37th Birthday Wrap Up

I am sitting at the Atlanta airport with over a three hour layover.  So of course my first thought is to finally take the time to blog about my birthday. 

For the past decade or so, my birthday has been a tough time for me.  It marks the passing of time in our battle with infertility.  It marks another year that our dreams haven't been fulfilled.  It marks another birthday for my eggs- which unlike fine wine, don't get better with age.   It's no secret that I always try to overcompensate with plans on my birthday to distract me.  In years past, I would let Chris try to make plans.  This year I took matters into my own hands and after some grumbling and hurt feelings, Chris got over it.  He made the actual reservations so I think that helped.

It is really rare for us to have a free weekend in March- so imagine my delight when I discovered that we had no swim meet and my birthday fell on a Saturday!  We were able to celebrate with some of our closest friends who also happen to have kids on our swim team.

Being born on St Patrick's day has its advantages and disadvantages.  About every other year we do the whole Irish party and the other years we just do birthday.  This year I wanted to go to my favorite restaruant in the city.  It's a spanish Tappas place that has the world's greatest sangria.  Since we knew that we would all like to enjoy this treat, we decided to take a limo into the city so nobody had to drive and we could all equally enjoy the sweet libations.  We even had champagne on the way into the city 

My favorite item at the tappas place is bacon wrapped dates.   I never would have tried them without some urging, but I simply LOVE them.  All I really needed to make this birthday a success was those dates, raspberry sangria, and so,e chocolate torte.  I got all three.  :) 

We ordered lots of food, had many pitchers of sangria.  I think we tried all of the varieties.  The raspberry was my favorite and the passion fruit was icky.  We also ordered one of every desert on the menu.  :)  It was so nice to just sit and talk with friends.  We laughed really hard and for once in many years, I didn't feel a moment of sadness on my birthday.  I felt blessed with good friends, good food, and a good time. 

Sharing some of my favorite photos from the night:

Chris and I at dinner.  Doesn't he look good in green?

They brought several plates all at once... and placed them all in front of Chris!

Yes, it was dark outside.  But we had to look cool in the limo, right?

Off to catch up on some commenting for ICLW.  Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday!