Today, I am 24 years old!

I have officially arrived at the age I first lied about online, which is a weird thought. Yes, when I first started chatting online at 15, I used to tell people I was 24 and lived in Vermont. I have since laid down the crack pipe, you'll be happy to know.

I am also now at the age I used to say was the earliest possible age I'd be okay with having kids. Twenty-four! Because, you know, at twenty-four, you're mostly grown up and responsible, and sure, having kids is okay then. At least, to my sixteen year old self it was. Let me just say, now that I am twenty-four, I will eat my words: I am not okay with the idea of starting a family any time soon! I do want kids eventually. But for now, I'll be happy to dote on my brother's kid, once s/he is born.

So anyway, birthday week is going swimmingly! I first heard of the idea of birthday week from someone's online journal. I personally think it's a great idea, and have used it ever since.

This week ~

- I received lots of awesome birthday wishes from friends and family - thank you so much, everyone!

- I went shopping and realized I've gone down another size! WOOHOO!

- Joe surprised me beyond belief with an absolutely awesome birthday gift!

He gave it to me early, because we both get excited about gift giving and tend to do it early, even at Christmastime. So, thinking he was going to give me a cool book or something, I said it would be okay for him to give me my gift right before I was about to go to sleep. He sat down beside me and handed me a tiny wrapped gift. I opened it, and it was a pop-up map of Paris. I sleepily looked at it, not sure what to think. Why a map of Paris?

Then he said, "Here's the next part..." and handed me an envelope.

Inside was an itinerary, with FLIGHT dates! WE ARE GOING TO PARIS!!!

(Receiving this gift woke me up instantly! It was a while before I went to sleep!)

We leave mid-September, and we're staying a week. Ah, Autumn in Paris - does it get any better than that?! By then, hopefully most of the summer tourists will be gone, too, so it won't be as crazily crowded.

Oh my god, I can't wait! I am SO looking forward to going! I had hoped to see Paris when I was in London, but didn't have the money (or time, really) to do so. And now I get to go! With Joe!! Joe doesn't even like travelling, but he knows I do, and we always have a good time together, so I know we'll have tons of fun there. And since he's been to Paris before on business, he knows where to take me to see all the great sites! This is such an amazing, surprising birthday gift! I love my awesome husband SO much!!

Then, Joe thought he wouldn't be able to have lunch with me today, because he had meetings. This morning, I got a phone call from him, inviting me to lunch! Something came up that allowed him to reschedule the meeting for another time, so we were able to meet up. I was really happy to be able to see him and just hang out. We ate at a Japanese place. I had a spicy tuna salad and spider roll, both of which were really good!

Afterwards, I headed home and decided to go by a local nail salon for a manicure and pedicure. I rarely do girly stuff like that, so I figured it would be a fun way to do something nice for myself. The only time I've ever gotten a manicure previously was the day of my wedding, and I'd never had a pedicure before. I decided that twenty-four years is long enough to have never had someone make my toes all pretty!

It was pretty fun, but sort of weird. The people who owned the place had thick accents and a tendency to mumble, which left me asking, "What?" all the time. At one point, the woman put a booklet near me. I thought that was in case I felt like reading, but I kind of liked just sitting and watching her brother work on my feet (especially since the process was so new to me). But then the guy looked up and said, "Read the book." Um, okay. So, I did. But, weird! I mean, how demanding! Inside were magazine clippings and personal testimonials. It was really quite bizarre.

The lady was the one who did my fingernails, and she kept saying to come back, to spread the word, that they're a new business and need money, she's so poor, she works all the time, blah blah. In fact when I said I lived nearby, she said, "We been here nine months - how come this is first time you visit??" Oy! The desperation was a little much, and I can't say I'll be going back any time soon (though, I might go somewhere else!).

I felt a little sick afterwards - maybe from lunch, maybe from sitting weird in the vibrating/massage chair during the manicure and pedicure, or maybe the fumes (or general energy) of the nail salon place. Regardless, getting out in the open air helped a bit. I walked around a park and took some pictures before heading home. I took a brief nap, then played my flute, and had a nice yummy dinner with Joe when he got home. All in all, a wonderful birthday!

Birthday week will continue this weekend with a dinner with friends - I'm really looking forward to it!