Back in My Prime

[hilarious post title is courtesy of Melanie's brother-in-law, who is a math guy; man, i love geek humor!] 
Sunday was the High Holy Day of the Nikiverse as i celebrated my 37th birthday.
Of course the festivities started a week ago with Rickki's visit and will continue for another week or so. I really like to milk the holiday for all that it's worth.
Thanks to everyone who called, wrote, made cards, sent e-mail, took me out and got me presents. I really feel blessed to have so many friends. I'm not going to list every single part of the on-going Birthday Frivolity, but there are 3 highlights that i will share because randomly, they are all pink.
A box arrived from Mel, Mike and Stanley that had some wrapped presents in it. They were marked as being from the Barrs and Matt S.
  Huh, thinks I, that's random.
I am really good about waiting until the actual holiday to open presents, so they were sitting on the dining room table when the phone rang at 11:00 on Friday night. It was Mel and Mike on speaker phone; they wanted to be with me when i opened the pres-nents and couldn't wait until Sunday. Not one to quibble I ripped into the awesome Winnie the Pooh paper and found a CAMERA!!! After reading my blog about my intention to spend Saturday shopping for a new little digital point and shoot they were afraid that i would buy one not knowing that they had already sent me one.
 Dontcha love when people read your mind?


It is a Sony CyberShot (one of the 3 cameras i was planning to comparison shot) and it is pink!
 I love, love, love it.
Thanks to Mel, Mike and Matthew (and Stanley, of course) for being about 3 steps ahead of me.


Here is the very first pic i took with the new camera (perhaps you can see that it is 11:40pm) and one of me playing with the zoom in the dark.
 
I was stressed out about spending my birthday proper alone. It fell on Mother's Day this year so i knew everyone would be busy with their moms and/or kids. And my mom is in Ohio with my sister who is recovering from pretty major surgery. But Erin called last week and asked if i wanted to come to her family's cookout and celebrate my birthday.
  Do monkeys run pirate ships? I said.
The food was awesome, the conversation was lively, Erin's dad brought out his mandolin for me to paw with envy, i almost won the Game of Life - Pirates of the Caribbean edition, i received some fun art for the studio, and there was a pink beaded Hello Kitty tiara.
Did i wear it all night?
I think we all know the answer to that question.
Thanks to Erin, Steve, Mom, Dad and Gramps

Today i got to work and Rob had left me Alberto the Flamingo who was "tickled pink" that it was my birthday (hey - that's what the note said) 

Is he awesome or what? 

He is so big and perfectly formed that i long for a little balloon hedgehog with which to play croquet through the education department. 

Thanks, Rob.

 [i just saw how fuzzy that picture is - wow, sorry about that. I am still working with the camera and pulled the pic directly from the memory stick with this COOL USB adaptor so i didn't have a chance to check it]



Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate.
(and in case you're wondering, i do still have 3 slots open for the rest of the birthday week)