Another vacation gone

My weeks off always seem too short. They always seem to end just when they're getting good. Seriously. It usually takes me a few days to recover from work stress and then it all flies by!

So I took my vacation for my birthday week. I don't know why people don't love their birthdays. I don't care about getting older. I care that I'm here in this world and that's reason to celebrate! :)

It wasn't the most eventful or productive week. And my computer troubles kind of brought me down. I hardly did any scrapping. But I did catch up on reading, movies, magazines. I spent lots of time with my puppy, my family and friends. And that's all pretty awesome. Here are some highlights:::

Movies:::
I love this time of year when all the summer blockbusters come out. I went to see Men in Black 2, The Avengers (for a second time), and Snow White. All pretty awesome movies. Men in Black was pretty funny - loved Josh Brolin. Avengers still kicked ass. And Snow White was visually amazing.

Penny time:::
Penny had appointments at the groomer and vet and we also spent some time at the park and going for walks. My car is covered in dog hair.

Hanging with the girls:::

3 crazy girls

Taylor and Kylie had an extra day off from school after Memorial Day so I got to babysit. They came over here and our day was action packed. We finally got to watch Star Wars and Empire Strikes back together and both girls thought the movies were pretty cool. We did crafts and coloring, played Angry Birds (the real game!) and memory. We played basketball in the yard. The girls played Littlest Pet Shop. We went out for lunch. And then we even watched the Muppets. Pretty cool day.

The app is much easier than this game!

Gardening:::

I picked up some new tomato plants and planted them in my yard. This year I'm growing two kinds of heirlooms, yellow cherry tomatoes, and regular tomatoes along with some basil. My rosemary plant is the sole survivor from last year's veggie patch and it's pretty big now!

New York:::
I always go to NYC on the day before my birthday. So I went to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx because I wanted to see the Monet's Garden exhibit. I had never been to the gardens before - I was mostly worried about allergies, but I got my shots, took some Claritin and sucked it up. It was so worth it!

The Monet exhibit was set up in a big greenhouse and it was absolutely gorgeous. There were so many kinds of flowers. Every color you can think of. A pretty bridge and lily pad pond - just like Monet's paintings. It was lovely. The exhibit also featured some of Monet's painting and photographs of his actual garden over in the library. There were lots of old people at the garden and some of them were complaining that Monet's picture wasn't in color! I thought that was hilarious.

This plant was so cool!

The weather was perfect so it was a great day to wander around and take photos. I climbed up a hill into a rock garden, which was one of the most beautiful and serene places I've ever been to. There were a few other people in different parts of the garden but I really felt like I was there alone and that I had this beautiful scenery all to myself in the middle of New York City. I could still hear the hum of trains nearby and planes overhead, but mostly I heard birds and the sounds of the little waterfall.  It was amazing.

There's a robin splashing around on one of the ledges!

Then I wandered around some more to the rose garden, which featured more kinds of roses than I thought imaginable.

Hanging out with friends:::
I haven't seen my of my Rover buddies in these past few months, but I got to catch up with them while I was off. There was lots of karaoke-ing, a friend's birthday, open mic. I also went to see my friend James perform at a little lounge in Weehawken. The sound was great and he had some new songs I hadn't heard. He and my friend Josh even did their punk-rock Happy Birthday for me. I usually hate hearing that song but this was pretty cool.

Happy birthday to me:::

My birthday itself wasn't very eventful. I slept late after a night of karaoke, listened to the Beatles, drank coffee. Then I went to see The Avengers and then my friend's gig. The real celebration was Saturday night. I got my friend Heather to dj for my birthday party and lots of my friends came out, including some of my co-workers and even my mom! I made red velvet cupcakes - why shouldn't I get to eat my awesome baking. And I think I sang a million songs. Ok, maybe not, but I definitely hogged the mic.  It was awesome. And I wore my super cool Animal shirt. Yeah, I'm 36 and I love the Muppets. So what????

Surprise:::

I found this little guy on my desk when I went back to work! It was a gift from my friend Alyce, who also transfered to the Studio from TJN. I think it's my favorite turtle ever.