Another Year Older. Another year wiser?

Today is my 31st birthday. Actually, technically I do not turn 31 until like 8:11 tonight or something like that, but we all know that's just annoying B.S. to insist that your birthday does not occur until the actual time you were born. This year has seen a lot of exciting changes and events:
-We sold the first house Tim and I bought together.
-I survived living with my in-laws for FOUR MONTHS! (and we are all still on speaking terms!)
-We found and bought our dream house.
-Stella started talking up a storm and added running and walking sure-footedly to her repertoire.
-I acted in one of my all-time favorite plays as probably my all-time favorite character (Little Murders).
-I lost 34 pounds and got back to a size (10) I hadn't worn since my freshman year of college.
-We painted the entire exterior of our house.
-We lost our dear dog Roxie:(
-We were in the wedding of the century (Tara and Jeff's).
-Angelina and Brad procreated a few more times. (They're fast buggers, sort of like rabbits.)

A big year, right? And while I can't say I am eager to go further into my 30's, I will say I am very happy to be alive and I much prefer aging, even as varicose veins make my thighs look like roadmaps. This weekend we celebrated, and celebrated and celebrated some more. Friday night we had a very small soiree with some of our nearest and dearest (I didn't think far enough in advance to plan for a bigger scale party, but at the same time, sometimes it's nice to just hang with a few really close friends and get to actually talk to everyone there for long periods of time). Stella spent the night with her Baba and Grandaddy and so Saturday morning I slept in until NOON! Then we went over to see Stella briefly and get Christine and Brian and headed out for lunch and shopping at the Domain. I had no clue my sister-in-law was such a shopping fool, I am very excited now about having a shopping buddy and will now probably force her to shop with me every time we are in the same town;) We had a blast making fun of all the ridiculously overpriced, undersized clothing in the shops there, and, because there is safety in numbers, we went in Tiffany's and oohed and aahed over the fantastic jewelry there. As Christine put it, "thanks boys for sufficiently blinging us out that we can go in Tiffany's and the salespeople will actually believe we might get something in there!" It is amazing what a few diamonds will do:)

Saturday night we went to dinner at South Congress Cafe because I was like, dammit, we can go out to eat as adults, sans kiddo, and I want to eat somewhere that adults eat! We were not disappointed. Man, it was delicious! I had the Beef Milanesa with crawfish gravy, which everyone agreed was to die for. I would highly, highly recommend this restaurant. The prices are just a teensy bit above a middle-of the road restaurant (say 10-15 for most mains), but the tastes are a world above it. We had a fantastic time talking and eating and drinking. Then we headed over to the old standby, Opal's, for some delicious beers and more conversation. A special thank you to Tim for being the DD so the rest of us could indulge. He's such a fantastic hubby:) We had an awesome time. I feel so blessed to have married into a family that accepts me as one of theirs. I always wanted a sister growing up (not that I don't love my brother, but we couldn't trade clothes or make-up tips!), and I now have three! It is totally the coolest.

Sunday we actually went to church for only the second time since Easter, and it did not suck, unbelievably. But that's for another post. Sunday afternoon we ate at Kerbey (we've been eating out way too much lately), and after Stella's nap decided that we needed to brave the heat and get out of the house. After all, about the only thing you can do in air conditioning is shop, and that is really not an "activity", especially since we'd spent the day before doing that. We went to Town Lake to walk and even took Lucy, who was in heaven and SO well behaved! Even when a muddy, wet dog came up and started getting all up in her business, then jumped up on me and got me all muddy, Lucy was totally chill. Can't say the same for her owner, who I had to yell at to have come over and get her dog, and then said I should expect wet muddy dogs to jump up on me if I come to the leash-free zone of the trail. Uh, yeah, no one else's dog was jumping on random passerbys!

But I got over our altercation, and continued our walk which, unfortunately, was marred by the fact that the trail is closed down in large chunks between South First and Lamar, so we had to walk on the street in full sun a lot of the way. That sucked. But all was forgotten by a trip to the fountains where Stella got to run around in her swimsuit and we ran into Bill, (I asked her if she wanted to go over and say hi to Bill and she just started running towards him. So cute!), and we went and had snowcones. Yay, snowcones! Can I tell you how much I love snowcones? A lot. A whole hell of a lot.

So that's pretty much a perfect birthday weekend, capped off when we got home by some Rock Band with $20 worth of brand new songs (thanks Tara and Jeff for my "Rock Band Gift Certificate")! I have no clue what I'm doing today, other than NOT going to the grocery store. I'm pretty sure I'm blowing my birthday money on new music, but Tim also is supposed to buy me something for my birthday, so perhaps Mama will go get a new pair of shoes:)