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??!!
