I was right!

That sneaky little devil was up to something!

Jeremy had told me that on Friday we would go and pick up my birthday present. That we would be going to dinner and would have a bit of time to kill before he had to 'meet someone at 11:30'. ELEVEN THIRTY!? WTF!? He promised me it would be worth it and I wouldn't have to leave the car. He said nothing about the damn blindfold, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I made the mistake of wanting to start our evening with some shopping. I have one pair of jeans that fit, so I wanted to pick up at least one more pair. Any woman knows that jeans shopping is the quickest way to start of shame spiral of self loathing and depression. 23 pairs of jeans later, and almost attacking a sales lady in The G.AP ("I'm sorry, we don't carry that in your size." RAGE), I am on the verge of tears. Frankly, J was not helpful. His idea of shopping with me was to sit on his phone for an hour. (I will forgive him for this later). I tried on a size up and, at one store, two sizes up and they were too tight!

Note to Jeans Manufacturers: Get your shit together. Can't you hold an annual conference where you all calibrate the appropriate jean size and then all use the same scale!? Why am I a size 12 at one store and sobbing when I can barely button a 16 in another? It's cruel. Shape up or I'm going to start hunting you down. One by one.

After the failure that was jean shopping we went to dinner. I sat in relative silence because I was afraid that the moment I opened my mouth I would cry. Jeremy asked, "How can jeans shopping do this to you?" Oh, if only he had a vagina, then he could understand. I, through watery eyes, explained that my waist is all I've ever had going for me. Big hips/thighs, but a nice waist. Except that now I was pregnant just long enough to get soft in the middle. So I can't find jeans and I have no baby. I warned you it was a shame spiral...

He asked me, "What if I told you that in a few hours I guarantee that you will feel better?"
My reply, "That for the next few hours I'm going to be a sucky human being to hang out with."

Meanwhile, I texted one of my very best pals - the lovely Susan. I lamented about my jeans experience and hers was the only solution that completely made sense. Fuck it, and EAT DESSERT. It's why I love her. That and the fact that she just gets my soul. I didn't get dessert, but instead spent an hour and a half in Target where I got a new lamp, a necklace, and a shirt. It worked, I felt a little better.

This is where the blindfold came in. We get back to the car and J says, "You're going to hate me for this, but I'm going to need you to put this on." and he hands me a scarf. "For serious??" I asked.

Yup.

Thankfully I didn't make it 5 minutes on the freeway before I passed out (it was waaaay passed my bedtime). The next thing I remember was sitting up and complaining about the kink in my neck. Jeremy says, "I'm sorry, Sweetpea. Why don't you sit up? And while you're at it, take your blindfold off and look out your window."

OHMYGODHOLYEFFINGSHIT ::deep breat:: LETMEOUT!

It was Susan.

J flew her here from California to celebrate my birthday. That is who he'd been texting all night.

I threw my happy ass out of the car and jumped on her. I think I even squealed. I then proceeded to slug Jeremy in the arm and then kiss him. It was the best birthday surprise I've ever been given. My friend. The exact one I needed at exactly the right time. The crazy intuitive thing was he had been scheming with Susan to do this since MAY! How did the universe know?! Crazy kids.

We spent an amazing Saturday together. She and our friend Rachel cooked me breakfast and then took me to get our nails done. After that? We hit the outlet mall where those girls helped me find all kinds of good finds - including a pair of jeans.

I could have died happy after that afternoon.

We get back to my house, change our clothes, and head out to pick up Jeremy at our friends place - supposedly on our way to dinner. Nope! We get there and the driveway is filled with cars and lounging in the backyard is about a dozen of my friends and our parents. That man threw me my first ever surprise party! We grilled, drank beer, ate my Angry Birds birthday cake, and I got to spend the evening with some of my favorite people on this earth. I refuse, however, to talk about the tequila. I'm still trying to pretend that part never happened. My old friends mingled with my newer friends and they all folded together nicely. It may have been my greatest gift of all.

Jeremy outdid himself. Seeing him so happy about making me happy was by far my favorite part. Getting to hug Susan after the month I've had? Priceless. It was a fantastic birthday weekend. One I will never forget in a million years.

27

I turned 27 this week. I'm not entirely certain how I feel about it. I keep saying that I simultaneously feel very young and very old.

I had a great birthday. A very productive and fun day at work - my coworkers stayed to decorate my office after I left. There were crazy signs, streamers, and arrows all over my door and walls. I left work a little bit early and a couple friends took me to lunch at this really nice steak house downtown - one of my favorite of all time. We ate like kings, drank wine, and laughed like mad. Once I got home, I was so stuffed that I had no interest in dinner and J and I spent the evening snuggled on the couch. Birthdays in the middle of the week will do that to you. Or, is that a sign I'm getting old??

J has been a little wishy-washy about this weekend. First we were going to barbecue and I guess we waiting to long and most of our friends are busy, we were going to go to dinner Saturday and now we're going tonight. Now on Saturday he is talking about going to the state fair, just the two of us. I have my suspicions, there have been quickly turned computer screens and 'I'm not telling you any more''s... that boy is up to something. I am just crossing my fingers that I'm not getting my hopes up to truly just be having a chill weekend with my man (which I will never complain about!).

Either way, 27 has started out pretty great. I wasn't sure what I thought about transitioning into my mid-to-late 20's, but so far - so good. I feel more confident and at peace than I did in my early 20's. I've weathered a few more storms and that has rounded my edges a bit. I feel stronger, smarter, and a bit wiser (don't you laugh!). I've even taken small steps to work toward my purging and organizational goals.

26 was a roller coaster. Too many sad lows - getting dumped by my OB, taking a break from TTC, another Christmas without children, stress at work, helping friends through loss, work stress, family arguments, etc. However, there were a lot of wonderfully amazing highs - Travel (Las Vegas, cabins, Idaho, California, Eastern Washington, and of course - Europe.), great time with friends, 10 anniversary, Jeremy's 30th, a new job, seeing and experiencing my first weeks of pregnancy, hearing my mom and sister (and our lovely friends) cry when we told them we were expecting the first time, reaching and maintaining my 50lb weight loss goal - after 3 years of working at it, and many many more.

I'm ready for more stability with 27. I'm hoping that it is nothing like 26. I am still powering through The Year of Me (2011) and hope to finish stronger than I started.

Hello, 27, it's nice to finally meet you.

I will leave you with a funny...
J and I have just finished 'celebrating' (sorry, tmi, but what do you expect around here!?) the anniversary of my birth. Snuggled in bed, almost ready to doze off, J says, "Wow. I've never been with a 27 year old before." Goofball.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today happens to be the day that my mother gave birth to me. A couple weeks late in a record hot summer. Yup, you got it right, I've been a pain in the ass from the get-go.

In honor of my birth I'm going to relay to you a quick story my mom likes to tell... It was early August (8th or 9th) and a mama was pregnant with a little girl and it happened to be her due date. Instead of pushing, sweating, and getting ripped in half (which would come soon) at the hospital, she was sitting at home, in her underwear. Outside. In the kiddy pool. It was oppressively hot and she was crying. She was DONE carrying this child (aka - ME) around. Her father in law and his good friend happened to stop by (she had no shame that this point hanging out in her underoos) and tried to console her. FIL's friend said, "Well you'd better get used to it, because she's not going to be born until my birthday!" "When is that?" mama replied.

"August 25th."

Mama sobbed.

Guess what folks? He was right. I was laaate and I came out when I was damn good and ready. Which happened to be once the heat wave was over. ;)

So, while I'm busy eating cake (What diet?! Everyone knows there is no such thing as calories on the day you were violently squeezed through the birth canal!), you can just keep adding questions to my previous post. Answers are coming tomorrow!

Peace, Love, and Cake,
Mrs.S