Sunday, August 21, 2011

it's been a celebratory sort of month

 August 10th was my 49th birthday.
Only one more year until I'm the big five-oh.
(Which freaks me out.)

I had no problems turning 40. In fact, my early to mid 40's were pretty good.
Until I herniated 3 disks in my lower back.
And had a hysterectomy. (At least it was laparoscopic.)
And had a lot of problems with my oldest son, Phil.
And then, Phil passed away unexpectedly when I was 47.

But, I digress. I'm not here today to focus on my "problems".
I just wanted to share a few celebratory things that have taken place
since I've last posted.

Hubby and I both took the day off for my birthday
and spent the day in Evanston (IL).
We first parked in the downtown area and walked around for a bit
before heading inside to Barnes & Noble and relaxing with some magazines.

We then went to lunch at "The Lucky Platter". This place is so cool and has awesome food.
As their web site states:

"We combine on a single menu old fashioned fountain cream soda, tandoori salmon, jerk chicken, jambalaya, spicy turkey meatballs, pumpkin soup and sweet potato fries (to name a fraction of our offerings). We stagger your palette and awe your senses with our eclectic folk art decor peculiarly American in motif."
 

 I had the Tandoori chicken over a bed of greens. Delish!
(Don't mind my wind-blown, stringy hair in this pic - yuck.)


 After our filling lunch, we went to a park on the lakefront to relax.
That, I did. :-)


Hubby and his new "Wizard of Oz" book from the Barnes and Noble trip...

Beautiful Lake Michigan...

Last stop was a favorite shop called The Mexican Shop. 
They have handcrafted jewelry of all varieties, and unusual clothes, bags, and sunglasses
that you can't get anywhere else. The jewelry cases line the store and everything in the store is handpicked by the owners from different small designers around the world. 
I bought myself this wrap-around bracelet with tiny, silver beads.


 Speaking of celebrations, I also helped throw a baby shower for a co-worker a couple
of weeks ago...

And then last weekend, I went to a lovely bridal shower. 
The bride-to-be, Nicki, is the daughter of my neighbor-friend across the street.
I have known them for 21 years.
Nicki grew up with Phil. They played together all the time when they were little.

This is the lovely dessert table at Nicki's bridal shower...


"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."
(Oprah Winfrey)

8 comments:

  1. What a wonderful way to celebrate your birthday. Evanston is a beautiful town and your pictures of the lakefront are stunning! Wish I could have joined you. And hey...50 is not so bad. It's the time you start to focus on YOU!! Happy Birthday, Melanie!!

    XO,
    Jane

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  2. Happy Birthday! You have been through a lot but I am happy to hear you are enjoying things in your life. Good mindset to focus on the positive.

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  3. Happy Birthday sweetie! A lovely celebration, thank you for sharing with us. I'll be 51 on Nov 1st............xo

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  4. Happy 49th. You look marvelous! And I love that bracelet you purchased. It looks like you had a lovely day with hubby too.

    Many more lovely days to you.

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  5. Happy birthday! It looks like you had fun. I'm glad you are able to have such a positive outlook. :)


    Kelly

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  6. Now that's my kind of relaxing, wonderful day, complete with my favorite, Lake Michigan!

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  7. Happy birthday!!! You are still young!!! (younger than me.) Sounds like you really had a wonderful and relaxing day. Be sure to stop by my blog. I'm having a giveaway over at Garden Of Daisies.

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  8. Happy belated birthday! I turned 59 on the 10th!!! I am so NOT having the next one. 50's ok...60's NOT!! LOL!

    ♥´¨)
    ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)
    (¸.•´ (¸.•´♥ Lori Lynn ♥

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