Older, wiser, blah, blah, blah...

I intended to post long before now, but I've been working WAY too much to the point that when I came home from work most days last week, I'd eat dinner, veg out for an hour and then go to bed. I think I worked about 15 hours extra last week, including 2.5 hours on Saturday. I seriously hope the tradeshow goes well next week after all the work I've put in on it. I am also going to take at least one day off the week following the show to try and relax. Anyway, onto other, more "interesting" matters...

Yeah, I aged since I last posted. My birthday was last Friday. Despite gaining chronological age, I'm not sure I've gained a ton of wisdom in the last year... I wish. Perhaps I've grown some, and that's good, but there's still so much to learn, see, do and realize. I am very blessed, and for that I'm thankful. The weekend's festivities were just another example of how blessed I am and now, for the photos!

Friday started off with sleeping in (that's now anytime later than 5:30 a.m. on a weekday folks) and having the day off work. When I woke up, my sweet DH wished me happy birthday with a kiss and told me to turn on my computer before getting in the shower. Still groggy, I padded out to the living room to find a GINORMOUS gift bag. Inside was all of this:

First was this awesome birthday card. If you've never watched, "The Office," you should. It's one of the funniest shows! This card opens with a recording of Michael talking about reverse psychology, thus the message on the outside of the card. DH's message was equally funny (and cute).

Here's my gift from my hubby! I can now wake up to my iPod. I love my iLuv! He also bought me a new iPod case and a Pooh and Friends ornament for our tree this year. My hubby knows me well and was very generous! I love you babe!

After getting ready, I said bye to DH, who had some interviews to go to, and headed with my mom up to the Huntington Estate in Pasadena. It's an amazing place if you haven't been -- I highly recommend it! After a drive, some crazy antics by people in other cars (and seriously the funniest face I've seen made by a driver in another car at me), we arrived to this:

This is the library. Inside they have a tremendous display of books, including one of the first Gutenberg Bibles. It is amazing to see the craftsmanship up close and personal. When we were browsing in here, a docent approached us and asked us if we needed help. Although I'm sure she was just trying to be friendly, she freaked us out. She almost seemed like a ghost or something due to her voice and appearance!

From the library, we walked through toward the conservatory and the galleries. Behind the main "house" on the estate (which was under renovation), there was a great lawn lined by statues and ending in a HUGE stone fountain. Here's mom complying with my request to act like the statue.

I love that she's a willing participant in my antics!

And here is a picture of one of the water lilies in the pond. I love this picture!

From there we went into the conservatory, which was really interesting. Among the most interesting things were these HUGE water lilies with this special kind of lily flower. Here's the pod for it. Kinda spooky, eh? I have to look up what kind of water lily it was, but it blooms very infrequently. The lily pads that went with it were like 4 times the size of my head! So cool!

Visiting the galleries, in which I took tons of pics (all of which need some cropping), we saw tons of great art. They've put together these collections really well, as evidenced by looking at this picture:

Pretty cool, eh?

Anyway, they have simply amazing grounds at the Huntington, and among the gardens, is, of course, a rose garden. Here's one of many pics I took there:



And they also have a Japanese garden which has been there since the 1920s... which to me is simply amazing considering how incredible it still looks today.

Shortly after visiting the Japanese garden, we said good-bye to the Huntington after our 4 hour visit. We then drove to Old Town Pasadena to go to Dots Cupcakes, which I found online. Here's what we took home with us as my "birthday cake."

They were pretty good, but not the best I've ever had. I must say though, they're very cute to look at and photograph! My mom gave me the great present of a fantastic day away with her, paid for my trip to the library, cupcakes and dinner with DH at Chili's. On top of it all, she gave me a few new shirts and two new skirts (all needed, my wardrobe is so-so right now). My mom is the best for many reasons, this day being one of them!

On Saturday I worked and then attended a baby shower for my friend, Kristen. Kristen gave me a nice gift card to one of my favorite places, Golden Spoon . Wow, did she take home a good haul for her baby boy... it was incredible! After the party, DH took me to a cheap dinner and we hung out at home. On Sunday we caught up on stuff we needed to take care of and later that night met up with my friends Amy, Iris and Karen and their husbands (and little Lila) for dinner at Parkhouse Eatery. Seriously, seriously yummy! I had mac and cheese (made with several yummy cheeses) with grilled scallops on top. SO good. I got lots more cool gifts, including this cute clutch handmade by Iris:

Isn't it adorable? I love the fabrics she chose!

All in all, it was a great birthday weekend, with a bit of work thrown in. Oh well, such is life, right?

Lots of other stuff has been going on in my life recently, some I will probably mention later, and some which I'm not anywhere near ready to talk about. One thing that is new... I am on a diet. Well, more like I'm on a "permanent lifestyle change journey" which includes, among other things, cutting out most processed carbs from my diet. It's not that bad, except I miss bread a lot. This is something I need to do for my health and well-being though (and is why you never see pics of me on my own blog... something I want to change), so if it means very little to no bread anymore, so be it.

I'm on day 4, which if you read Martha Beck's latest book, is the point at which the new changes you make in life (regardless of type of change) start to form into habit... I can't say I disagree. I do already feel better and hopefully this will help with a lot of things. My endocrinologist also ordered some blood tests for me, which required the lab to stick me several times, however 8 times is way more than they should have had to stick me! I was so peeved on Tuesday when it took them 8 tries to get the four blood draws they needed! Now I have the bruises to testify to their incompetence! Oh well, it's all for the best I guess.

So, to help with my new lifestyle, I made myself this food journal. Lovin' the new Basic Grey Mellow paper. I actually restrained myself and bought just this sheet even though I want the whole collection. I love the combo of the buttons and flowers and stuff on the journal (which I bought for $.99 at Target and then covered). I hope it holds up for a while.

I guess that brings me up to the present. I'm in crunch mode for the tradeshow, which begins next Wednesday (well, Thursday, but I set up on Wednesday). I'm kinda nervous about it, but I'm sure it will all be fine. I've got to go back to work now that my lunch is over. Hope everyone has a good weekend... I've got a photo shoot with 3-year-old twins Saturday and some projects to finish up for myself and Scrappin' Attack, but I hope to have a very chill Labor Day with my honey before my chaotic week begins.