Adventure 9/52: Documenting Birthday No. 37

Veggies: So many good meals this week, at restaurants and at home. My favorite dose of veggies this week was my birthday dinner at Pera Mediterranean ... nothing beats a Middle Eastern appetizer plate.

Wine: Finally ended the drought with a splurge-worthy Cabernet on my birthday -- and I'm now a happy member of The Wine Merchant's wine of the month club, thanks to a thoughtful birthday gift from my faithful blog reader and fantastic husband DP.

I've always been curious about people who share so much of their lives online. Why does one choose to move--or completely remove--the line between public and private? My introverted tendencies exist in the electronic world, too, where I'm far more likely to read about someone's life than share details of my own. My motives for starting this blog remain a little cloudy, but I'm fairly clear about my posting boundaries. For this particular adventure, I'm veering into the online spotlight (and venturing into the possibility of boring readers to death) by documenting a day in my life ... a day that happened to be my 37th birthday.

Like most days, it started with an early wake-up call from my dog Rusty. You can't tell from this picture, but he approaches every day like he's certain it's going to be the best one of his life. I know--he's a dog, and that's what dogs do. But I do adore starting each day with him jumping on his hind legs at the bottom of the steps. I'm far from a morning person, so it takes all my effort to try to match his enthusiasm. Some days--like today--are easier than others.

Because I took the day off work, I was able to spend some much-needed time on my yoga mat without feeling rushed. (FYI: The morning practice I blogged about last year has completely disintegrated. Sadly, this is now a special treat.) Listened to my favorite beach-inspired tunes from Michael Franti, Phish, G. Love, and Jack Johnson while practicing my favorite poses--mostly long, flowing standing sequences with lots of balancing.

Not being a morning person =

never eating breakfast before work.

So, I chose to eat a proper sit-down meal on this unrushed day. (Notice the new swanky napkins!) Thanks to a surprise birthday package of granola from this thoughtful friend, I had a delicious start to my day. Rusty seemed to agree that it was much better than his usual breakfast.

(I know this picture has the potential to gross out those of you who don't have pets. Or who don't have pets who eat leftovers from your plates. I promise, I wash my dishes really, really well.)

The weather for my March birthday is almost always cold and rainy. Except for this year. Notice the flip-flopped feet at the top of this blog? Maybe I was stretching it a little bit (I often wear flip-flops well into November), but it was definitely one of the warmest, sunniest days of the year. No way was I going to let this opportunity get by.

I'll spare you the exciting details of renewing my license and registration, as well as the picture of my new license. But I will share my tip for taking a good license picture: don't shower or even brush your hair. It's pointless to try to look nice. When you set the bar low, you're bound to think that you don't look nearly as bad as you thought you would.

A few months ago, my lovely sister-in-law with extra vacation time asked if I'd want to take the day off to spend some time with her. Fantastic idea! (You'd never guess from her smiling face that she'd just dropped a big flat of seedlings she's growing for our family garden.) Amy likes to dance, drink, cook, eat, shop at thrift stores, and take long walks/hikes. We are a match made in sister-in-law heaven. So very lucky to enjoy part of the day with her... it of course included most of the above... as well as a noontime March Madness viewing of Xavier beating Minnesota.

Exhausting work, this loafing around, so I recharged with my favorite variation of Viparita Karani -- legs-on-the-couch pose. Rusty was more than happy to lie down with me.

My traditional birthday evening festivities include dinner with DP, my mother-in-law and another lovely sister-in-law. (After growing up with NO sisters, I am so fortunate to have 10 sisters-in-law). Being part of such a large family now, it's a luxury to have an intimate dinner like this ... I always look forward to it. As always, the company was fantastic, and the meal was delicious too.

The funniest part of the night? Stopping by the newly-renovated hole in the wall bar (Firehouse Tavern, formerly Engine House Inn) down the street from DP's mom's house. There's a long family history with the bar and it seemed fitting to visit it on its opening night. We talked and laughed and enjoyed a nightcap (or two).

{Holy cow ... the day was fun, but documenting it here was not. I enjoyed taking pictures–I felt like I was on a mission–but adding them into my blog was exhausting because I’m not all that tech-savvy, and that diminished my desire to reflect on the day. So, adventure completed, lesson learned. Creating this post took nearly as long as living the day. And there's no doubt that living my life is far more important to me than telling others about it on my blog. So here's to the beginning and the end of living my life--at least in such great detail--online.}