“There is still no cure for the common birthday.”

(Quote by John Glenn)

I don't know about the rest of you but I LOVE my birthday. While a part of me is saddened that I'm getting another year older, the rest of me rejoices that I have something to celebrate. I'm older, wiser, happier, and still enjoying life. I also feel that it's important to celebrate myself and give myself gifts (not in a selfish way, more of a self-supportive way). This usually means that most of September and sometimes into October, it's birthday month. I still have a couple days to go until I officially hit the late 20s (goodness, just writing that makes me shiver!) but the celebration has already been in full swing.

This past weekend we went birthday camping with friends, our longest camping trip thus far (2 nights!). We just got our new CRV a couple of months ago, as well as the 6 person tent that attaches to it, and we were eager to use it. It's much larger than our old tent--we could even fit our queen air mattress. The weather was perfect-crisp, cool, and sunny. Hubby got me a new electric blanket for my birthday and gave it to me early but we didn't even need it at night. And my favorite dog came along too! Evgeni (or Evi for short, after Evgeni Malkin) belongs to a friend and he is a husky/chow chow mix. The sweetest, slowest dog in the world who now has doggie Alzheimer's. I want a dog just like him. He even spent a night in our tent just because I love him so much. In the pic, he's giving me a nice big kiss after I took him for a walk.

We're recuperating from all the hiking we did (and our failed attempts at geocaching...we are so bad at it, we found NONE) in anticipation of a crazy birthday weekend. There will be dinner out with family and friends, my aunt's annual church auction, and most important, my gifts to myself! I do something for myself each year and this one is no exception. I booked four glass making workshops (which I mentioned in an early blog post) for the fall, one of which is this weekend. It's the first one and I can't wait to make a new creation.

My other gift to myself is my first tattoo. I have long pondered what I wanted and where I wanted it, knowing that if nothing ever felt right, I just wouldn't get one. Well, this weekend I will be getting a permanent henna (mehndi) tattoo on my upper left ribs (I know, ouch for my first tattoo. Go big or go home!). I'm sure after it's complete I will be regretting the busy weekend I have planned. But that seems to be how I roll...