Another year, another birthday...

I'm the big 2-5 today (well, not officially until 8:34 p.m., as my mother will tell you, but it's my birthday all the same). Although having my birthday this particular weekend of the year is always a bit tricky- it usually overlaps both with Easter and exams, although this is nothing compared to my poor mom, who shares her birthday with Jesus and hence basically doesn't get a birthday amid all the Christmas craziness- it has turned out to be a nice one.

The hubby took me out for breakfast this morning, and I got in some good shots of town on the way there and back. My first roll of film is in for processing, so I'll hopefully have some photos to post later on this week. While we were out, the phone rang for our buzzer (buzzers in our building are connected to our phone numbers, and since we both have only cell phones, when someone tries to get buzzed in, we end up talking to them whether we're home or not). My parents, wonderful people that they are, paid extra for Purolator Saturday delivery so that I'd get my birthday present on the right day. They're great, and my mom is really very good at picking out clothes for me, so I got a couple of new shirts that I love. My budget is so tight that I don't get to go shopping EVER, so I quite enjoy having clothes mailed to me. I also got fabulous earrings from Mexico from Hayley, which are gorgeous, and a Superstore gift certificate, which necessitates a trip out to Joe Howe for some new Joe Fresh clothes. Have I mentioned that some of my favourite clothes come from the grocery store? Oh, the randomness of Canadian retail.

After training for the second of two new jobs that I start this week (assisting students with disabilities with writing exams; the other job is TOEFL preparation for a student from South Korea), I got my annual birthday message from my grandmother. Nanny calls everyone in the family on their birthday and sings "Happy Birthday" to the answering machine. It always makes my day, and Nan is an awesome singer too; she's rehearsing for her big show this weekend for a musical group that she belongs to, she just finished playing Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz, and she once sang back-up for Barry Manilow. I want to be like Nanny when I'm old (she's almost 87!) After that, I decided that today was not a day for studying, and that the gift certificates that I got from my mom and Hayley were burning a hole in my wallet, so the hubby and I went over to the mall to check out Winner's. (I'm a Winner's junkie. Some people can't handle it, but I love it.) I was ideally looking for a skirt to wear to the conference, but I found a cute shirt instead. I've still got time to find the ultimate conference outfit, if there is such a thing.

After Winner's, we hit up Sobey's, the likes of which I've never seen before. It was like every person in Halifax decided that they needed to make up for the fact that the stores were closed yesterday and head to the grocery store just in case the city suddenly ran out of food. It was insane! The lines at the checkout stretched almost to the dairy case at the back of the store. But everyone was polite and friendly, so it wasn't a bad experience. I think that every person in Halifax currently has either a ham or a turkey ready for tomorrow, though.

The hubby cooked an awesome Easter/ birthday dinner tonight, which I much appreciated. My family always has basically the same thing for Easter dinner- ham, scalloped potatoes, and peas, along with random other things because Nanny always cooks too much food- and I had to keep up the tradition. I know that Easter isn't really until tomorrow, but we're going out for another friend's birthday tomorrow night, so we had to do it a day early. I'm much looking forward to using the leftovers in one of Nigella Lawson's recipes- pasta with peas, cream, and ham. For dessert, the hubby has made brownies (the apartment smells amazing), and although, sadly, the picture above is not of the actual brownies that he made me, the fact that there is a photo online of "Mel's 25th Birthday Brownies" made it too perfect not to post.

So, that's about that for the birthday! I think we're just going to hang out, drink beer, watch movies and The West Wing (we're almost done Season 1, so the picture will change in not too long), and be lazy. It's kind of blizzardy outside, so its the perfect night for it. Thanks to everyone for their kind birthday wishes, and Happy Easter! Feel free to stop by for brownies if you can make it through the now.