Birthdays to me are my ‘new year’. Celebrating another birthday means I’ve made it through another year, for better or for worse, and what better reason to celebrate my life? But this year with the loss of my brother in December, and a rough car accident (not my fault) that totaled my car three weeks before my birthday, I was in the dumps thinking about the beginning of my last year as a 20 something on April 23rd. 

Twenty Nine, such a strange age to speak.  The lyric from one of my favorite bands as a teenage kept running through my head:

29 year old girls always got the blues,

Well I don’t know why but I know it’s true.

I sure was feeling like it was true. I was in no mood to celebrate, no mood to really do anything functional as an adult. I even tried hard to convince my family and my husband to cancel all birthday plans. But, to my current liking they calmly told me “Not F**ing Likely” and coaxed me into a celebratory mood. You could say, they helped me finish the above lyric with:

So give me burgundy to splash my breath

And while I count the ways that I’ve been blessed

With a not so stiff drink we jump started my birthday weekend early, on Saturday April 19th, and over the next week I was reminded of all the reasons I am truly lucky. Let’s have a recap:

When I say jump start I mean literally. My husband rounded up a bunch of my friends and we went to a local trampoline park for a hour of jumping on trampolines and into foam pits. It was a blast, and good exercise!

Next, we had dinner at the recently opened PF Chang’s. This is where the not so stiff drink came in in the form of their new Strawberry Cucumber Limeaid, and I was reminded of how lucky I am to have access to so many gluten free dining options so locally to me. 

The PF Chang’s dinner crew. I have such wonderful friends 

On Easter we had another Easter egg hunt, and I took some time during brunch and dinner to do some yoga. Gluten free food, wine, and candy was plentiful. 

The night before my birthday I did my usual volunteering with the local food share, as I was lucky enough to borrow the Hubby’s car. Here, strangers who have become friends wished me a happy birthday. So great to be part of such a wonderful community.

We started my birthday morning visiting a few local nurseries for chicken and gardening ideas, and a bit of sign humor that had me hysterically laughing.

I was happy to spend most of my birthday outside with my husband, mother, and friends. Most memorable was our walk in the local park, where this huge fellow followed us for a bit of a walk. Folks thought he was our pet!

For actual birthday dinner we hit up a local Indian restaurant, who knew we were coming and prepared massive sums of gluten free papadum for our consumption. So great to have restaurants that know you an you needs! 

The next day, I got a new car from my friend Andrew. Well, several new cars to be exact, and each with awesome gas mileage! 

One day that week I got to eat out on the desk for the first time this spring season. It’s where I am typing from now, and I love sitting out here! 

We also went out east, where local produce and product abound.

We went with the specific objective of acquiring these:

CHICKENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

(More on that in another post)

We got the ladies all set up in their coop, and they’ve since produced many a delicious egg (again, more on that in another post). 

Following our chicken adventure I got set on making this Monkey Bread recipe sent to my by Glutino for our monthly potluck.

This month’s theme was dessert, so we were not without Birthday Cake that was beautifully decorated by my friend from undergrad Michelle. 

And my plate was completely full of gluten free desserts so I was not in need of satisfying my sweet tooth and indulging just a bit because it was the last night of my birthday week (Once again, more on this potluck in another post). 

This past Monday I woke up to the first full week of being 29, and was greeted with the signs of new life from our seedlings. It was a perfect reminder of the frailty of life, and brought everything into perspective for me from my birthday week. 

I really am one lucky lady.