Happy Birthday to Me

That's right - it's my birthday. And while I did have to fight off 'woe is me - how pathetic that I'm all allloooonnnne' feelings that kind of blindsided me now and then throughout the day, overall it turned out to be not a bad day at all.

Things really started yesterday morning, when Deena met me for a morning at the market, followed by lunch at the Hot House, which is the place that, every single time we pass it, elicits the outburst, "See that restaurant there on the corner? Best. Tomato-Basil Soup. EVER!" Guess what she had.

One thing we both had was wine, right as the clock hands ticked to meet on the twelve. Deena explained to the waiter that we were only having wine this early because it was my birthday. So, like any good waiter worth his salt, at the end of the meal, he presented me with the most ENORMOUSLY tall piece of chocolate cake ever. And sang to me - but just himself, and quietly, so it was okay. I have since been working my way through that piece of cake gradually - three meals and counting.

When we returned to the parking garage, needing to go down a couple of levels, we were confounded with this little puzzle, which we felt had to be recorded for posterity. And humour.

Here's a close-up, just in case the problem isn't clear in this picture.



I dropped Deena off at Union Station, then headed off to Romni Wools, to see what all the fuss is about. Holy cow. Er, holy sheep? There is so much yarn there, and so poorly organized (to my eyes) that I left empty handed because I couldn't get it all set in my mind what I needed. But it was interesting wandering around.

Today I was ridiculously lazy, not getting out of my pjs until 2 pm or so. I headed to Chapters for a wander and an ice coffee thing (mmm, whipped cream and white chocolate) and picked up a couple of things - a copy of Yarn Harlot, which I've wanted ever since I first heard Stephanie on CBC one day, and another thing that's a gift, so I won't go into details. But one thing I do want to share is the fact that knitters are pretty friendly people, I'm finding. Every time I'm hovering and digging in the knitting book aisle, another knitter will start talking to me. So far, no crazies, so I enjoy it.

After a stop at the grocery store to supplement the market fixings, I sat down for my birthday-evening. It looks something like this.

So that's the Wallace and Gromit movie dvd, my Yarn Harlot book, a bottle of wine I got as a housewarming gift to a different apartment a couple of years ago (it is GOOD), the flowers I treated myself to (floral arranger person I am not), and, the best of all - my dinner. Fresh, handmade basil spinach pasta, with a tomato/cream/pesto sauce (also fresh made), organic baby portobello mushrooms, broccoli, sundried tomatoes, and fresh grated parmesan. And for dessert, raspberry vanilla Haagen Das sorbet.

Why on earth am I blogging? Back to the movie!

Happy birthday to me!