My perfect birthday weekend

I had such a lovely birthday with celebrations continuing into tomorrow, geez, how did I get to be so spoiled!?!?!

My sweetie got me a new iPod since my 2 year old Mini has been a big ol' pain in the rear. The display kept getting brighter and brighter until it was impossible to read. I found that, if I let the battery run down about halfway, I could use it for a short period of time but it was such a hassle. For the last 4 months or so I've been using it long enough to last through my exercise and mediation.

So......John got me a Nano, the 8 gig red one where some of the profits go to Aids research. It is beyond fabulous, so thin and sleek. And he had it engraved with Wish you were here, our fave Pink Floyd song. We got a Lucite case for it that has a removable clip on the back so I can put it on my waistband when I work out. I think I will keep it in the case all the time because I don't want this beauty to get scratched.

I slept late on my birthday and had a brownie and coffee for breakfast, yum! John and I went downtown to see the site of the Alternative Open Studio event I will be part of in 2 weeks. I perused all the available space and instantly knew the one I wanted - small but wonderful, a lovely stretch of wall with a bank of adjacent windows. The ceiling is high, the floors are raw. Just divine. I get to create whatever I want in this space and I am thrilled with the prospect of inventing my own studio experience for visitors to this event. Mark your calendar for July 22nd if you live around here and I will post specifics shortly.

We then went to the Farmer's market, ran some other errands and came home for lunch. I meditated and took a nap mid afternoon, glorious. Talked to both my parents on the phone, played in the studio, received well wishes from my brothers and opened birthday cards. Yikes, what a huge crop this year, I feel incredibly blessed.

We went to Jimmy's on the Park for dinner, a wonderful restaurant in the Demun area of Clayton (this is a gorgeous older community where I would buy a house if we were to suddenly come in to a lot of money, ha, ha). We were joined by our best pals Bud, Claire, Marian, & Robin. They embarrassed me with an excessive number of gifts. OK, I wasn't *that* embarrassed. It was just an all round preponderance of riches, the friendships, the meal, the gifts.

John put some lottery tickets in my card and incredibly, I won some money.....seven dollars. Wouldn't you know it? Too bad there weren't a few more zeros, huh?

Tonight we went to Beth + Frank's for dinner and hung out with them and the grand kids. They all sang Happy Birthday to me and it was all I could do to keep from crying, watching those sweet boys sing their hearts out. Oh my. A perfect ending to a wonderful weekend.