(I'm actually typing this 12 days after the fact, so I'm probably leaving out some cool stuff I can't recall.)
With the level of COVID-19 uncertainty still high in the world, Sean and I opted to forgo any extravagant outings for my birthday this year. We did take the day off from anything that felt like work though, which was good enough for me! Our day, in a nutshell:
We had a good Skype catch up with my UK mom (Sean's mom) Fiona for what was apparently a good amount of time but actually felt like juuust barely enough time because time flies when you're enjoying yourself in great company! Opening tons of badass birthday gifts from her and Sean during the video call didn't influence my perception there at all btw. 👀🤣
Speaking of gifts, I got some RIDICULOUS presents for my birthday this year! Holy shit... I can't begin to list it all in detail or say an adequate number of "thank you"s, but I'll post some pictures up and briefly mention what I can here: a gorgeous jacket and hand-knitted plush as well as snacks and SO much more from Fiona, lots of suuuuper rare music game items that made my jaw drop from Sean, £ from Sean's dad, a hand-drawn picture of Renji Abarai (from Bleach, wearing a dance game shirt my sister Juliete had designed for me) by Juliete, $ from Adam kirby, and an ultra-rare DDR hand fan and arrow tin with mints in it from Juli Murphy (the owner of Gemini Arcade Palace when it was open). Thank you all SO. VERY. MUCH!!!
After opening a bunch of these gifts and throughout the day, I got to talk to a couple of other friends and family members too, but I'm so fortunate to have a number of wonderful people in my life who seem to actually give a shit about me that it actually took a few days to catch up with everyone and thank them all for the birthday wishes. I just could not be more grateful for those thoughtful people in my life!!
Anyway, a bit unsure what to do with ourselves today, we opted for a sweat sesh next and played a little ITG — nothing too crazy, but enough to almost justify the day's later indulgences to ourselves. :p
We didn't want to spend the entire day cooped up in the house though; we'd had more than enough days like that this past year and change. We didn't have much of a plan when we hopped in the car and headed out, but we decided that outside was better than inside at the time. Besides, Saturday morning = yard sales! We got our hands on some fantastic deals too. My favorite was an under-desk cycle for $3! We already had one at home, and Sean found some even better deals than it, but I'm always a fan of fitness finds.
Thirsty, we used $2 credit Circle K had sent for my birthday to snag a couple of free fountain drinks then.
Starbucks had sent me a birthday reward too, good for any free food or drink item, so we picked up a wrap to share and took it and our dogs to Paradise Park down the road to munch and walk around a bit.
Back home, we mixed some Don Q 151, Malibu, and peach snapps — like a Caribou Lou but even more festive. Haha We took all that and our fountain drinks to the living room and hopped on our treadmills to stumble around a bit more (just walking! Don't worry. :p) while watching YouTube videos and playing Bleach: Brave Souls on our phones. I can't think of many better forms of multi-tasking!
Considering my old ass had just turned 33, we were getting kinda tired by this point. We probably had a nice bath and more drinks or something to that effect, but we eventually found ourselves in the bed, watching more YouTube or Netflix while playing more BBS and cuddling til we fell asleep.
So it was probably one of my slowest paced and most mellow birthdays, but I felt so fortunate to have the luxury of feeling that in the midst of all the issues in the world right now. Getting to spend the day with people and pups that love me, both in-person and virtually, was so special and the best way to bring in my next year on earth.
Note on food freebies: We didn't want to spend my whole birthday chasing deals to the point where it felt like work, but here's a list of most of the decent birthday deals companies sent me this year, many of which Sean and I picked up on other days before and after my birthday, in case any of you are interested in signing up to get your hands on your own free stuff when your birthday rolls around (or checking what I'm missing and sending me some recommendations!):
http://moneymatterspro.blogspot.com/2021/05/birthday-freebies.html
