That's Level 3000 in WoW Years

Yesterday I hit the half century mark. I also realized I have been with my husband for half my life! That milestone was almost harder to grasp than my age. Wow, half my life! Actually, as of July we will have been living together for 25 years. We got married in June 1981, but we began cohabitating in July 1980, so yeah, half my life.

This was an awesome birthday. It started on Monday. My best friend, Kate, took me to lunch for my birthday. It has been our tradition to take each other to lunch for our birthdays and Christmas. My folks were coming to town to take me out on my actual birthday, so Kate and I went on Monday. There is this awesome restaurant in town called Cafe Trinity. They serve Creole style food that is well-prepared, beautifully presented, spendy but deliciously worth it. It is always fun to get away from work and just visit with Kate and Monday was no exception. The food only added to the enjoyment of the occasion.

Upon my return from lunch, as I walked by the information desk, one of the staff persons pointed to this huge dieffenbachia sitting on the counter and said "Gina...." I looked at her quizzically, completely confused. "Huh?" "That's for you!" I still had a really puzzled look on face and it just wasn't sinking in that this plant was for me. What had me really baffled was I couldn't begin to imagine where it had come from. I thought perhaps Robyn (the staffer) had gotten it for me as a thank you because I've been helping her with some projects for the business she and her husband have. I walked to the plant and saw a card. It was from my awesome sisters, Kristi and Richele!!! This plant is beautiful, as you would expect a plant from a florist would be. Immediately I realized that they were both lying little "tricksy fellows". Kristi had called me Saturday to ask me if I was going to be at work this week, claiming she might forget my birthday and wanted to wish me happy birthday "just in case".... Rikki did the same thing Monday claiming she was booked up all day Tuesday and wanted to say happy birthday just in case but wanted to know if I was going to be at work or not.... Liars! They wanted to make sure I was going to be in so I would get the plant! I called both of them immediately and greeted them both with "You liar!!!" which was met with gales of laughter by both of them. What a wonderful surprise!

Tuesday morning we had a staff meeting scheduled. I now take the notes on this laptop so I have to be sure to be there on time, something I'm not known for. I rushed in at 8:26 - the meeting starts at 8:30 but we are to be there at 8:25. As I walked into the meeting area I was greeted by a chorus of voices saying "there she is!" On the table were platters of fresh fruits, donuts, and pastries. I was wished happy birthday by everyone. At the head of the table was a chair that said "Gina's chair". I sat down, smiling, and got the laptop out to begin notetaking. Wayne, the boss, said to put it away, that we were not going to have a regular staff meeting. They then wheeled out on a library cart a huge chocolate cake that said "Happy Birthday, Gina" on it. There was a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a gift, some cards, and a balloon bouquet. Molly came over and placed a very gold plastic tiara on my head. We had ice cream cups and juice as well. I cut the cake and thanked everyone profusely. It was so wonderful. I have never felt so appreciated! Molly got me a beautiful crystal bell to add to my bell collection. She has an amazing knack for remembering what people collect and manages to get them the perfect gift for their birthday or Christmas. She is so thoughtful! The flower bouquet was from Sue E. She is another wonderful, thoughtful, amazing person who is the Mother Theresa of squirrels. She has two pet squirrels and feeds an entire squirrel community at her home. Whenever a squirrel is injured or a baby is found without parents, she nurses them back to health. She's incredible. I got several cards, a cool little birthday pop-up book, and some other nifty little gifts. When the meeting was over, I went up to my office. It looked like a garden in there! Kate had given me a big basket filled with primroses of every color with a cool frog Mylar balloon attached. Robyn had given me a bouquet of daffodils and another balloon, and there were other little gifts on my desk. Sue M gave me a beautiful peach latte mug with two biscotti and some Lowry's Fogcutter blend coffee (she so knows me!) It was amazing! Then, moments later, I was called down to the info desk to get another delivery! My wonderful husband had sent me a beautiful spring bouquet! (Nieman's Floral made a killing off my birthday!) So, my office really DID look like a garden!

Unfortunately, my office is such a disaster I had nowhere to put all the wonderful flowers and gifts so I decided I had to finally clean it up. Our finance person, Denise, is the most organized person you will ever meet. Ever! She came in and asked if I needed help. Was she kidding? Uh, YE-ES! So, we started dividing stuff into groups - computers that work and that we're keeping, computers that work but we're selling as surplus, and computers that don't work and that we're tossing. The same with parts. By 11:30, just a little over an hour later, we had made some pretty amazing headway. My folks arrived to take me to lunch so we took a break.

My folks took me to Joel's, this cool little Mexican food place that used to just be a stand but became so popular he had to expand and provide some indoor seating. The food is awesome and cheap. Joel is a character, very friendly, funny, and likeable. His wife is even better. They make you happy just seeing them. I had a fish taco - sooooo delicious and only $2.50. Mom and Dad had the carne asada burrito with a chili verde burrito to go. All that food and a Diet Pepsi for just over $10. It's more than enough food too. So, we ate and visited and had a great time. I have to say, it was one of the best visits I've had with them. It was truly enjoyable.

When I got back to work, Denise went back to attacking my office. I'm happy to say that 1/3 of my office is clean - clean enough that I can display my flowers and gifts on my workbench. Today she and I will start on the piles and piles of paper on my three desk surfaces. That's going to be interesting. The ultimate goal here is to rearrange my office, putting my desk over by the window instead of opposite it and hopefully opening up the space a bit more by rearranging the desk, workbench/tables, shelves, and storage cabinet areas. I have it all planned out in my head and I can envision it. It's just going to be interesting to see how it all really looks. The furniture is big, heavy, and cumbersome so moving it around will be a feat, but Dayton, our building manager, said he is more than happy to help, even disassembling and reassembling as needed. It would be cool if I could get it done before we leave on vacation next week for spring break!

So, to end my birthday, my daughter and son-in-law came over and made dinner for us. YUM! It was a kind of shepherd's pie but made with pork, apples and onions with mashed potatoes on top. It was delish! We had steamed asparagus and salad as accompaniments. The dessert was a homemade from scratch (cake flour and the whole bit) chocolate cake. Tyler, my 3 year-old grandson, when I asked Shana what kind of cake it was, said "chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!" Turns out, that's exactly what the Martha Stewart for Kids cookbook called it! :) It was quite the delicious chocolate cake and soooooo moist! And the biggest surprise of all... they got me a beautiful amethyst ring! It's simple (the way I like jewelry) with a beautiful square cut amethyst set on the diagonal (so it looks diamond shaped when you look at my hand) in a very simple gold setting. It's exquisite. Purple is my favorite color so, when she couldn't find an aquamarine she liked, she opted for the amethyst. Smart girl! I have a ring my dad got me for my high school graduation - an alexandrite in a very simple antique gold setting that looks like a small flower - that I have worn every day of my life for 33 years. The new ring fits on the same finger (right ring finger) so I have to decide whether to have my old ring resized for my pinky or just alternate rings. I'm still pondering that option. But what a wonderful surprise the ring was. I am thrilled to death!

So, that was my 50th birthday. At 9PM I finally talked to Jonathan who reminded me that I was now officially an old fart. He said "wow, you're level 50 - I mean...." and started laughing. I could hear his roommate, Nathan, laughing the background. Jonathan went on to explain that he'd been talking about World of Warcraft with Justin and was playing at that moment so his mind was on levels.... So I figured, it seems like these guys level about 5 levels a month, which means about 60 levels in a year, give or take (I could have this totally wrong and I'm sure one of them will set me straight, but for the sake of argument, let's just say I'm right), so that would make me about level 3000 in WoW years. Happy birthday to me!