching us lately.  You can tell God your specific prayers.  "God, we want to see 100 people baptized this year," instead of "God, let a lot of people get baptized."  I believe that God hears both prayers, but it's definitely a different way to think about prayer.  We finished up the experience by partaking in the Lord's Supper.

On Sunday morning I woke up and Robert was already at church, but I found a very thoughtful note from Robert awaiting me.  I got all fancied up and was ready to go when Robert came back to pick me up.  Right when we got to Faith I saw Andrea, our Sunday School teacher.  She was waiting for me with a birthday card and a huge hug.  We haven't known her and her husband for long, but I can seriously say they are some of the most loving people I've ever met.  They make me feel so special and cared for.  They are great listeners and truly love us.  Andrea had asked Robert what kind of treat I wanted for Sunday School.  Robert said anything with chocolate chips - he knows me well.  So chocolate chip muffins were our treat for the day - delicious!  I had a few other people tell me happy birthday as I walked into the sanctuary.  So sweet!  It's really crazy to think about how many people we've met and become friends with since my last birthday.  Last year I'm pretty sure the only person who acknowledge my birthday in North Carolina was Robert.  When I got to Sunday School Robert had some gorgeous flowers with a note set up for me and the class sang happy birthday to me.  We had a Sunday School Social after class.  It was awesome!  The food was delicious, the children were adorable, we watched football, and they sang happy birthday to me again.  Andrea had made a delicious dessert - brownies with chocolate chip cookies baked on top.  So awesome!

When Robert and I got home we opened presents.  Robert got me a bunt pan, my parents got me a cover for our Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer (they had already taken me on a shopping spree last weekend), and Serina got me a super cool coloring book.  She took 40 or so of our favorite pictures and turned them into coloring pages.  How cool is that?  Then I talked on the phone with Mom and Dad, Serina, Bethany, Ray, Grandma and Grandpa, Jim, and Facetimed with Memaw and Pepaw.  I also got countless birthday texts and Facebook messages.  Then we took another nap.  No birthday is complete without a nap, if you ask me.  Robert made dinner and then we have five friends over for dessert and Wii games.  One couple got me the book Love Does.  I've read two chapters so far, and it's really good!

On Monday I got a couple more cards, some birthday money, and I coworker brought me a cupcake so I got to keep the celebration going! 

So I'm 23 now.  In my mind I'm still thinking I'm 22, but it'll catch up with me eventually.  I've just been reflecting on when I started high school.  That was almost a decade ago.  9 years.  It's incredible to think about how much happens in a decade...a year...a day.

Anniversaries and Birthdays

Last Thursday Robert took me out to eat to celebrate my 21 birthday.  He drove me to class and ran errands for me while I sat in class.  He dropped off our rings to have them engraved.  Since my engagement ring is essentially three bands that are interwoven, I'm not getting a separate wedding band.  I bought Robert's wedding band the day we got my ring insured.  Anyway, Robert picked the inscription - chesid.  It's Hebrew, and of course we'll be using the actual Hebrew symbols.  The "c" is silent, and there's a gutteral sound at the beginning.  Anyway, it means covenant loyalty or lovingkindness.  The major bummer though is that it can take up to two weeks to get the rings back.  Seven days down.  Hopefully it'll be less than seven days before we get them back.  I know it might sound weird, but I'm kind of self-conscious that people think we broke up since I'm not wearing my ring.  Plus, my finger looks so plain now.  So after class, Robert took me to a surprise restaurant for dinner.  We ended up going to The Aviary.  It was delicious, and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area.  It's in downtown Springfield.  Of course, we failed to take pictures, but the inside is absolutely adorable.  There is a gigantic fake tree in the middle of the room that reaches to the ceiling, antique bird cages, a fireplace, beautiful artwork, and you can even watch the cooks make your dinner.  The restaurant specializes in crepes, but it does have typical main dishes as well - steak, shrimp, etc.  Robert and I had only ever had dessert crepes before, so we decided to branch out and order savory crepes.  I order the Venetian - asparagus, spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms with mascarpone cheese on the side and three cheese mashed potatoes for my side dish.  I could pick from mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, salad, or fruit.  Robert got the salmon crepe and mashed potatoes as well.  We split an Aux Nuella crepe (chocolate mousse, Nutella, whipped cream, chocolate shavings) for dessert.  Our server was great, and we loved the atmosphere.  Right after we ordered, approximately thirty ladies who were 70+ years old showed up for dessert.  I'm guessing that isn't typical, but for a second I wondered if we were crashing their party.  After we ate we enjoyed a lovely stroll downtown.
Coincidentally, our 1 1/2 year anniversary was Tuesday so we got to do some more celebrating.  Robert had a mandatory fire drill at 9:00pm so we knew we couldn't go to Springfield or do anything super big. So we decided to make our own dinner - glazed pork chops grilled on the barbie, grilled asparagus, grilled mixed vegetables (zucchini, onions, green bell pepper, Mexi-corn) {are you noticing a theme yet? GRILLED} and pasta salad (spaghetti noodles, chopped up turkey, onion, feta cheese, parmesan cheese, and Italian dressing).  I made sweet tea too.  Since Robert is a grill master I try to take advantage of it by having him cook us dinner as much as possible.  :)  We packed up our food and took it to Playter Park.  It had been about 100 in the day, but by the time we ate it was about 80, the sun was setting, and there was a bit of a breeze so it was perfect.  After we ate, we strolled around the neighborhood (Lakewood Hills) and admired the houses we can't afford.  It's fun, really.  We'll say things like, "Ooo!  That one has a big yard.  That'd be perfect for kids," "I love the brick/rock combo!" "I want a yard with a weeping willow tree," "That looks like the house I grew up in."  I like dreaming with Robert.