Birthday Weekend

My birthday was Friday and I'm 41 now. I love celebrating birthdays, no matter how old I get and I've never felt the need to be "discreet" about my age. So far every decade has been better than the last and I have no reason to expect the 40s to be any different. I like being this age--old enough to have some perspective on life and young enough to still feel pretty good physically.

Actually, I feel a lot better than I did on my 40th. It was nice this year, for one thing, for my entire family, Paul, and myself not to be violently ill with the flu.

I had a wonderful day Friday. After a workout, Paul took me to see Brokeback Mountain (which I highly recommend). An early dinner at Lopez followed, a heavenly chicken enchilada suiza with a kickass margarita--my favorite cuisine plus my favorite drink. It was so deliciously satisfying, I didn't need to eat for the rest of the day.

After dark, we went to see the holiday decorating and lighting display at Stan Hywet Hall, which, although it was cold and crowded, was beautiful and very fun. When I got home, I returned calls of all the family members who called to wish me a happy birthday. All in all, it was a great way to start my own personal new year.

Speaking of the New Year, we went out dancing at the Cavana Ballroom, where we take our lessons. Last time we did this, two years ago, my feet killed me for a whole day after dancing off and on for 4 hours. But now that I'm in better shape and weigh 25.5 pounds less (yay me!), the only discomfort I felt in my feet was not from the dancing, but from the fact that my dance shoes have a 1.5" heel and no arch support, and my toes kept jamming into the tip of the shoes from gravity, which I am not used to.

We had a catered dinner and met some new people, who took this pic of us:

I'm wearing my new jacket that Mom & Ron gave me for my birthday, and that I've been living in for the past 4 days. Took it off to dance, though!

At about 11 pm, we were treated to an exhibition dance by our instructor Jim and his wife Suzanne. She played the role of Jessica Rabbit, complete with bright orange wig and body-hugging dress with fake boobs, knocking the men dead with her wiles. It was cute and very entertaining.

We had a midnight countdown with champagne punch and a balloon drop, followed by more dancing. I have high hopes that 2006 will be a great year!