another year older

my final 20's birthday rolled around last weekend.
Unable to make a decision on what I wanted to do to celebrate, McGruff formed a plan.
On Thursday night, he presented me with 4 cards. Each one had pictures on one side, giving hints to the text on the other side. I was to choose one of the cards, therefore picking what we would do the day of my birthday. He did an excellent job. There were outdoor adventures, dining experiences, and a variety of options to choose from. After much deliberation, because everything sounded like fun, I chose card #1. Ultimately, we mixed-and-matched from the different cards to plan our day. It was a really fun way to make our plans, and I was honored as to the thought and effort he put into the cards.
Friday, when I came home from work, McGruff had a beautiful potted flower plant waiting for me. It wasn't yet blooming, he said it was to watch grow and flower during my 29th year of life. What a thoughtful gift!
Friday was also a friend's birthday, so we gathered up a group of 11 and met in St. Paul for sushi/Japanese. As usual with sushi, I ate WAY too much, but it was certainly delicious! We all got dressed up, ate well, laughed a lot, and had a wonderful time. We rounded off the night with cake, ice cream, and a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit.
Saturday, birthday morning, just after waking up, MG sang me happy birthday, followed by a nice chat with my sister and then my parents. My 1.5 year old niece even got on the phone to say happy birthday. The first part of our day was taken care of - sleep in. I was delighted to see that the yellow buttercup flowers on my new plant were already beginning to bud.
We got ourselves warmly dressed and ate a quick breakfast, heading east to do some skiing. (Yes, I'm a little obsessed with skiing now, I guess.) It was a gorgeous day. Sun shining, high in the upper 30's, light wind. It felt great to be with MG, swishing down the hills, sun in our faces. The snow was decent, somewhat powdery, even. We made our way across the mountain, traveling from slope to slope. As we waited next in line for the chair lift, I saw MG swivel his hips. Realizing he was in the way of the chair coming, he tried to get out of the way. Too late. The chair hit him, knocking him over into me. I tipped over, propped at a 60 degree angle, against a pole and fence. MG managed to right himself and skiid right up to the load spot. I was stuck. Unable to move my arm, I had to push my body against the post/fence and slowly tottered myself back up-right. We got several laughs out of the debacle throughout the day.
We skiid all the way across the mountain, riding every chair lift. We even enjoyed our lunch outside!
After a few hours of skiing, the slopes were growing crowded and my legs were getting tired. We opted to head home for some rest before our fancy dinner out.
We lounged around, napping for a bit, then got dressed up for dinner. The King & I Thai in Minneapolis. (tough parking location) the restaurant was quiet and romantic, decorated with wooden carved elephants. We snacked on some very delicious cream cheese wonton rolls (perhaps the best we've ever had, and we get them a lot). I enjoyed both my and MG's mojitos (turns out he doesn't like them, after all). Then our meals came. I ordered red coconut curry, my current Thai-food obsession. It was magnificent. MG ordered some chicken dish, which was also very tasty. We each ate less than half of our meals and were stuffed. We debated about what to do next, but ended up heading home. The MN Gophers were playing my alma mater in hockey, and I'd heard the night before was a great game. We snuggled up on the couch and enjoyed a piece of birthday cake while watching hockey. A perfect ending to a magnificent birthday.
Thanks MG, for making this year so special.