New Thing #18--31 Days of Fun, Days 22-31

Day 22-26:
You guessed it. Slacked, have no recollection or written account of what I did, probably did nothing cool. Wahwahwah, worst blogger ever. Moving on.


Day 27:
On this day we had our big August Birthday Bash! Three of our friends (plus me!) all have a birthday within a week of each other, so four-ish years ago we started having a big birthday party for all of us! Derrick is the best & really took the reins on this party & planned an awesome relay race that led into a photo scavenger hunt throughout the surrounding towns. My team came in third of four, but I got a kick-ass, creepy cat statue, so all is well in the world.

Highlights of the relay race & scavenger hunt--a friend puking up watermelon into our sink, flipping off a car full of friends as they tried to take a surveillance-type photo of us for points, taking a big group photo with strangers who were having some sort of party in front of their house & the series of ridiculous shots we took on the town beach. Yay!

After all that fun nonsense we all gathered in the cellar, which D had set up like a theater with rows of seats (adorable) & reviewed everyone's photos for point tallying. Then the night continued on as normal, with lots of food, laughs, drinks & gifts.

D made this delicious chocolate hazelnut cake--mmmm! This is one of the very few photos we took that night--whoops.

Day 28:
Due to the approaching hurricane (later downgraded to tropical storm)Irene, the day of the party was unfortunately quite dreary, which cancelled our plans of having the party outside with a fire, torches, badminton & the like.

The day after the party D & I woke (after 4 hours of sleep) to a loud bang. We never figured out what it was, but we were up. The rain & wind was picking up & after a short while we lost power. Luckily we have a gas stove, so I made pancakes & we basically lounged for the rest of the day. We worked on a puzzle that we last worked on probably about 2.5 years ago, we napped, we read, we ate, we listened to our battery powered radio, we napped some more.

At 7:30am D braved the outdoors to take in the mail we forgot to take in the previous day--we were worried the wind would make the mailbox fly open.

Some time around 6pm or so the weather had quieted down & we decided to go for a drive to get out of the house. I was lazy & chose to go out wearing what I had been wearing all day, which were essentially my pajamas. Normally I am anti-pajamas in public, but I figured they looked kinda sporty & it was a tropical storm, dude! Rules need not apply, amiright?

Our neighborhood fared pretty well, but just two roads away had some serious damage, mostly in the way of large branches or trees that were no longer standing. We moseyed on down to the beach & watched the crazy ocean for awhile. The big waves were coming fast & on a diagonal, leaving only about 10 feet of actual beach free of water (though it sometimes was covered by particularly big waves). Nuts!

On the way home we stopped to get some ice to pack our fridge & freezer & geez, it was eerie out. You don't realize how much noise & light is generated just by electricity & gadgets until it's gone. We got home, lit about 300 candles & went about making dinner & sorting out the fridge & ice situation. After some aggravation we finally sat down to watch an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on our charged laptop & not 5 minutes went by til the power came back! It was a slight bummer because it was nice being free of electrical distractions & sort of camping out in our house, but it was a relief to know that we'd have power the next day. Oh, roughing it!

My cutenesses! Lu enjoyed the stormy weather like any awesome cat would.

Days 29-30:
See days 22-26.

Day 31:
Something fun that I've never done before is turning 28! Holy crap, that's old. I donned my new polka dot dress & prepared for the day, feeling spunky & happy.

My birthday self-portrait for birthday #28. My hair still looked pretty good from my haircut the previous day, nice! (growing out my hair is on hold, as waiting for hair to grow is boring)

D was lovely enough to take the day off with me, & we finally went for breakfast on the patio at Crazy Burger. So. Freaking. Good. Zucchini latkes? A grilled cinnamon bun?? A GRILLED CINNAMON BUN!?! Good gravy, that was tasty.

We popped back home to gather some things & headed over to Beavertail for some relaxing time by the sea rock climbing,ridiculous photo shoots, sea glass hunting, basking in the sun & getting our clothes wet from playing in the gorgeous water too much.

Evidence of our silly photo shoot AND my new dress. Leggings were added at the beach as I didn't want to recreate the great butt flashing of birthday 2010.

One of the first things we did was head up my favorite rock, which forms a sort of platform & seating area. First I noticed this:

Seagull crab snacklings, I presume.

And then I noticed this:

Whaaaat?? It's like a seagull saw an owl's pellet, got jealous & decided to make one that was even more badass. Seriously, this was about the size of a golf ball, & while I didn't touch it (gross), it seemed to be made entirely of shell & bone. Crazy!! Up til my birthday I didn't even know seagulls made pellets; what a treat!

It was such a beautiful day; pretty ideal in every way, really. You can really see how the waves have carved out gentle ridges in the rock. Love!

Afterwards we had a few people over for a little family-feelin' cookout followed by s'mores around the fire. And I got presents!

I was given a lot of fantastic things for my birthday (funny t-shirts, pretty jewelry, books & a bunch of Lush stuff to name a few), but two took the prize. Derrick, being the mastermind that he is, not only got me an amazing banjo (which I have been pining over for quite some time--pictures to follow), but he also booked a trip for he & I to go to California! In three weeks!! We'll be visiting my friend & her boyfriend & going to a sing-a-long of the Sound of freakin' Music at the Hollywood Bowl (ohmygodicannoywait!), along with attending a taping of the Ellen show, hopefully getting a behind the scenes lot tour(Stars Hollow!), sticking my feet in the Pacific Ocean & eating a lot of good food! It's going to be soooo fun & I cannot wait. I've been kicking myself for all 3-4 years that my friend has lived out there for never actually making a visit happen, but now it is thanks to my leetle husband.

And as August & my birthday passes us by (it has always been so bittersweet), so does my sort of successful 31 Days of Fun Project. My posting record wasn't great, but it was better than it normally is. I hope you enjoyed my mundane fun times & I hope to wow you with a few better clam handles in the months to come.

If you'll excuse me, I have to go pretend to understand & study chemistry. Ugh. I am so screwed.


PS if you're good at chemistry, help!