birthday report

Last week at PT, a couple of the guys asked me what I was going to do for my birthday. Their suggestions: get a tattoo or go skydiving. Um, no and no. Apparently they don't know me very well. As Denise says, I am a low-level recreator.

I had a very relaxing birthday celebration that just kept going and going!

On Saturday, I went out to lunch and to a movie with Jill.

On Sunday, Marc stayed home with a sick Eva. I took the boys to church, then came home, blogged, and took a delightful nap.

Marc invited his family over and cooked my favorite dinner (lemon chicken, broccoli with blue cheese, and rice). Michelle brought her amazing spinach/strawberry salad and Grandpa Bob brought lots of beautiful fruit (Grandma Mim was sick and had to stay home).

Bob and Mim gave me the sweetest, most clever gift! Four numbered envelopes, one for each decade of my life. Each one had an age-appropriate card, a very nice hand-written message, and some cash. I'm going to have to remember that one.

Michelle gave me this book I have been wanting to read for what seems like forever, and 3 pieces of luscious wool felt. (I didn't even know it came in houndstooth and plaid!!)

I forgot to take a picture, but Emily gave me Adele's new album, which I secretly had been pining for – yes!

Marc also made my traditional German chocolate birthday cake. YUM.

He put Eva to bed and slept on the trundle bed in her room to make sure that I got to sleep through the night.

On Monday, I slept in until I woke up naturally, oh rare joy! Then I stayed in bed and read, one of my favorite things in life. I got up and got ready, even though I had no plans to leave the house. A day of not having to drive the kids anywhere, woohoo!

I opened Jessie's packages after I got up. She made me 9 cd's! So exciting. She made me tiny, fridge magnet-size mantras modeled after the canvas ones in her kitchen. I love them. She bought me 2 eyeshadows, nail polish, and eyeliner from Ulta (on my wish list), and sent two cute fabrics! A motherlode, for sure.

Jill stopped by with balloons and a drink from Sonic.

Patsy sent me this beautiful cookbook from Williams-Sonoma. It is chock full of photographs of Paris, and I loved flipping through and identifying some of my favorite haunts.

Marc hadn't shaved for several days, and as a joke, he created this mustache and goatee. Every time I looked at him, it cracked me up, because I have never seen him any way other than clean-shaven or a bit scruffy all over.

He took the kids out shopping, so I was treated to some time at home, alone (why is that such a delight?). I watched an episode of Pillars of the Earth while working on a wedding gift that is 4 months overdue (!).

I then went down to my studio to do some cleaning/organizing, while listening to some of my new cd's. It's hard to find the time to spend in there, so it felt amazing to have a couple of hours uninterrupted.

And, and, Marc took the boys to get haircuts. That is a gift!

Lucas wandered downstairs eventually and seemed anxious for me to come and see the gifts they had prepared:


Max bought me an iTunes gift card. I always think it is so sweet when kids spend some of their limited funds on someone else.

Marc got me all of these items from my Amazon wish list (the universal wish list is a brilliant idea).

The boys got me ankle weights, also from my wish list. (Gotta keep up my knee exercises, you know.)

Eva picked out this scarf for me and contributed her last $5 from her Christmas money. Apparently, Marc suggested several possible gifts, but she rejected them all until she saw this.

Marc also got me this Bosu ball, a late addition to my wish list, when I was looking around at PT trying to figure out how to replicate things at home. Everyone loves it.

My mom sent me a necklace, a pair of earrings, a Cutco vegetable peeler,

a cute glass butter dish, and some lengths of fancy silk ribbon.

My mom and dad also sent me a check to apply towards my pricey knee braces. Marc said I should use it for something fun, but I hurried and paid it towards our balance yesterday before I could change my mind.

We were going to all go out to dinner, but Eva was still too sick, so we just got Mexican take-out instead. I watched Chuck with the boys and then House with Marc. Definitely my kind of day.

Tulips from Marc – I love spring!

Amy M. sent me this darling necklace! (It's silver, not gold, that was just a weird reflection.) I love the sentiment and the camera charm.

Last night we had our book club birthday celebration for Collette and me. It felt strange not to bring a dinner contribution when I knew they would be short-handed, but also nice to be a little bit spoiled.

Collette brought me this darling bag with HOPE coasters inside. Perfect!

Check out this card/gift certificate holder that Amy made. Seriously. The girls gave me a g.c. to Amazon, which kind of makes you feel like you have a world of possibilities in your hand. (Because you do.)

Today I got this gift from Kacey – a little tin of covered buttons. That is genius.

And a card from my grandpa with cash inside!

I have been so spoiled the last few days. It was actually hard to return to normal life, packing lunches, driving kids, going to the doctor, doing laundry and grocery shopping. Can you get used to a life of luxury that quickly?

And in case you were wondering, I think I'm over the anxiety about turning 40. It feels a lot like 39, and 38, and 37...

40 &...

So. Here's the thing: I'm turning 40 this month.

You should know that I have never yet cared about any of my birthdays. I mean, I enjoy my birthdays, but I have never cared about my age. And I had no plans to change that.

When my darling aunt Denise turned 40 a few years ago, I decided that 40 must not be too bad! She is darling and young and vibrant.

But in the last month or so, a little bit of caring has been creeping up on me out of nowhere.

It may have something to do with the fact that I developed symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome and had to get a root canal, all while going to physical therapy 3x a week for my knee treatments. What? I'm 39 and it feels like my body is starting to fall apart!

Right now, I feel like I'm almost 40 & fat, and 40 & a little frightened. But I'm determined to become 40 & fabulous.

At least I'm working on my knees. And I started a diet yesterday (for the first time in about 10 years!!). I'm told that 40 is a great time, a time of rediscovering yourself, having a little more time and freedom to devote to interests/passions that have had to be put on the back burner for, oh, let's just say a very long time.

I can do this. Right??

a new year

Now that January 3rd is coming to a close and my boys went back to school today, it's finally starting to feel like a new year to me.

The period from December 23rd -- January 1st was not an ideal one in the Olivier household. I dreamed of cozy warmth, staying home, making good food, napping, reading, putting together a big puzzle, lounging, playing games...

What really happened was losing our furnace and our power at the same time. We were cold, we couldn't cook, and eventually we couldn't even stay home.

After all that was fixed, Marc got sick and was bedridden for several days. I was faced with mountains of laundry and more mountains of post-Christmas messes. There was no sleeping in, no good food (because once I had the possibility of cooking, I was the only one who felt like eating it), and not a lot of lounging or reading going on due to my having to deal with a little girl who was sick herself, missing her dad, and not sleeping a whole lot.

So when our Christmas vacation officially ended today, I had mixed feelings. I was a little sad about everyone going back to school and work, because I felt like I didn't get the vacation I had wanted. But at the same time, I was kind of relieved because now I can shut the door on that disappointment and move on!

And, when all is said and done, we did have a good Christmas. The boys had a great attitude throughout. We spent a fun day in Salt Lake celebrating Marc's sister Michelle's birthday, we hung out at Jill's on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and we did get to put together a puzzle -- at Heidi's house, when she gave us sanctuary on the 26th. I went out to breakfast with my book club friends for Jenn's birthday. We managed to play games as a family several times, and we did have one special treat:

Baked brie on New Year's Eve. I made it even though the boys wouldn't try it and Marc wasn't sure about being able to eat more than Lipton noodle soup yet. It was worth it.

{recipe from Martha Stewart}

one sheet of frozen puff pastry dough
one round of brie (I got it as Costco)
1/2 - 1 cup of chopped pecans
1/2 - 1 cup of brown sugar

Thaw puff pastry sheet. Roll it out to a larger, thinner rectangle. Cut out two circles that are bigger than your brie. Place the cheese on one circle of dough and pull up around the sides of the cheese. Top with as much brown sugar and pecans as you can manage to pile on. Cover the entire thing with the other circle of pastry, pinching the two circles of dough together. Use the scraps of dough, if desired, to decorate the top. (In the past I have done leaves. This time I used my new teeny tiny alphabet cookie cutters -- thanks, Mom! -- to spell out Happy New Year.)

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 20 minutes more. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with crusty bread and tart apples.

I'm entering the new year in slow motion -- I have many plans, goals and intentions for this year. I just haven't figured out what they all are yet, nor do I feel quite ready to jump in and begin.

I still have more pictures that I want to post from Christmas-time, once I can finally find our media reader and download them.

I still don't know exactly where I'm going now that it's 2008.

But when I looked out my window on January 1st and saw the sun rising over the mountains, I felt happy about new beginnings and possibilities.