Almost 30

Just last week we celebrated my 29th birthday.  For some reason the difference between 29 and 30 seems really pretty big.  We'll see just how big the difference feels next March.  This was my first birthday as a husband and Julie was determined to make it memorable for me (even though I always just responded ever so helpfully with shrugs and "Oh, I don't require much").  After a long day of work, at which I was able to successfully avoid anyone finding out it was my birthday, we decided we would use the coupon we received at a recent 5K for a free birthday dinner at Magleby's.  Imagine our surpreeze when Magleby's did NOT appear where it used to be, and even more when we learned they had moved to Springville...  We were hungry and time was of the essence, so we decided to save the coupon for Julie's birthday in May and go somewhere closer by.  We ended up at P.F. Chang's and went all out with the special for 2, which included an appetizer, soup, entrees and mini-desserts!

After that, we went home to watch LOST and for Julie to finish her big birthday cake, which she had planned quite carefully.  Although she asked me what flavor of cake I wanted, the decoration and theming was all a surprise, and what could have been more fitting than a homemade Disney specialty cake??

Doesn't it look so professional?  We later similarly celebrated by buying The Princess and the Frog on DVD (which also included, against my will, but necessarily if we desired the best deal and most special features, the Blu-Ray version, which I did NOT want, and which also means the casing is different so it doesn't match my expansive Disney DVD collection, and which manipulative marketing kind of annoys me), and taking our cake to Elise's house to share the delicious confection with the LOST Club after the new episode.  Just a few days later to round out the Cajun theme, we had a big party at Mom's house for me, Penny and Jonny, where we ate delicious beignets, gumbo and watched our newest Disney movie.

But I must say my shiniest and most exciting present was this:

 

It's so tiny!  It's so sleek!  It has a video camera and microphone!  It plays aloud when you take the headphones out!  It plays (and rewinds) the radio!  It speaks and tells me what I'm listening to on demand!  It shuffles when I shake it a certain way!  It's amazing!  I called it Helo.

Thank you, sweetheart!  Best Birthday Ever!