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Nora says "Happy Birthday" |
This week was Birthday week. I had a great Birthday.
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Friend swho bring cake are great friends indeed |
On my birthday day I did a morning Peloton ride with a friend, and although I didn't get a shout out I did have a great time. Then another friend came to visit and brought lunch and cake (YAY!). I took Lilah to a play date in the mid afternoon (I hadn't told them it was my birthday, but they were friends I hadn't seen for ages and I had nothing planned when they invited me over). Although it was a little awkward when Lilah said "it's my mom's birthday today" we are all adults and can just do adult things. Finally, another set of friends came over for dinner (the same one from morning Peloton, actually), where we had pizza and the kids played upstairs and we got to chat like adults. Then all the kids were asleep by 8, and I was in bed by 10, and it was a very good way to spend the day.
I realized I haven't had many great birthdays in the last few years. Here's a summary of the last decade of birthdays:
2015: I had just moved to the USA with Andy and was looking for an apartment and a job.
2016: We had friends over for cheese.
2017: I had just moved back to the UK and was living in a basically empty rental and looking for a job
2018: I wasn't feeling well and it turns out I was a bit pregnant with Isaac
2019: I had a 10 week old baby
2020: I was early pregnant with Lilah and felt awful
2021: I had a 4 month old and a 2 year 2 month old and was under stay at home lockdown orders
2022: I took the car for a MOT (annual car check) and noted in my diary I was grumpy
2023: I was in work
2024: I had 3 month old twins
2025: I had a great birthday and I think this is going to be a good decade.
Reading
I finished The Measure and I liked it a lot. It was interesting to think of the book as a "before/after" (in this case, "before/after the strings") because it felt a bit reminiscent of "before/after Covid"
I download a library copy of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. I haven't started it yet.
I also have not listened to any of Super Communicators.- Monday:
- 20 Minute Benchmark test with Ben Alldis. I finished the four week stronger you course and I am stronger! I could do 11 pushups (up from 4) and 35 v sits (up from 22) and a bunch of other cool improvements.
- 10 Minute Stretch, 10 Minute Yoga
- Tuesday:
- 35 Minute Peloton ride while watching Emily in Paris
- 10 Minute Yoga
- Wednesday
- Meditation
- Thursday
- 30 Minute Ride while watching Emily in Paris
- 10 Minute Yoga
- Friday
- 1hr 15 minute gym with gym buddy (Arms)
- Saturday
- 45 Minute HIIT and Hills Peloton Ride
- Sunday
- TBC, maybe foam rolling?
Hi! Daria from momofchildren.com
ReplyDeleteBirthdays… are very low key. A dinner out, a hike, some cake , really they are not a big deal. For my 50th (in 6 years) I want to climb Kilimanjaro. I wanted to do it for my 40th but the kids were really small. In 6 years L will be 13 and R- 11, so not a problem to leave them with my husband.
Oh what an exciting dream for your 50th birthday! I hope that is your reality. I think 13 and 11 is probably a much better time for big adventure than 3 and 1.
DeleteIt's fun to think of what adventures might be possible when I'm 50 - the twins will be 11 and the big kids 14 and 16. Maybe that will be my year for a marathon or an ironman or some other silly race dream?
Dinner, cake, and hike sounds like a perfect birthday as well.
Happy birthday! I hear you on the not-so-great birthdays. Is it a casualty of being a grownup? Maybe, although some of my grownup friends seem to do wild and fun things for their birthdays. Perhaps my lack of birthday fun is a casualty of being a non-wild or fun person??
ReplyDeleteMy birthday is coming up and I have made a massage appointment for myself, planned a lunch with my parents (they don't know it yet), made reservations for dinner with my husband/kid, and am planning to make myself a lemon cake.
I did laugh at "Perhaps my lack of birthday fun is a casualty of being a non-wild or fun person??"! I feel like all my friends had big massive parties for their fortieth and I was asleep by 10pm on mine however I realize that perhaps I only remember the friends who had parties because the ones who didn't just... didn't. I know far more people who recently turned 40 than big parties for people who recently turned 40.
DeleteYour birthday sounds fantastic, even down to the lemon cake. Massage, Lunch, Dinner, Lemon cake? perfection.
Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteBirthday's aren't a big deal in our family (at least for adults), but my husband did do a full-day treasure hunt for me a few years ago that was amazing. But I've had some ROUGH birthdays. One year my husband had surgery. Once, in university, I was alone in my apartment with no phone and literally not a single person was able to get in touch with me. That was a low point in terms of birthdays!
Ideal birthday would be low-key. A relaxed day, a nice walk, a massage, coffee, a simple but delicious supper.
Oh you have had some rubbish birthdays Elisabeth! I had the same no-phone (well it was no internet, but felt about the same!) situation in 2017. I was in an empty and internetless apartment while my husband was at work. It was not a good birthday!
DeleteWalk/Massage/Coffee sounds delightful. I hope you get many of those birthdays in the future!
I think your 2016 birthday sounds wonderful (friends and cheese), but the others not so great. I'm glad you had a wonderful birthday this year, and I love that you decided that the next DECADE is going to be good, not just the year. YAY! I had a perfect birthday this year: We went to a museum, had a fancy lunch in the city, came home, relaxed and had a light dinner that included cheese. I didn't have any cake but that's OK, I'm not really a cake person.
ReplyDeleteMy worst birthdays were the one where my husband and I were fighting (and thus not really talking) MANY years ago, and the one a few years before that when not one member of my family called me to wish me a happy birthday. Not my siblings, not my father, not my mother. I was really hurt. My mom told me, "I thought of you all day, and thought, "She must be out doing something fun, I'll call her later when she's home" and then by the time I thought you might be home, I fell asleep." HA! Still, it sucked.
Happy Belated Birthday!
My 2016 birthday was pretty wonderful! Your birthday sounds fantastic too - museum and lunch and cheese! I am a bit picky on my cakes and this year I had two homemade great cakes so that was awesome. I would definitely rather eat cheese than substandard cake but I didn't even have to make that choice this year.
DeleteAww your bad birthdays do sound bad! Thank you for sharing though because it does make me feel better about some of my worser ones.
Happy belated birthday! I am glad you had a good time, and that your next decade is going to be good. I personally don't really care about my birthday and am not a person that really wants to be the focus of attention so the worst thing would probably be someone throwing me some sort of surprise party. I just want a low key day, maybe with a beer or a glass of wine at the end of it and some activity in the middle. Last year I rode my bike all day and took myself out for a beer and a hamburger! That was a great day. This year I will be in Turkey and will probably take myself out for a pide or something.
ReplyDeleteI"m not big into my own Birthday but I do like milestones and rhythms and people so I think I find birthdays confusing a bit. Low key day with beer or wine sounds great, as does being in Turkey! And I would love a birthday bike ride someday too. January birthdays are a bit meh for the outdoor adventures (at least in Wales) but I will put "birthday mountain biking" on my list of dreams
DeleteI'm glad it was such a great weekend! It's looking like I might have to go to a conference on the other side of the country in my birthday week (getting home in my birthday eve). But if everything works out, Scott and I are going to spend a night at a hotel the weekend before when his parents are visiting. Fingers crossed! - Kat
ReplyDelete