Forgive me, dear readers, for having committed an egregious blogger-sin: I have left you post-less far too long. Now that the CDR is underway for seven weeks, I have plenty of evening time for writing (unpacking? What’s that?). And so, please accept this belated account of my birthday festivities, along with my most humble apologies and a promise for more posts in the near future…
Having confessed my fears of spending a lonely 30th birthday in a strange, new town, the CDR suggested that we road-trip to Portland for my birthday weekend to see our friends and family. I hatched a plan to enlist my brother- and sister-in-law as babysitters so that I could celebrate the big 3-0 with my husband by recreating our very first date.
So, on Friday afternoon of my birthday weekend, we hoisted off the dog on some unsuspecting new friends and loaded up Clifford the Big Blue Car for the 3-hour trek toward our true home.
Little did I know that, weeks earlier, the CDR had begun hatching his own birthday weekend plan. He had lots of time as he drove Clifford (and our dog Clive) across the country. He listened to music, he enjoyed the scenery… and he planned an amazing surprise party.
Two days before my actual birthday, I walked into The Old Spaghetti Factory to meet my friends Mark & Sandy for lunch. Instead, I walked into the party room and discovered an even larger gathering of my family and close friends from Oregon.
SURPRISE! I had absolutely no idea that the CDR had planned such a lovely birthday lunch for me, and it was great to reunite with all of my Oregon people in such a celebratory way.
But if you know the CDR, you know he doesn’t settle for average. He went the distance with this party, and so did some of my closest friends from Connecticut. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my dear friend Nova was in the room (she was behind the camera):
I still can’t believe they traveled across the country to celebrate with me. Nova is one of the most beautiful, versatile, and wickedly funny people I know, and her husband is actually the namesake for my second son. It was nice to see all of my Oregon people, but seeing Nova and her family was the icing on my cake (and that’s saying something, as you can see):
But wait… There’s more! The CDR contacted several of my close family and friends before the party and asked them to submit video greetings, photos, and good wishes, which he compiled into a tearjerker of Power Point presentation (it worked, I cried):
Of course, there was still my actual birth-day to celebrate. So, the CDR and I got all gussied up on Monday night and hit P-Town for a semi-re-creation of our first date. The original first-date restaurant is now a sports bar, so instead we enjoyed some delicious Thai food at one of my favorite restaurants, Typhoon!.
Then we strolled hand-in-hand down NW 23rd and window-shopped en route to Papa Haydn for significantly more upscale treats than the original first-date ice cream cones. Before heading home, we visited one of my favorite places in Portland – anywhere, actually – the proudly independent Powell’s Books. Just as we did on our first date, we sat in the children’s section and looked at books from some of our favorite authors. But this time, we actually bought some new reads for our children.
Oh, and one more thing. The CDR knows that I love gifts. I LOVE them. I don’t think there are many things that I enjoy more than ripping gift wrap off an unknown future possession. Materialistic? Perhaps. But the gift itself does not have to be expensive. I think a chocolate bar is all the more delicious when gift-wrapped. While my birthday gift from the CDR was definitely not a chocolate bar, it was delicious in an entirely different way. Behold, my new neck candy:
All in all, an absolutely phenomenal way to spend my 30th birthday. Now it's time to go, for I must begin hatching my earth-shatteringly-cool plan for the CDR’s 40th birthday bash (in 2010).
