Weekend Update 05-26-11 Birthday!

So this year my birthday fell on Memorial Day again. It was Memorial Day the year I was born and several times in between then and now. My birthday most always falls on Memorial Day weekend at least.

I've decided it's not so much fun to have your birthday on a holiday. It usually means people have plans with friends and family...aka not you. Lol. And in the city I live in, it's also a big weekend for GLBT pride on our beach. The beach I love to go to. But we avoid it because things can get quite rowdy and you're likely to see some things you probably will wish you hadn't.

Anyway, this year is also my "Golden Birthday". I didn't even know what this was until my teen years. But if you too are in the dark- it's the year you turn the age of the day you were born. So it will have to be sometime between your 1st and 31st birthday. For those of you whose birthday is the 1st-10th ish day of the month- I'm sorry. Yours probably passed without you knowing it :) But since mine is late in the month, I had a good portion of my life to wait for it :)

I wanted to make special plans- but it just fell through. It's been so busy around here for me and with the holiday, not many people were up for last minute things. My poor husband even tried to surprise me two different ways and neither one worked out. (He was trying hard after I spent the night of my last birthday crying). But alas, it was not to be.

It turned out to be a good weekend after all. Friday I was off and we went to Lowes and ordered our tile. Let me tell you what a big blessing we received. I'd discovered an ad online (for a store that has a physical location in San Antonio but ships worldwide for free). We decided not to order from them for fear if we needed to return anything it would eat up any cost savings. Their tile was 41 cents a square foot cheaper than Lowes, for the exact same item. When we ordered, I did mention it to the sales clerk but even said "I don't think you'll honor this since they are not a local competitor (their policy is to beat any local competitor). The sales associate informed me that since Lowes is a nationwide chain with stores in San Antonio, they would honor the price AND beat it by 10%! This ended up saving us around $400!!!!! That was so wonderful because both the tile and carpet estimates came in over what we had planned. Now we will still be able to put down new carpet in June instead of waiting a couple months.

Also, before going into Lowes we'd made a return at Home Depot. We got a little over $250 cash and planned on just applying it toward the tile purchase. I put the money in my pocket since we were heading straight over to Lowes. Well lo and behold I put my hand in my pocket in Lowes- no money. No one had bumped into us. I traced my steps. I looked in the car. Nothing. I thought for sure that money was gone. On the off chance someone was honest, I checked with customer service. I'd of course already been praying and asking God to help me find the money. I knew even if I didn't things would be ok and he would provide, but no one wants to lose that much money! I was so grateful I nearly cried when they told me that another customer had turned it in!!!!! He found it just outside the main entrance to the store. I sure wish he was around for us to thank, but we let the workers know if he stopped by to please thank him for us! Praise the Lord what a blessing!

Saturday we did not go out yard saling. There's usually not an abundance of sales on a holiday weekend, and John was feeling a little under the weather. Instead I worked on some of the ongoing "to do" list. And then that evening we attended a friend's wedding. It was black tie and so fun! We ended up being seated next to a wonderful couple (the leader of my women's group and her husband) and shared a lot of laughs. The ceremony was very quick- I almost felt bad since the couple has been engaged for two years! All that waiting and it's over in a blink! But, it was outside. The guests were under a portico but the bridal party was out in the sun. It was pretty warm so they tried to wrap things up quickly.

This is his "I love taking pictures" face

"Beauty pains"

Afterwards they had a nice seated dinner with yummy food and plenty of dancing. They also had a really fun "photo booth" that their photographer provided where his assistant took your photo and then printed them out for you. And their photographer was amazing! On the prop table for the booth he had a monitor setup where he was displaying some of the photos he'd already taken that day. I knew he would not have had time to edit them (I even asked!) and they were stellar. Of course it did not hurt that he took them in primo afternoon light. But still, I was very impressed.

Sunday we went to church and then out to lunch at Olive Garden- per my request. I'd been craving Zuppa Toscana for awhile and since it was my birthday weekend, we went. I then enjoyed a nap and an evening of movies- We Bought A Zoo (cried way too much- thanks hormones) and Larry Crowne (with ClearPlay filtering!). My hubby picked the second (I'd never heard of it) and it was ok, but probably not one I'd recommend. We Bought A Zoo however, was great!

And Monday was my birthday and Memorial Day. I'll do a separate post on that later as I'm going to get some photos from a friend to add to it.

And now I'm off to write up my 15 week post that's way overdo!