My First Birthday Away from Home

It's been so long since I've gotten to really sit down and update my blog, I apologize! There are so many things I want to write about! I'll start this one with my birthday, which was almost exactly one month ago...

I think I'm always a little home sick, but the week leading up to my birthday this year was hard. I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it home and it made me sad to think I wouldn't be with my mom & brothers & sister to celebrate. My mom always makes a Birthday cake of our choice and a Birthday dinner of our choice. I usually always choose German Chocolate (my fav!) and I usually always go home with a WHOLE cake b/c no one in my family likes German Cholcolate. Hehe, it's all part of my plan...more cake for me. Just kidding!!

So needless to say, this year's Birthday brought a lot of tears, but Joe and his family made it a very special day. First off, I started the day waking up at 4:20am. I had to be at work at 5:00, but I didn't mind b/c I was scheduled until 12:15. I came home on my lunch break to find a little surprise:

On the counter, were Hershey kisses laid out to spell "LOVE YOU"
with my favorite bottle of wine.

a cute Fire Truck Birthday Balloon :)

new running shoes!!!
^much needed


and best of all... a coupon book, Joe MADE me!

It included 6 different "coupons"

I love the "use sparingly"

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After I got home from work, of which I got to leave an hour early, I received a card from my mom and package from Quentin & Melissa. I think it's always so much fun to get mail... mail besides bills and junk mail. My package wasn't the normal cardboard box, but instead a cute decorative country style printed box that said "Live, Laugh, Love" on it (of which now holds all of our DVDs)...well this box was wrapped and wrapped with packing tape. I don't think I have ever worked so hard to open a gift! And to my surprise as I pulled off the 50 pieces of tape, it didn't damage the cute box one bit. Inside I found a cool vintage-looking lamp that I (and Joe) love. The base looks like a vintage coffee can. I had the perfect spot for it!

Also, inside the box was this really cool 1970s VINTAGE scrabble sentence game that I have never ever seen before! (Joe & I love Scrabble!) To play this version, you shake all the cubes out onto the table and try and make sentences, intersecting the sentences. Each player gets a turn, the more words you have in a sentence the higher the point...the more sentences you create the more points you end up with. It's actually pretty hard, but lots of fun!

I love the red leather bag it came with!

It screams vintage!

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In the evening we went over to Joe's Mom & Dad's for dinner & cake. It was nice that Kelli, Shane & the kids and Jeff & Aiden could join us. The plan was for Joe & I to go downtown afterward and enjoy a drink and maybe some dancing...something we haven't done in a really long time, but unfortunately I fell asleep somewhere between 9-9:30!!! -Hey! I got up at 4:30am. So, needless to say we didn't make it downtown, but it ended up being a great day!

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The next morning we went to this really neat cafe called Cafe Maron, close to downtown Spokane...Eclectic atmosphere & very yummy breakfast!

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Thank you to everyone for sharing my Birthday with me. Whether you sent a card, a quick text, a sweet email or simply just gave me a call, it meant the world. Thank you for all the wonderful, thoughtful gifts! I can't wait to use some of my gift certificates and "coupons" :)

Well, if I would have posted this a day earlier my Birthday post would have stopped there. However, I must mention as my family picked me up from the airport late last night, they had a cupcake & candle awaiting for me on a plate and they sang me Happy Birthday.

My Birthday is complete.