Gonna Party Like it's Your Birthday...

Happy Birthday To ME!!

This past Thursday was my (gasp) THIRTIETH birthday, and I've been celebrating all weekend. I had asked for Thursday off from work, and since Levi was also off due to an injury (more on that later - can't believe I forgot to blog about it!), he took me out to breakfast at Perkins after the kids were all delivered to their respective destinations. Granny's Country Omelet (no celery), hash browns and two slices of french toast, plus a free birthday muffin (to go, of course). Talk about deeeeee-lish. Then Levi laid down for a post-breakfast nap and I headed out on my "secret mission." I had decided a few weeks back that I wanted to do something totally unexpected to commemorate the big 3-0, but I had told Levi only that I was taking part of my birthday day ALL to myself. Anyway, after a stop at my favorite salon to have my bangs trimmed and my eyebrows waxed - boy, they were due! - I drove downtown and...

...got my nose pierced! Thank you, Nick at Saint Sabrina's, for a great and (almost) painless experience. You can't see in this picture because of the flash, but the stone is actually purple, in honor of my amethyst birthstone.

(Good God, that's an awful picture. Note to self: put on some makeup and retake at next possible opportunity.)

I got back from my piercing adventure just as Levi was getting up, and his reaction was priceless.

Him: Hey, did you have a nice time?
Me: Yup. (diabolical smirk)
Him: So what did you do?
Me: (mocking eyebrow raise)
Him: (eyes bug out of head)
Me: (laughing maniacally)

So far, all the reactions I've gotten have been positive - not that I care if you think it's stupid, because *I* think it's awesome, so there - but the most entertaining thing is that my own mom either hasn't noticed or is studiously pretending she doesn't (I'm leaning more toward the first, since I didn't catch even the slightest reaction when I saw her the next day, and after all, one dainty little nose stud is small potatoes compared to my sister's pierced tongue and lower back tattoo).

ANYWAY...after the kids got home, we all went out for haircuts and birthday dinner at TGI Fridays. Friday was boring, then Saturday we went to lunch at Levi's mom's house and then...THEN...leaving the kids behind at MIL's house, Levi and I scooted off on a long-awaited overnight getaway at a local hotel!

We checked in, then went out on the town, ate, drank, made merry, stayed up late, slept in... (ahem) "snuggled"...then after checking out, we had breakfast at Perkins (yes, again - full plate of french toast this time), wandered around Mall of America for a couple hours since we haven't been in AGES, discovered THE coolest new store/experience called MagiQuest - yup, I'm a geek, and gee I wish I had discovered this earlier so I could have drug all our friends there for my b'day! - and then caught Avatar in 3D before heading back home to rescue MIL from the kids.

All in all, a most satisfactory way to celebrate turning (gasp!) thirty!