My Birthday!

So I can't say I was really looking forward to this birthday. 36 was still safe, it was still close to 35, which was still pretty close to 30. But now, I feel myself rapidly drifting toward 40, and I can't stop it. I don't feel 37. When I look in the mirror I think, "Do I look 37?" I heard recently someone say that "they" say that due to advances in technology we are all about 10 years "younger" nowadays than our parents were at our age. So, I am going to cling to that notion like it is the last life vest on the Titanic. 27 is good. I liked 27, and I will like it again. I didn't let myself dwell too much on it though this birthday. Instead, I let myself dwell on the fact that I get to celebrate my birthday with my husband (that still sounds so foreign to me to say, but I like it!)

It started off a really good day. I got to sleep in. Matthew came home for his "lunch break" a little earlier than normal (8:30am instead of 9) to surprise me with breakfast. Yummy macadamia nut banana pancakes with coconut syrup (that we bought in Hawaii), eggs, fruit, and juice. It was delicious. He also brought me home a beautiful bouquet of flowers (sunflowers included) and carrot cake (my fav!). After he went back to work, I had some time to contemplate my 36th year: things I did well, things I didn't do so well, things I need to work on, accomplishments, happy times, etc. I made some birthday resolutions for myself that I know can be, and NEED to be done. Then I got online to check my email and Facebook and was happy to see so many well wishes. That was really sweet. I got messages from some of my brothers, and talked to some friends and parents, who called to say Happy Birthday. I got all ready, and when Matthew came home, he gave me my presents. He had gotten me some new pj's and a really pretty robe, all in green of course! :)

After some nice alone time, we headed off to San Francisco. We parked in China town and walked up to North Beach (the Italian District) to have dinner at the "Stinking Rose". It is a restaurant that makes all their food with loads of garlic. They make an appetizer called Bagna Calda, where the garlic cloves are cooked until they are so soft you can spread them like butter. It is really delicious, but man do you taste garlic for days! Anyway, I had ravioli and Matthew had the lamb, and we finished with garlic ice cream. We had to try it! And it wasn't as bad as you would think. In fact, I think it helped settle my stomach as I didn't feel as overwhelmed with the garlic taste the whole next day, just in the morning. Ha Ha.

After dinner we were really stuffed. Then Matthew decided we needed to hike up to Coit Tower, since I had never been. It was not the distance that bothered me so much as the straight-upness of the hike on a rather full tummy. It is a really steep hike up, but we took it slow, and after I digested a little, I felt much better. The view from the Tower is amazing. A 360 degree view of the whole city. We stayed and looked at all the murals inside. I had no idea it was so big inside, it looks like just a little tower from below in the city. There is an elevator that can take you to the top, but we didn't have the $10 -cash only- it required to go up. It was still a great view. All the walls inside (floor to ceiling) are murals of California history. I am a nut for that stuff, so if you are not - skip to the next paragraph to avoid my historical ramblings. We stayed in the tower for awhile and looked at the paintings and read the history. They were really interesting. You could tell they were done by different artists with different views on life in CA at that time. Some were peaceful and happy, like the painting of the agriculture of the time - orchards and farms with people cultivating the land. Others were more dark, like the painting of the city street where someone was getting mugged and a tragic car accident was depicted among the hustle and bustle of the city people on the streets. They were commissioned during the depression to try to revive the arts. The artists made about 40 cents a week. It took months for them to finish them. It was also a time of communist paranoia, and you can see the artists' political views hidden (in plain site) in some of the murals, so that was interesting to look for. We learned one of the artists mural's was deemed too communist and was painted over. Crazy.


We then walked outside and took lots of pictures of the city all around us. It was a really clear day. We could see the Oakland Temple across the bay from Coit Tower. A full moon was out over the Bay Bridge. We walked around in time to see the sunset behind the Golden Gate Bridge. It was like a picture. The ocean was a deep blue and purplish clouds adorned the hillsides. The buildings reflected the last few rays of sunlight and sparkled like stars all along the steep east bay hillsides. After the sun went down, the wind started to pick up, and it got chilly, so we hiked back down the hill. We took another road down and it was so steep that we could walk almost diagonal and feel like we were straight up. Weird. On our way out of the city we saw a man on the side of a road with a huge sign that said "HUNGRY". I had just made the comment, "too bad we only have all the leftovers..." when we saw that written under that was also written "LEFTOVERS WILL DO", and so we pulled over and handed them to him and he seemed genuinely happy. The food was delicious, so I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did.

I felt pretty content driving back from the city. It was a great birthday. I had such a fun time wandering around the city looking at all the people, restaurants, shops, apartments, etc. It is so fun to be in a city so full of life. So different from the "suburbs". It makes me think about how many people there are in this world and how different their lives are from mine. And probably how surprised I would be to see how similar as well. I think we all want the same basic things in life. Safety, security, fun, laughter, and most importantly - love. I feel very grateful to have so many people that love me so much and who I can love. It does make me feel safe and secure. I am lucky enough to have great friends, a family, and a wonderful husband, that I laugh with, and who I have an immense amount of fun with. Thanks to my love - My Matthew! Thanks to everyone else who helped make my birthday so special. I hope this new year is as good as the last one.