Birthday Dreams...

So I recently turned 31 and to celebrate I decided to go out to eat with my family. It took me a few hours of reading menus and whatnot to find a place that I thought would be family friendly and still nice. After all, we do not go out to eat very often, and when we do I want to make it worth our while. I bought several Restaurant.com coupons a few months ago and since we rarely go out I thought we should probably use one. I haven't been disappointed in the past with the restaurants we have gone to, so I expected only the best for my birthday. I did, however, choose a place that was atypical for what I would normally want, and I did so solely because my children were coming. Normally I would've gone to a steak house or something a little more out of our league to treat ourselves. But, nothing could compare to what we ended up getting at....

the Spaghetti Bistro.
When we pulled up outside the "restaurant" we could tell it was a little less than ideal. It was completely empty (not a good sign when no one else is eating there) and it was very small. Walking in, we realized that it was a fast food restaurant for spaghetti and other Italian meals. Restaurant.com showed the menu (which was full of pasta dishes, pizzas, sub sandwiches, breads, etc.), but they FAILED TO MENTION it was fast food. My first instinct was to RUN and RUN FAST, but since it was already getting late and we were all hungry, and we had already printed out the coupon from r.com we decided that we should probably stay. Since it was fast food and we did have the place to ourselves, the kids had a great time. We all got sodas (a big treat for us!) and were able to enjoy them while we waited for our food. We were also able to order huge amounts of food and take home an entire pizza for the next day. Had it not been my birthday I think I would've been charmed by the place, but instead I was mildly disgusted. Who wants fast food spaghetti to celebrate 31 years of life?

Lily and Abigail absolutely loved the pink lemonade and fruit punch. I think I had to refill their glasses at least twice before the food even got there. (so much for my night off, I was up getting food and drink or napkins most of the meal, while Nate tried to help the girls not destroy our table).

We ended up ordering a bowl of endless spaghetti and garlic bread, a pepperoni pizza, some garlic cheese pizza, a Chicken Parmigian Sub (mine) and a Steak and Cheese sub (Nate's) with chips. So, we got more food than any nice restaurant would've offered for the same price, and it was pretty decent in taste as well. They even gave me a birthday treat on the house, of 2 cannoli's (the above picture shows them). So, while it wasn't my ideal birthday meal or environment, it did feed our family for a very decent price ($28) and we didn't have to worry about the kids bothering other patrons or the waiters. So I guess there truly is a bright side to everything.

I'm "rising up" with the mural on the wall while waiting for our food.

Just me

Later that night....

Nate and the kids bought me too many presents this year and we enjoyed opening them together. We put Lily and Abigail to bed when we got home, but let Kaylie and Carter stay up to watch me unwrap gifts. They ended up trying to open all the gifts, even though they had wrapped most of them!

I got some new DVDS, some chocolates, a 1000 piece puzzle, two polo shirts (the first time Nate has bought me clothes before), and a necklace and earrings. I had already bought myself a new neck massager and lumbar back pillow, so I was pretty spoiled this birthday. Our parents also sent us money gifts for both of our birthdays and it was very nice. I was grateful to be so spoiled and remembered by many family and friends.

One of my favorite gifts was from my friend, Lynette Ercanbrack, that volunteered to watch our kids overnight so we could go on a date and not worry about when to get home. We took advantage of her offer a few days before Nathan's birthday. I bought tickets to the National Symphony to surprise Nate and we drove to DC to watch the "Pops" performance of popular songs from different soundtracks that we love (ie: ET, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Chariots of Fire, etc.). The problem was that Nate didn't get home until around 6pm and the performance started at 7. We didn't end up finding the place (DC is terrible if you don't know exactly where you are going, there are one way streets everywhere and it is very confusing to navigate) until intermission!! So, we missed half of the performance, but were lucky to hear the songs that we were most excited about after the intermission break. It was an expensive date, but well worth it. If you have never been to a live symphony, (the national one being among the top) it is definitely worth the time and money to see it in person. There is nothing like good clean music to lift the spirits and bring us feelings of joy. I think other than getting there late and paying $18 for parking, Nathan was surprised and happy that we went. I hope we can do it again sometime, but find a better deal with tickets and parking. I think it is good to spend a little money to spoil the ones we love, as long as we have the money for it and don't do it too often.

I suppose I should also mention that the morning of my birthday was rather depressing and hard for me. I struggle with each year to make sure that I am improving and doing better as the years go by. I guess I don't really feel like I've contributed very much to the world nor improved upon myself in the past year. In fact, in many ways, I feel as if I have grown a lot worse and that my weaknesses have multiplied. I have so many of them and when I see my life flying by it gives me a very real awakening for the need to be better and to make very wise choices with the way I use my time and talents. I suppose birthdays are another time for reflection and give me the chance to ponder on what I have accomplished and what new goals I want/need to set (just like a second New Year's). It was good to look through some old mission letters/fotos, and to read things I wrote many years ago. So much has happened since my mission days they often seem like a dream. Life really does fly by and I pray that I can make the most of mine and use my time to do the best things and not just those things that are good and distracting!