The Real Birthday

So, Amanda's real birthday ended up kind of disappointing.  Amanda opened her final gift from me this morning, but then it was off to work like any other day.  Then later on we got the news that our nephew is in the hospital with pneumonia.  That put a damper on the day fairly quickly.  He's doing okay now, though he'll be in the hospital a few days longer.

So instead of a birthday party or being taken out for supper, Amanda and I stopped briefly at Arby's on the way home from the hospital.  We like Arby's, but it wasn't much of a birthday celebration.  It made me very glad we celebrated early on Monday!

Another Birthday

Wednesday is Amanda's birthday.  I have to share her on her birthday with her family because it will be Scrabble night, and I won't have time to do much special anyway.  So I decided we'd celebrate a bit early.  I bought Amanda some balloons, cooked one of her favourite meals, let her open two of her gifts early, and baked a cake.

I made a fairly basic cake (I ran out of time after doing a bunch of cleaning/rearranging/running around), and then went to work decorating it.  When Amanda saw it, she commented that she liked the friendly alligator on it.

...My cake decorating skills could use some work.  Also my Yoshi-drawing skills.  Still, I thought it turned out pretty good given how quickly I did it!

Amanda's Birthday

We celebrated Amanda's birthday today. I took her out for supper tonight at the Escape Wine Bistro (good food, kind of expensive, restaurant was too warm, and there was a loud man with redneck tendencies at the next table). Last night I baked her birthday cake, which I decorated with a Monopoly theme to match the card I designed for her.

It seems like Amanda has had a pretty good birthday except for one thing. In what is becoming a tradition, part of her gift that I ordered online has had shipping trouble and won't be here for another week in all likelihood. :-(

Birthday Photo

Amanda and I took this photo together on my birthday just before having supper. No, we didn't eat at the liquor store behind us in the photo. Amanda took me to Boston Pizza, where I had my usual order, and it was incredibly delicious.

Oh, and Amanda was really cute that night, too.

Yesterday's Birthday

My birthday yesterday was great! I got to have two birthday cakes at work because a co-worker shares my birthday, had a long chat on Skype with my brother, a brief phone call with my parents, and Amanda took me out to supper!

Thanks everyone, for making my birthday so great. Next year, same time, okay?

On Birthdays

So I'm coming up on my thirty-second birthday. In some ways it's even crazier than hitting thirty was. At least for that one, I was still in my twenties while I was waiting for my age to roll over to the next digit. There are days I walk around, especially in the library, and have a hard time thinking about other people seeing me as in my thirties. It's a weird thought.

To all the kids around there, I'm an adult who knows everything. To my co-workers, I'm just one of the other people working there. So why do I still feel like a kid around them sometimes? This too, is weird.

Thoughts on Birthdays

Today was my dad's fifty-second birthday.  As a modern thirty-something, I did what was expected -- bought him some books from Amazon.ca (shipped directly to him) and gave him a phone call.

When I write it out like that, it sounds pretty shallow.  In previous years I've purchased gifts, wrapped them myself, made a custom card with a poem in it (using Publisher), then gone to the post office to mail the gift out myself.  So why did I go another route this time?

Well...  I went looking for a birthday gift for him in Grande Prairie, but my best idea was one of the books I bought him, and it wasn't available here unless I ordered it in.

The custom card?  I used to make them at home, then take them to the Tumbler Ridge Library to print them out on cardstock.  I knew exactly how to do it, how to pay for it, and it was a fairly simple process.  Here though...  I can barely use the Grande Prairie Library's big printer/photocopier, and I'm not even sure what is charged for colour printing, much less use of the cardstock.

So I bought my dad gifts through Amazon and called him.  I think I redeemed myself though because it was sincere.  It wasn't an obligation or duty I felt I had to discharge.  I bought him two books I think (and hope) he'll find interesting, and I was really looking forward to talking with him on the phone.

In the end, I suppose that's what really matters -- the sincerity behind it.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Shopping Trip

Amanda and I spent a few hours at the mall today -- we had some other stuff to do, but we were there to buy gifts for her niece's birthday.  We wandered and browsed for a while, and finally ended up in the right store to find something for her!  I pointed something out to Amanda, she agreed that it was a good idea, and we ended up buying gifts that complemented each other's.  I'm sure these gifts will be a huge hit!

Unfortunately, I can't share what those gifts were -- at least, not yet.

I don't think Amanda's niece is a reader of our blog (she's just turning four in a few weeks), but I do believe that her mother is.  I know she'd never spoil her daughter's birthday surprises, but for all I know, she might be such a big fan of our blog that she feels compelled to read our blog entries aloud.

I wouldn't want the surprise spoiled, but I also wouldn't want to deprive Amanda's sister of the enjoyment of reading the blog for the few weeks remaining until her daughter's birthday.  As a result, not naming the gifts seems like the safest course.

Anyway, we'll be off to the fireworks in a few hours, so if you see us there please feel free to say hi!

Amanda's Birthday Cake

(Sorry folks, the restaurant review will be delayed -- we had something else that Amanda encouraged me to write about and a photo she suggested I post)

On Friday afternoon, I had an idea.  I was wandering around Save-On picking up a few groceries to make supper and thinking about Amanda's birthday.  I debated buying her a cake, but decided it was kind of impersonal and chose not too.  Then I saw birthday Oreos and thought that they might at least be funny, but I decided against them too.

So I wandered down the cake mix aisle, picked out a cake, some icing, and some candles, with the intent of baking Amanda a birthday cake on Sunday night.  When we were out today so Amanda could buy some groceries, I also bought some sprinkles and coloured icing to decorate with.  I joked with Amanda that I'd draw "What Amanda *really* needs" in the style of the whiteboard drawings I do at the library, and she encouraged me to grab a large squeeze tube of decorating icing.

...The cake was too warm, and the icing too cold, and the cake tore somewhat when I was trying to spread the icing over it.  I had no good ideas for a drawing, and when I started trying to write Happy Birthday, it was coming out horribly.

Then I had my second idea.  Amanda bought me Plants vs. Zombies for my DS for my birthday.  I finished it last week, and Amanda and I have spent all weekend singing "There are zombies on our lawn" to each other, even while playing Plants vs. Zombies against each other.

So I drew a pea shooter.  Then a sunflower.  Then a very sloppy sun falling from the sky, and then an *extremely* crappy looking zombie that was originally intended to look like the drawings of my stand-in on the library's whiteboard.  Finally, I wrote the word "BWAIN" on the top -- how Amanda says "brain" when we're playing against each other and she's in the process of beating down my plants.

It was sloppy, ugly, and the cake looked like it was the sole survivor of a lawn-war between plants and zombies.

Amanda loved it!

Teasing

As I type this blog post, I'm teasing Amanda via text messaging.  I've made a few comments about her birthday gift that I ordered a few weeks ago, but *just* shipped out, and she asked me for a hint tonight.


So I told her that one of the gifts I got her is something she mentioned to me.  Then I told her that I got her something that she didn't know existed.


Amanda's birthday is in just over a week, and I'm really looking forward to her reaction.  That said, I anticipate an interesting discussion about how truthful my latter statement was.  :-)

Thoughts on gift-giving

In less than a month, it'll be Amanda's birthday.  I've made it through Christmas and Valentine's Day in good shape, and she seems to have liked everything I got her.  Her birthday worries me a little bit though.


I've had lots of ideas, but I wonder what they say about me.

Amanda's a knitter, so neat yarn or knitting needles would seem like an obvious choice.  But I got her needles for Christmas, some yarn from a store in Toronto in February, and a skein of sock yarn this weekend, so I've gone that route before.  I really don't want to make Amanda think that all I've learned about her in the past eight months is that she enjoys knitting.


I could get Amanda a game for her 3DS.  She bought it a few weeks back, and is enjoying playing around with it.  I have some idea of the kinds of games she enjoys, but I don't want to get her something that's too similar to what she already plays (which could be boring and show that I pigeonhole her likes too narrowly) or too far away (which could be uninteresting and show that I don't pay attention to the kind of games she plays).


She could use a new frying pan, but I like giving gifts that are generally more fun than functional.  Besides, it could be taken as a hint that she needs to cook more often for me.


I also thought of making something for Amanda, but I kind of doubt I'll do that.  My knitting skills, while improving, are still a far cry from hers, and it could be taken as a "look how talented I am" moment.


Now, I've thought about all of these things, and I've reached one conclusion.




I'm an idiot.



Amanda will like whatever I give her, as long as I put some thought into it and give it to her out of love, rather than a general obligation to do so.  I don't think for a minute that she'd use my gift to her as a litmus test of my view of her.


...and that's why I love her!  <3

Gifts from Girlfriend :-)

Just thought I'd share two things with you today:  two of the gifts Amanda got me for my birthday.

First off, Amanda bought me flowers!  It's an assorted bouquet of 16 roses, and they look pretty spiffy.  I buy Amanda flowers occasionally, and it was sort of neat to be on the receiving end.  When I found out she originally intended to give them to me at work, I told her that I would've grabbed them, grabbed her, and dragged both around to brag to every one of my co-workers that my girlfriend drove three hours out to Tumbler Ridge to be here for my birthday, and bought me flowers and a mylar balloon on top of it!

A little later on, I got to open Amanda's other gifts to me.  She bought me Plants vs. Zombies for my DS, which has been lots of fun so far, especially when playing against Amanda, and is knitting something for me!

It's going to be a bag to hold the knitting projects I'm working on!  My birthday arrived a little soon for her to have time to finish, but Amanda is plugging away on it, and it means a lot to me that she's putting so much time into a gift for me!


Anyway, I should be back tomorrow evening with the sort of photos you're used to seeing -- Amanda and me sharing a kiss somewhere.

The Right Way

My apologies for the lack of posts the last few days.  Today's my birthday, and I've had company since Wednesday night.  My parents came to visit on Wednesday, and Amanda arrived earlier than expected on Friday afternoon, which made me extremely happy!


We took a few photos this weekend, including photos of my birthday gifts from her, but I still had one remaining photo from last weekend.  We took this photo on our walk, and thought it would be funny to take it directly under the "Wrong Way" sign.  I like to think we're kissing the right way though -- in public, and in front of a photo lens!

Anyway, I should be back later tonight with the first of the photos we took this weekend, so please stay tuned!

 

Odd places

Hi everyone!


My apologies for the lack of a blog post last night.  Sadly, it wasn't because I was with Amanda.  I was sick all day, and couldn't wrap my head around a good (or even decent) blog post idea.


Amanda and I took this photo last Saturday.

We were attending the birthday party for one of Amanda's niece's friends at the Comp high school gym.  We were sitting around having snacks and talking with the other non-3-to-4 year olds, and our non-camerawoman was sitting across from us.

I commented to Amanda that we should take a photo right then and there, and we did!  I'm not happy that half of my hair is missing in the photo, but I *am* happy that Amanda is dead center, and looking cute.