29 is totally fine

I have always loved birthdays...I actually enjoy other people's birthdays more than my own (probably because I don't like the embarrassment or attention that sometimes comes on your special day)...however, I can say it is nice to have a day of celebration.

Grant has learned a few things about birthdays in the last 8 years of our marriage. There isn't a lot I expect (and I have decreasing expectations as the years pass), but there are a couple key things I do "expect" on my birthday. I want a birthday chair (streamers, balloons, etc) and a card. Of course presents are nice and fun, but the decorated chair and card are the personal touches I really appreciate and make my day!

On Friday I turned the "eternal age", the age everyone says they are for the rest of their lives...29. Some birthdays hit hard (like, dang I'm old), but for some reason I am completely fine with 29. I'm excited to live it up for this last year of my 20s.

 BIRTHDAY GIRL!

Grant is awesome and got up early enough to make my day extra special before he had to leave for work. He met my 2 key requirements (card and birthday chair) by 6am! And to top it off I came down to this awesome presentation of my birthday present...a BIKE! I have been wanting a bike for years now and said that if I moved somewhere after Kentucky that was good for biking I would get one, so we made it happen!

Soon after Grant left for work I headed to the airport to pick up my parent and Karleigh who came to celebrate for the weekend with me :) Then we headed straight to breakfast at Beach Break Cafe (a place I had heard good things about and wanted to try) and it was DELICIOUS! I got their famous banana crunch french toast (even though I don't like bananas) and loved it (only ate one banana slice though :) Other awesome things we tried were a Santa Fe omelet and coffee cake.

Grant had some random hospital training and got out at lunch so got to spend most of the day with us...it was a FANTASTIC birthday treat.

We headed to downtown San Diego for the afternoon/evening and walked around Balboa Park for a little while before heading to dinner. Grant immediately spotted the bird rescue people and fell in love with this little guy "Simon." If I had let him we would have come home with him (I'm such a mean wife).

Botanical Gardens and lilypad pond

We wanted something "light" for dinner since we had Extraordinary dessert plans, and although I wouldn't describe Mexican as a light dinner, it was a perfect snack to share a couple of things at El Indio, a long time favorite and now a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives location.

 And to end the evening we enjoyed an incredible evening at Extraordinary Desserts.  I can never actually finish an entire dessert by myself, however, we always each get something because it is so hard to decide what to order.

 They brought me out a piece of cake with a cute candle...got to experience the joy of making a wish and blowing out the candle.

After dessert we went and hung out with my Grandpa for about an hour before driving back home. To top off an already awesome birthday these gorgeous flowers were waiting on my doorstep.

Thank you to everyone for making my day special...from flowers to food to facebook messages. Here's to the last year of my 20s, I have a feeling it's going to be a good one :)