When I arrived home yesterday from my haircut, I had this delightful birthday surprise waiting for me. A fun box of birthday goodies from my dear friend, Joanne (who I might mention is in Florida soaking up the sunshine right now – so jealous!).
In the box was a plethora of unique treats – garlic oil, basil oil, candied ginger, chili spice mix, freezer pop sleeves, a Guatemalan worry doll, a cute pad of sticky notes entitled “Seriously?!”, a What to Eat meal plan note pad, flavored coffees, lip balm, mini multi-colored silicone prep bowls, lemon and ginger scented bath soap, some MI made chocolates, and a gluten free blueberry scone mix. This was such an unexpected and awesome surprise! Thank you, Joanne!
Also waiting for me at home was this adorable card with some hamsters on the front talking about the pronunciation of mojito (one my favorite cocktails, by the way). And one of the hamsters was named Stella – ridiculous! Inside the card was…
2 tickets to see The Head and The Heart in Kalamazoo at the end of May. Gotta hand it to Noah, he’s an awesome gift giver and a great husband! 🙂 We saw Amos Lee at the State Theater about a month ago (for the 4th time) and the venue was awesome! Can’t wait to go back and see another of my favorite bands – also the 4th time we’ll be seeing TH & TH live.
Mid-afternoon we headed out to enjoy the gorgeous day – I really lucked out as it was rainy yesterday morning, but ended up being 70+ and sunny – amazing! One stop we had to make was to MI-based coffee shop, Biggby, for my free birthday drink! Hazelnut and caramel iced coffee with skim milk, no whip, and an extra shot of espresso! Heaven!
I intended to get a new pair of casual “bummin’ around” shoes at DSW so I could take advantage of a couple of coupons I had, but (I may or may not be a little picky when it comes to shoes) I didn’t find any shoes that fit the bill. So I got some new running socks instead 🙂 We also stopped at a local bookstore to wander around and look at the used book selection. I lucked out and found the last Jack Reacher book by Lee Child that I haven’t read. All together the socks and the book were less than $10 – a birthday bargain!
After the short shopping trip we headed to dinner at a sushi restaurant in East Lansing that I had not been to yet. It was pretty standard, but we lucked out again as we arrived in time for happy hour. Score!
Love Asian salad with the ginger dressing and miso soup! Yum! Noah and I are not the most adventurous sushi eaters and prefer to stick to the safer veggie rolls rather than trying straight up sashimi. We opted for the veggie roll (included cucumber, avocado, Japanese pumpkin skin, and pickled radish) and the Mexican roll (included shrimp tempura and spicy mayo).
We then headed to our favorite local frozen yogurt shop for a sweet birthday treat. Noah made the healthier choice by far, and stuck to fresh fruit and nut toppings, while I chose the chocolatey route: half chocolate hazelnut yogurt and half taro yogurt topped with pecans, Oreos, cookie dough, Heath bar, and caramel sauce. And it was delicious!
We stopped at home and I squeezed in a short power nap before heading to a local bar for Team Trivia with a couple of friends and their significant others from work. We had a blast and one of my friends from high school whom I hadn’t seen in 14 years (!) came out as well – it was awesome to see him and catch up after all these years. Kind of silly that we’ve lived in the same city for about 7 years and are just now getting around to re-connect.
It was an awesome birthday! If my 33rd year on this Earth is even half as good as my day was yesterday, I’ll be a lucky, lucky gal!
Live Well with Alison 