Birthday 29

Yesterday was the kick-off to my 29th year and it was one stellar kick-off if I do say so myself. I had an absolutely beautiful day.

But to rewind back to the week before the b-day, I was lucky enough to start my celebrations with flowers from my dad and a delicious family dinner made by my momma while we were at my parents' house last Sunday. For real - her twice baked potatoes will knock you out of your shoes. I didn't have my camera with me, dangit, but the company and food were lovely. We left full and happy with a small mountain of Mandarin Orange cake with Pineapple Cool Whip icing. Thank you family!

Fast forward to yesterday and we have a special day of texts and facebook messages and phone calls and lots of love. We also have a day of Matt being his super adorable self. He planned a whole day of surprises fit for a queen! First, he visited me at school during my lunch break so we could eat together. Then I met up with him again after work for dinner. I thought we were going to the very nice Sophia's, but he had made other plans! The sly dog - he took me to CC's City Broiler for dinner! I know this might not mean much to people who don't know my town, but after 11 years of living here, I have never once found a reason to go out for such a swanky dinner. We sat down among the glassware and white linen tables like children at the adult table. We've shared plenty of fancy restaurant meals before, but because I've always, always, always wanted to eat at this particular place the excitement I felt was like the pleasant torture of waiting for Santa to make some noise on the rooftop.

Anyway. The house chop salad has been touted my all who enter as the best in town. Hands down, this is the truest of statements. From the bowl actually formed from cucumber slices to the housemade dressing, this salad has my full approval. Best. In. Town. We moved from salad and the best sourdough bread Matt has ever eaten to our main entrees - the Surf and Sirloin. Insert angelic music here because I don't have words to describe these melt-in-your-mouth delicacies. Sirloin steak with herbed butter. Beer battered lobster tail. Angels singing. Seriously. Even the baked potato (baked in rock salt so as to hold the moisture, dontcha know) was above my expectations. It was the best meal I have ever eaten. What a great surprise. Thank you, Matt Foster!

[ A dark phone picture of us at CC's. Full and happy.]

After dinner, Matt took me to one of my favorite coffee shops/bakeries to play Scrabble. We sat for almost three hours and battled it out, word after word. What a fun date and a way for us to chat during this busy, busy, busy season of basketball refereeing and other work. It was perfect. Around 10:00pm we packed up our letter tiles and made for home. Sleep has been eluding me lately, but last night it was not as bad as normal. Thank you biology!

What a wonderful birthday full of friends and family and gifts and food and games and my love. Thank you everyone!