April 16, 2012

It's My Birthday!



AND this is my 400th post!

Holy blogging, Batman!

It's also Monday Listicles so I will present to you a list of 10 Things Birthday. Sound good?

Well, it's my birthday so I say what goes.

1. I was born exactly 38 years ago today, at 5:12 AM. My mother's onset of labor was marked by hurling her spaghetti dinner.



2. I was named after Jennifer O'Neill. Or so says my father. I wonder if all the other millions of Jennifers were also named for her. Something tells me no. My mother says she liked Jessica and Jennifer, but preferred the nickname Jenny over Jessie. She's never called me Jenny.



3. My astrological sign is the first on the zodiac, Aries. I have spent all of my life disagreeing with much of what is said about Aries, as relates to me. I'm told that both your sun sign and rising sign matter. According to a Free Instant Rising Sign Wizard mine is Pisces. Apparently: "This peculiar mix is more like a multiple personality disorder." Huh.


Adventurous and energetic - No & No
Pioneering and courageous - Not pioneering
Enthusiastic and confident - Iffy
Dynamic and quick-witted - Not really

On the dark side...
Selfish and quick-tempered - not usually & a little
Impulsive and impatient - when I was younger
Foolhardy and daredevil - NOT EVEN


4. I spent my 16th at Disneyland, my 19th in Florida, 21st in Reno (legal, baby!), 25th in Orange County and another in San Francisco. I got engaged on my 23rd.

5. I thought my 30th was all big and important and invited all these new "friends" I had met right after moving to Washington out to lunch with me. There were 8-10 women at my table that day. I felt so special and important and liked. Eight years later, I know it's not the quantity of people, it's the quality of the people. Also, most of them were moms with young kids and probably just wanted an excuse to get out of the house!

6. My 31st was only 4 of us, but it was one of my most memorable.

My very happy friend there is Jessica!
7. I got pregnant with AJ shortly after the above photo was taken, so by the time my 32nd rolled around, I had this little cutie to cuddle:


8. I've shared my 33rd birthday photo before. My 34th didn't yield a good pic, but it was a fun night of homemade fondue and Friends on DVD. Um, my 35th...don't seem to have any pics. Probably did dinner and a movie. Oh! I got my tattoo for my 36th birthday! And last year on my 37th, we took a day trip to Leavenworth, WA.

9. As this birthday approached we met a new heart specialist, an Electrophysiologist, who diagnosed Mark's arrhythmia as Ventricular Tachycardia. This is more serious than Atrial Fibrillation and means Mark's heart could freak out and stop again at any time before he has a defibrillator implanted. I thought about cancelling plans to go to dinner an hour away from home.

10. But I didn't cancel and everything was OK (except Mark let the kids stay up really late). Here are a few pics from dinner at The Melting Pot in Seattle. It's an amazing fondue place. This dinner was from my dad for my birthday, and also to thank my besties for being so awesome while Mark was in the hospital.

Carin and Jessica - Carin brought extra lighting for me
Me and my Dad
The Flaming Turtle chocolate fondue
Dessert bits to dip
My s'mores martini - crushed graham cracker around the rim of the glass!
Tonight we're hittin' Red Robin for my free birthday burger! Hmm, which one should I get...Blue Ribbon, Banzai, Whiskey River, Guacamole?

I think I like my late 30s. Mostly. I like not being young and dumb anymore, but I could do without the aches and pains. Seriously, my lower back PITA decided to act up this weekend. Why? Just to mke me feel me age? Probably.


Well I say Pfft! to my back.

Oh, my kids let me sleep in until 11:00 yesterday morning! I don't think I've done that since I was in my early 20s. The next logical thing to do after sleeping the morning away is stay in your pajamas all day. Yup, pretty nice Sunday, I'd say.

Day, say...that rhymes!




PS: All my fave bloggy friends contributed to a special post as a gift for me over at The Sarcasm Goddess' For the Love of Writing!

41 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday!!! Leavenworth is so beautiful! I can see why you would go there! And I hope you get spoiled today!

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  2. Happy birthday! Wow, somehow I am so clueless that I didn't realize how close you must live to me! Leavenworth is awesome and I will be spending four days there this summer as part of a work training. LOVE. I had to laugh about your Mom's name preference for you since I of course ended up being Jessica but NEVER Jessie. Great recap of your last few birthdays. : )

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    1. I bet if I had been named Jessica, she wouldn't have called me Jessie, considering she never called me Jenny. Are we close? There are lots of Washington bloggers. I would so love for us to form a union or something.

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  3. Happy Birthday sweet friend! I'm so glad that I have gotten to share many of these days with you and I hope for many, many more!

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  4. Happy Birthday, little girl.

    Love you,
    Dad

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  5. Happy birthday! And the desserts look amazing.

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  6. Happy, HAPPY birthday, Jen! Have a FABULOUS day. You deserve it!!

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  7. Hurray for Birthdays! Happy birthday Jenny!

    Sidebar: Had I been born a girl, my parents had already picked out my name, "Jennifer". We're like. . . name buddies!

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  8. Happy Birthday to you!
    Hope you have a fabulous day!

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  9. Put your feet up my friend. Never should you work on your B'day. Which I hope is wonderful just like those Martini's and great people you have in your life. Big B'day hug and kiss. Happy Birthday Jenny ! <- could not resist :)

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  10. Hell! I think my contract states I don't work on YOUR birthday either! Happy Birthday. Dying for the mail man to get to your house!

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  11. Yay yay yay! Happy Birthday! I hope your day is full of amazingness, fabulousness, specialness and just plain awesomeness!!! You deserve it, girl!

    P.S. There's a little celebration going on for you on my blog today...

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  12. Happy Birthday Jen!!! I'm glad you had a great night out. Wishing you much happiness this year.

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  13. Happy Birthday - I already sang with my maracas on Facebook. You're the best, I hope you take my advice on SG's blog today - it's solid..have a great day!!

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  14. Happy Birthday, Jen! I love the picture of you and your mom. And the one of baby AJ. I hope you have a fantastic birthday night tonight!

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  15. Fondue sounds great right about now (I'm starving). Or any time really.

    If you liked the 30s, you're gonna LOVE your 40s. Happy birthday Jennifer.

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  16. Hey Jennifer! One year closer to even more awesomeness, I'd say!

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  17. Yay! I love this post and am so happy you didn't cancel and got a night out for your birthday :) The Melting Pot is a fun place and that martini looks amazing! Hope you had a great all around weekend (beside the back ache :)

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  18. Happy Belated. Smores martinis just sound dangerous. SG put together a great b'day post for you but she's all kinds of awesome like that and well, you deserve it. Glad you had a good one.

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    1. Thanks, Paul! Still waiting to see you on TWITTER!

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  19. 400 posts?? I'm impressed! When I hit the 200 mark I was extremely excited, but 400 is awesome!

    P.S. Happy Birthday!!

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