Age 29

The Friday before my birthday, I went to Miss Ollie's to meet up with Drinking Liberally, who was meeting to celebrate two of their member's birthdays. I thought perhaps I could be added to the bday celebration mix. Really, the celebration acknowledgment was the fact that a guy name Jonathan made “ice cream” cupcakes. He baked cupcakes in ice cream cones, then topped them with ice cream looking icing, giving the illusion of being an ice cream cone. It was neat. Creative. I should have taken a picture of his work. Perhaps I can find a pic online of a similar thing.

Jonathan cut holes in a pizza box to make cup cake holders. He might just be brilliant, but he's moved to Nashville so I'll never know for sure ;).

Miss Ollie's was okay. It was friendly chatter with strangers for a few hours. Eventually, I was socially drained and ready to go. In terms of celebrating my birthday, eh, they didn't care as they didn't know me. But, it wasn't a big enough bang for it to really be a yeah or neigh on did they fold me in as bday girl. What is true is that it was my first time venturing out to build a social life and that taking that first step is a wonderful birthday present to myself.

The next day, my friend Monica, who I met earlier than Miss Ollie's on Friday, sent me a text inviting me out for a birthday celebration. We went to Century Farms winery, tried all of their wines, then bought a bottle of Peach Lady to split over music. Steve Short & Scott Myatt were the musicians for the night. They were okay. The music was aimed for an older and whiter crowd than myself, but I enjoyed being there. I recognized the Eric Clapton tunes, at least.

Monica and I made the winery trip into a picnic. She made yummy guacamole and surprised me with a fruit-topped birthday cake. I had tortilla chips and hummus. Funny what easy things one can become full from eating. Anyhow, this surprising, meaningful outing has convinced me that Monica just might be one of the best people in the world. She's the first person I've met that I truly look forward to getting to know better and having as a friend friend (as opposed to just a social friend that I see only at organized, group outings).

Thursday, the day of my birthday, Tammy was supposed to come and see me. My dad also mentioned coming, but changed his mind so not to interfere with Tammy & my plans. Tammy didn't come. I was devastated. She gave reasons that made no sense to me. She verbally started back peddling on the plan days before. I shouldn't have been surprised that she wasn't there, but I was, or at least I was crushed. I think my dad was too. He expected her to be with me when he called to send birthday wishes but I was alone. I hated hearing that sadness in his voice, as I knew he wanted to be with me. This situation gave him many dad loving points and raised his standing in my eyes. He really, really tried to give me what I wanted for my birthday (plan wise) and did his part to have those things happen. But Tammy was the other part. My birthday being as it was, I refused to stay home and mope. This incident, though justified in her eyes, has given me the push I needed to really let go this time. Of course, I let go of her in December but landed back in her arms in March. I guess we'll see what happens but I do hope and will it to be a very long break if nothing else. I normally wait at least 3 months after a relationship's end to start being involved with someone else but in this case, I need a date! New date, help me in protecting myself. Lol. Okay, moving along.... I planned to take Tammy to Olive Garden with some gift cards I've received on previous gift giving days. Instead, I took myself. I ate too much, waited an hour, then went to swim class. The kids at the pool all remembered my birthday. That made me feel really good. Plus, over 110 greetings on facebook?! Wow! I don't think I've left that many bday posts in the 4 years I've been on fb. I definitely felt the drab of Tammy not coming to be with me for my birthday, but I made it and tried to party up the day for what it was. After all, I was able to eat dessert at Olive Garden and didn't even have to share it ;).

The Saturday after my birthday, my mom came up to see me. You can get a lot of the details about that trip in my blog detailing the quality of the places we visited. In short, we went to Crown Winery in Humbolt, followed by Century Farms Winery in Jackson for better wine, ate a selection of 8 cheeses, spinach and artichoke cheese dip, homemade salsa by my friends Mandy and Ed in GA, and about five different types of crackers, then followed that with dinner from a self-proclaimed steak house downtown, Dixie Castle.

Sunday was Happy 4^th of July Day. My dad came up, I think because he didn't come on my birthday, and we went to a cookout that evening. Two women in Drinking Liberally hosted the cookout and people from multiple groups with which they're involved showed. I enjoyed myself. I think my dad did too. Another social perk: I connected with a book club that evening. I'll meet with them in August, as I'm unavailable for their July meeting. This does work against my goal of reading the books I own this year, since I'm no longer in a book club, but both angles can be worked.I met a person or two at the cookout that I'd like to keep up with, but sadly I wasn't assertive enough to get their number and I can't find one of them on facebook as friends with other people that I've met.

This, my friends, ends my week of celebrating another year of my life.