Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Birthday Birthday Birthday

So this past Saturday, 9/16, was my 28th birthday. All I could think about was, Holy Cow, I am TWO years away from the big 3-0. I used to believe that I would not live to see the age of 30, so I guess I better start living life right now!! Yes, I know, how dramatic...

After spending half the day completing some homework and other studies, I got dressed up and headed out with my husband. He decided that he would take me wherever I wanted, so you can only guess where that might have been!

First, we had a late lunch at Benihana's, a great sushi spot. I had the Shrimp Lover's Roll with extra eel sauce (which is delicious) and a Rainbow Roll.

Next stop, Barnes and Noble in Kierland Commons, which I frequent often and is really very nice. Now, my husband hates taking me to Barnes and Noble because: 1. I spend money that I do not have and then proceed to ask him for money when suddenly, to my amazement, my account is negative and banks are such a rip-off!; and 2. I tell him I am ONLY going to take 10 minutes and then miraculously stretch that to an hour and then proceed to blame the slow or understaffed cashiers. After depositing him into one of their truly scrumptious armchairs, I proceeded to browse at my leisure. Now I must stop and tell you about these chairs. My Mom brags about them; so do my sister and Dad. When I finally sat in one, I understood why they loved them so much. You just sink into them, and not in an uncomfortable, please-help-me-out-of-this-chair sort of way. Apparently, they're very popular and you can always catch someone there just for a nap. Which is what happened to my husband. He grabbed a couple of architecture/interior design books and found that he had knocked out for a while; when I finally came back to him, his face was all red and confused :) As usual, I piled my arms with all the books that captured my interest so that I could sit with them and make my pick. After pulling up a seat next to the hubby, he put out his hand to me, which I assumed meant that he would hold them for me as I perused through them. In actuality, his intention was for me to pile as many books as his hand could hold up and that would be my purchase. Hel-lo!! If I had known this was going to happen, then I would've grab a basket and loaded it!!! LOL! My purchases were as follows:

The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox (looking forward to this one)
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes (loved the movie!!)
Gossip Girl #10 by Cecily Von Ziegesar (yep, not ashamed of this either!)
A Year By The Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman by Joan Anderson
She's Turning Into One of Them: A For Better or For Worse Collection
Journal: The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Amy Zoe Mason Found by Kristine Atkison and Joyce Atkinson (this one is really cool! It's formatted to look and feel like you're reading a journal. The cover is even a bit squishy. According to the back cover, the journal is rife with secrets and the "storytelling relies equally on visual and verbal clues". Sort of satisfies the voyeur in me)

I also purchased two very lovely cards (one of a trendy girl outside of a bookstore), a bookmark, and butterfly stationary that was labeled as notelets. Plus, he had also ordered The Thirteenth Tale for me, which I received the day before my birthday.

Next stop was Entertaining the Idea of Tea, which is a beautiful little tea shop in Old Town Scottsdale. Every time I enter this store, I feel so quaint. I'm actually a clutz so I have to watch myself in this store. Purchases included a sugar cube picker upper (have no idea what it's really called), a really nice mug w/lid, tea, and biscuits (for the hungry hubby). Now I have to buy some sugar cubes so that I can feel like an official tea drinker (did you really think I had sugar cubes in my house?! lol)

Next stop was Harkin's Theaters, where I saw Little Miss Sunshine for the second time (my husband's first). VERY funny movie!!

Next stop was Earl's, located right near my home (I forgot to mention that my parents had taken me here to dinner the night before, after which we headed to a casino where I won some cash and then proceeded to lose it all - this is why I do not gamble, but like I stated above, I need to start living!)

All in all, it was a great birthday! I sniffed my books, played with my sugar cube thingy by picking up imaginary sugar cubes (hey, this here clutz needs to practice), didn't win the powerball, and relaxed a bit.

BTW - Nancy celebrated her birthday on 9/17 (yay Virgos!) with a huge bash. She also had awesome "gift bags" for those who attended her "party". I myself found a David Yurman watch and a burgundy croc Kelly bag from Hermes. Isn't she the best??!!



15 comments:

Joy said...

I'm just quickly passing through (in other words I really shouldn't be reading blogs right now), but couldn't breeze by without saying:

HaPpY BeLaTeD BiRtHdAy!!! :)

HOORAY...my image is back!

Anonymous said...

Happy belated birthday! Sounds like you had a very fun time. Have you read the Jouranl book yet? I thought it was fun. I'm curious to see what you think of the Michael Cox book. That looks really good. Enjoy all of your goodies!

Carl V. Anderson said...

What a great birthday! And happy birthday by the way!!!

I really enjoyed Under the Tuscan Sun and the sequel, Bella Tuscany. Hope you find it as enjoyable.

I've heard alot of people say, quite seriously, that they never thought they'd make it to 30. Wonder why that is. I've always just assumed that I'm going to live forever. ;)

Sharon said...

Happy Birthday!! Sounds like it was wonderful. I have The Meaning of Night on reserve at Borders and it hasn't come in yet :( Looks like a visit to B&N is in order.

Kirsten said...

Happy Birthday Amelia!! Don't worry, 30 isn't so bad and you still have 2 years to get there. I am quickly approaching 31 which has me a tad spooked because then I will officially be "in my 30s" and not just "30" :)

Great book picks by the way. I've read a couple of the Gossip Girls books and am not ashamed to admit it either ;) The cover alone of The Meaning of Night would make me want to buy it so I am looking forward to hearing what you think of it! Your B&N trip sounds very similar to the B&N trips I take with my husband :)

Anonymous said...

Happy Belated Birthday! It looks like you had a nice time and got lots of goodies!! :) That book Journal looks really good! I am in line at the library for the Cox book, too. Enjoy your new books!

SFP said...

Happy birthday! Sounds like a wonderful one!

Anonymous said...

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

That was an excellant day. That Journal book looks awesome!

Tempest Knight said...

My goddaughter loves the Gossip Girl books. *g* I've asked her to lend me some so I could read them.

Kelley Nyrae said...

Happy belated birthday!! I just love books shopping!

purplefugue said...

Hey!! So nice to meet another bookworm. And another Virgo one to boot. Thanks for dropping by my site...Will be back again. And yes! you should start on The Thirteenth Tale...quick! LOL!

Lotus Reads said...

A very Happy Birthday, Amelia albeit belated, sounds like you had a wonderful time!

Butterfly Amy said...

Happy Birthday Amelia!
It really sounds like you had a great time picking out those books while hubby cat napped ;) best way to keep him quiet about your book habits lol stick him in the B&N chairs!
I got a real kick out of reading about it though because I do exactly the same thing! "ohh I'll just be 10 min." meanwhile 2 hours and 10 min fly by and the people i'm with are leaning up against some shelf I passed 20 min ago looking worn out and bored LOL
Happy Reading!
~Amy

Amelia said...

Wow!! Thank you all so much for your birthday wishes! It was really cool to read all your comments!

Joy - glad your image is back! I think my blog was determined to hang on to your old image ;)


Iliana - I haven't had a chance to read the Journal book yet - I'm holding off until I have a completely free night because I really want to enjoy the graphics in this one

Carl V. - Can't wait to dive into Under The Tuscan Sun.

Ex Libris - Yes, that definitely is a great excuse to go to B&N, and pick up some more goodies on the way out :)

Danielle - I hope you enjoy the Cox book!

Susan - Thanks - it definitely was!

Nancy - Hmmm...I'm now thinking I should move the Journal book to my top 3 in my TBR pile ;)

Tempest Knight - I hope you enjoy the GG books - they're fun and great if you're looking for a light escape :)

Kelley - I'm so glad that you stopped by! Book shopping is great...and addictive ;)

Indigo - Virgos rock!! I'm kind of hesitant to pick up The Thirteenth Tale - either it will be too good and over too soon, or I will not like it and then wonder what is wrong with me :)

Lotus - thanks! :)

Amelia said...

Kristen - there should be a club for people like us who are not ashamed of our reading choices :)

Buterfly Amy - those chairs have probably saved a lot of relationships ;) I enjoyed reading your comment, too! It's not like we intentionally plan to make everyone wait - time just seems to FLY when you're looking for books, especially when you're given a time limit! :)