Best Birthday Ever!

I really should turn 30 every year. This has been a fabulous birthday!

It all began two weeks ago. That Thursday night I got my hair cut and for the first time in my life, my hair was blown dry straight. I've never seen myself with straight hair before! My initial reaction was I looked like my mom. I really liked it! I kept doing "Pantene moves" and running my fingers through my hair because for the first time in my life I could. :-)

After the hair cut, I hit a few stores to start the shopping process for the weekend. I then met Allen and Jessie at Le Colonial. Sue, Jenna, and the whole gang were there. We hung out for a bit and then I headed home to get some sleep.

Friday morning dawned and it was time to pack and then hit some more stores. Everywhere I went people kept staring at me. I couldn't figure out why on earth people were looking at me. It's not like they knew I had curly hair and it was suddenly straight. It wasn't until I was in Costco in Folsom and checking out that the woman said, "I love your ears." I looked at her oddly and said, "That's the strangest compliment I've ever received." She grinned and pointed to the top of my head. That morning when I was packing, I was also straightening up. I picked up a pair of leopard print cat ears from a costume. At the time, I needed a free hand so I put them on my head and completely forgot about them. So there I was, rolling around town and multiple stores wearing a black skirt, a red t-shirt that says, "I'm what Willis was talkin' 'bout" and fecking leopard print cat ears on my head. My thought - yep, I'm about to turn 30. That's how I roll. So of course, once I knew they were there they stayed there all day.

I then headed on up to Tahoe as we had rented a house near South Lake. There were going to be 12 of us for the weekend. Carol was the first to arrive and she helped me unload all the food and alcohol. After exploring the house which was phenomenal, we settled in and the cocktails started flowing. As people weren't going to be arriving for some time, we headed into town and had a nice bite to eat. Then it was back to the house and eventually people started arriving. More cocktails were made and the laughter that didn't stop for the entire weekend began. We eventually made a big pasta dinner around 11pm. The last folks arrived around midnight and after helping Chris and Tanya unload even more copious quantities of alcohol, we all had a late evening.

Saturday morning we all got a late start. We eventually ate breakfast around noon - yummy blueberry buckwheat pancakes and 4lbs of bacon. That's right, 4 pounds of bacon!! That afternoon, Carol and Deidre went hiking, Stephen and Allen went rock climbing, Sue and Anna made me a carrot cake from scratch and then a crew of us went up to Silver Lake to go fishing. Karen and Denis drove up that day and joined us at Silver Lake. Once we arrived we hiked around to a different area. It was a bit surreal to hike through a little patch of snow. Chris was our Master Baiter and got rods set up for all of us. They had gotten me a pink Disney Princess fishing rod that's maybe 2 feet long. I love it! Plus, I got to put stickers on it including Ariel - I couldn't resist the irony.

Diter caught a nice sized rainbow trout. Then, on the last cast of the day, Tanya caught Moby Dick - an enormous (20"!!!!) German Brown trout. It was totally impressive!
We got back to the house around 8pm, started the grill and put out the appetizers. It was another late dinner that included trout, tri-tip, hamburgers, bacon-wrapped asparagus, corn, garlic mashed potatoes, etc. Freaking delicious! Then it was time for yummy carrot cake. People ended up surprising me with gifts all weekend which just blew my mind. All I wanted was my friends around me, little did I know how they had been plotting for presents - roses, various candles to help me on my journey, face wash, princess fishing rod and a Keane CD. Then, a group of them went in to buy me a new Kilimanjaro motorcycle riding jacket. I was obviously blown away!!

After delicious carrot cake, the next logical step was a fabulous bottle of Clynellish Single Malt. Mmmm mmmm good! We carried on until quite late (or early). I finally disappeared to enjoy the jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom.

Sunday morning we had a lazy morning of lounging on the couch of inertia. Karen and Denis made us a delicious breakfast of omelets, fruit salad and fried leftover mashed potatoes. Then it was the horrible part of the weekend - packing up. Before everyone left we decided to do one group photo.

Did I mention this house was phenomenal? Some of you know I'm a total bathroom slut. The Master Bathroom had a big jacuzzi tub. At the foot of the tub was a fireplace that separated it from the bedroom. At the other end of the jacuzzi tub was the shower. Not just any shower, THE shower. It doubled as a sauna. We dubbed it the "orgy shower". Naturally, that's where we took our group photos. All 12 of us in the shower with room to spare. Hilarious!

As we left the house, I took a few minutes to reflect on the weekend. After a moment, I said out loud to the universe, "Thank you. Just, thank you." I was, and am, so overwhelmed at just how lucky I am to be surrounded by amazing people. I don't know what I did to deserve such wonderful people in my life, but I am so grateful!

Instead of heading home, I joined Chris and Tanya and we headed up to the waterfall above Fallen Leaf Lake. We climbed down to the falls and enjoyed some final minutes of sunshine, mountain air and peace. Unfortunately, we eventually tore ourselves away and started the drive home. We stopped in Folsom at the outlet stores. Tanya and I have both been needing new shoes. We had a shoe orgy and I got 9 pairs and she got 6. The best part - I only spent ~$270. For 9 pairs of Naturalizers and Aersoles. Not to mention, I got a FABULOUS new pair of playa boots. Woohoo!
That was the weekend. Tuesday night I went out to dinner with my friend Kathleen. She had been telling me for ages she had a gift for me for my 30th that she had gotten when back in Galway (Ireland) with her husband. She took me to NOPA which was really tasty!! It turns out she had gotten me a gorgeous Claddagh ring. Inscribed on the inside is Love, Loyalty and Friendship. It is the prettiest Claddagh I have ever seen. I love it and wear it all the time.
Wednesday night I ended up spending the evening with Tanya which was lovely.
On my actual birthday, Thursday the 24th, I had another fabulous day which was described in my previous blog. Dinner at Boulevard was phenomenal. It was great to catch up with my friends who I hadn't seen in ages.

Last weekend Chris, Tanya, Diter and I headed up to Tanya's folks' place in Calaveras County. Saturday I learned how to use a chainsaw which kicks ass! We felled over 30 cedar trees that were either dead or dying to help make their property safer during fire season. It was hard work, but enjoyable. I love doing physical work and having that pleasantly exhausted feeling after a hard day's work. Good stuff!

Sunday we all slept in. We eventually headed into town and Tanya gave me a quick tour. It's a lovely old town with the world's smallest post office. Seriously! We then headed to Ironstone Winery to pick up some wine for Valhalla Faire. Then it was back to SF.

That evening, our new friends Chris and Linda came in town. We met them at the Karfluki Festival in Auburn over Cinqo de Drinko. We met them at the Plough and Stars for the Sunday night session. Chris plays the bodhran and Linda plays the fiddle. They are a wonderful couple who are hilarious. It was lovely to watch them play. Eventually we headed back to Chris and Tanya's and hung out until I fell asleep on the couch. Monday morning, I took those two to breakfast at Seal Rock Inn. They headed back to Sacramento and I spent the rest of the day helping Tanya with photos and generally hanging out.

Wow, this was a long blog. It's been such a great birthday, I couldn't resist sharing it with everyone.

This really has been the best birthday I've ever had!! Thank you to everyone for their emails, calls, texts, posts, etc. Y'all are amazing!

This moment of joy was brought to you by the letter B and the number 30.