Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, this weekend was my birthday…I turned 23…I wish! Not really, I don’t have a problem with my age, and I can pretty much guarantee that I wouldn't want to be 23 again. I actually turned 33…ah yes, I’m well into my 30’s now. With the help of my awesome husband, I had a terrific birthday weekend!

A couple of weeks ago Joe asked me what I wanted to do on my birthday weekend. I don’t think he was expecting the response he got…I wanted to go to Ikea. Several months ago I put in my birthday present request of new bedding, so since then I have been looking high and low for just the perfect bedding. It’s not easy finding just the right thing.

Perspectives change A LOT after children enter the scene. When we got married we registered for a pure white duvet cover with blue sheets. I loved it (and honestly, still do). It was on the pricey side, but I loved the crispness of the white bed spread and the colored sheets allowed me to change colors if I wanted to (although I never did) and accent with fun pillows. Well, once Ella entered the world our duvet cover quickly went from white, to kind of grungy, to mostly white with a lot of random stains all over it. At first it was easy…there’s a big chocolate stain on this side, just flip it over. Now, both sides of the duvet are stained from cookies, chocolate, chapstick, blood and there’s even a giant spot that looks like Ella went “wee wee” on our bed (although I’m 99% sure that didn’t happen). Needless to say, our once beautiful white duvet cover is now disgusting! So I wanted a new duvet cover, but I didn’t want to pay a lot. Ella’s only 2 years old (almost 3) and I can guarantee that at some point we will get yet another stain on our bedspread, so I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on something that was going to get stained. The other issue here is that when Joe and I got married I promised him that I wouldn’t make him sleep under pink or flowers. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a bedspread that I liked that wasn’t flowery. I secretly had my heart set on toile, but that is flowers and I had made a promise.

All this to say that I decided the best place to get our new duvet cover was at Ikea…and I knew I would find some other things there that I couldn’t live without. We drove up late Sat. morning and I had so much fun walking around and picking out things we needed. Ella and Joe had fun too, although Joe may not admit it. We found the perfect bedding and Joe said that he could get past the flowers as long as they weren’t pink (what a great husband). So here it is, our new bedding. (Sorry the picture is a bit blurry...it was taken with my blackberry phone)

Several weeks ago Joe had informed me that he and I were going to have a date for my birthday. Metti was going to watch Ella so we could go to our favorite restaurant (Hana Tokyo) alone. Ella loves Hana, so I thought it was a bit odd, but figured he wanted to give us a special treat. In getting ready to go out there were a couple of things that were odd to me. First, Joe took a shower before we left. Second, he wouldn’t wear jeans. This was Hana, it’s definitely a “jeans are acceptable” establishment. Third, he wore this purple shirt that he has (and I’m not a fan of…sorry) and kept saying “I hope we don’t see any of our friends tonight.” Still, I didn’t really know that anything was going on…until we got to the restaurant. We got there and Joe was staring at the back room and got a little smirk on his face. My first thought…he’s up to something. Then the waitress came to seat us and she totally blew Joe’s cover. Side note: Since I visit Hana on a monthly basis, I’ve had this waitress several times before and she’s very frustrating to deal with. She’s completely clueless. On numerous occasions when I’ve been there with my colleagues, we’ve had to repeat our drink orders several times before she gets it right. So, here’s the conversation that took place:

Waitress: How many?

Joe: We have a reservation for Murray.

Waitress: How many? Looking at Joe like she didn’t understand what he just said.

Joe: We have a reservation for Murray…it should be in your book.

Waitress goes to look at the book: Murray for 3?

Joe, looking confused: Yes…this is everyone. At this point I assumed that Beck was going to meet us there.

Then the waitress proceeds to try and seat us at a regular grill (this is Hibachi, so they have giant tables with grills in the middle). Joe then has to spell it out for the clueless waitress that he has reserved the back room. She then announces, “Oh, you’re with the big party in the back room?” So Joe looked at me and smiled and I said, “What do you have up your sleeve?” We went to the back room and it was full of wonderful friends that I love with all my heart! It was so great to celebrate with everyone and to have a nice night out (without kids!). Of course we all stuffed our faces, then right as I was finishing up my rice the waitress came out with a HUGE birthday cake! What’s a girl to do? So, I had a big piece…with extra frosting.

Sunday was my real birthday, so we celebrated by opening presents in the morning, going to church, and having another awesome friend (Beck) over for dinner (She couldn’t come to my birthday party due to the fact that she’s really important and HAD to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner. Since when is the President more important than my birthday party?). It was a wonderful weekend and I couldn’t be more blessed. I have the most incredible family and friends that a girl could ask for!