28th Trip Around the Sun

I'm 28 today!

And I've been so surprised by all of the emails, texts, and FB messages wishing me a happy birthday.

And by these nice surprises from coworkers:

"Happy Birthday, I bought you a Diet Coke."
(A joke in the office because the drink machine is now free.)

But hidden on the back were Lotto tickets...

and I won $7! Woo-hoo!

And some yummy cupcakes on my desk when I came back from (my free) lunch...so sweet!

(They came from the cupcake place down the street where my friend works, so maybe she even decorated them!)

I'm so thankful.

Goodbye, November

Whoops, I totally fell off the blogging wagon over the Thanksgiving break. I had a great break and am refreshed with some blogworthy ideas for December. I didn't meet my goal of posting every day in November, but I did have close to 40 posts, so I am letting it slide. I read somewhere that comments are like crack to bloggers, and I am so thankful that I am getting comments with more frequency. Please keep 'em coming!

What did I think of my break?

• Niece's dance-off party: awesome. (And yes, I was too self-conscious to participate.) The best moment for me was a toss-up between my seventeen month old nephew constantly jumping in trying to replicate his uncle's somersault and my pregnant sis-in-law spinning on her back break-dance style.
  
• Thanksgiving: yummy. (Missing dessert? Sad - darn you, cramps!; Missing helping to clean up? Mildly guilt-inducing) I forgot to do a post in advance of the holiday of things I am thankful for this year, so if you don't mind reading another one after the fact, I will post it later this week. I have so much to be thankful for.
  
• Shopping: guilt-inducing. The only items I purchased this weekend were for me, and I will probably return them. (I think I can find better versions of the short-sleeved sweater dress and the ruffled cardigan.)
  
• Friends' engagement party: fun. (Almost) makes me wish I could do it all over again. No worrying so much about the budget and people-pleasing this time!
  
• Meeting up with The Hubs's high school friends: always great. He went to a small, all-male school, and I love how close they are. And how they always hug hello and goodbye.
  
• Putting up the Christmas tree: Victory is mine! We didn't get around to putting it up last year (shocking!), so I was determined to do so this year.
  
• Relaxing and Napping with The Hubs: fabulous! He worked several days of 14-hour overnights at the hospital before the break, and we were both having a hard time of it. (I actually cried at work over some frustration coupled with the comments of an insensitive coworker. Googling "med school spouse" helped.) He had off Thursday-Sunday, and it was so, so nice to get to be our "normal" selves.

How was your Thanksgiving break? Did you score anything on Black Friday or Cyber Monday? I'm wishing there was a Cyber Week, because I couldn't even tell you how many emails flooded by inbox today with ONE! DAY! ONLY! DEALS! I didn't look at any of it.

So Thankful

I got a call this rainy morning from my husband with words I hope I don't hear again: "I just got in a wreck and if it had gone any different I would have died." He hit a patch of water in the left lane of the highway and hydroplaned head-on into a guardrail. Airbags went off, and his car skidded around in the other direction, thankfully staying on the shoulder of the road or a car behind him would have hit him head-on.

Thank God he's fine.

He showed me the photos he took of his car when I got home. The whole front is caved in, and the engine is on the ground. It looks so bad. I had hoped it would be repairable, but I can see now that it's clearly totaled.

Thank God he's fine.

I feel like in some weird way I caused it.
1. Saturday, I was driving and exited where I totaled my car 4 years ago (also hydroplaning, but on an oil patch made slick by the rain - maybe we shouldn't drive anywhere in the rain), and thought about totaling my car.
2. Yesterday, I was talking to my MIL about James's car insurance and how I was looking into paying off his car loan with my tax return.
3. This morning, when I was getting on the highway to go to work, I was thinking about the rain and getting into an accident.
4. James called me earlier on his way in to school when he hit traffic to see if I could look online to see what was causing the slowdown, and I told him his route was showing a traffic jam but was the only one not showing an accident.
5. I had on my to-do list today to call the loan company to see what the payoff amount on the car was, and was really looking forward to no longer having a car payment.

Do I have some weird power? Women's intuition? Or do I just think of weird things?

Thank God he's fine. I'm going to go snuggle with him some more now.