I'm 29!

For my 29th birthday on May 27, Nathan surprised me with a huge bouquet of gardenia trimmings from our neighbors' gargantuan bush.  They let us have as many blooms we want, and I had previously picked about 10 to float in a bowl on the dining room table.  Nathan put the vase overflowing with blooms next to my little bowl, and then he woke me up to see my birthday gift.  "Sorry I upstaged your arrangement," he smirked.  You can see both of our gardenia arrangements below.

That day was very tumultuous, as I learned after I said goodbye to my students for the summer that I wouldn't be able to return in the fall.  Understandably, the school wanted someone for my position for the whole year, not just one semester like I had hoped.  I was so bummed that I wasn't able to tell them the news myself or teach them again, but Nathan cheered me up by taking me to a restaurant I'd been wanting to go to for years - Watershed.  The food was picturesque.

Our appetizer was some sort of toast with mushrooms and cheese on top.  Scrumptious!

We also had some butterbean hummus and veggies to make up for the unhealthy foods we were about to enjoy.

This was my meal.  A pork chop with collard greens and macaroni and cheese.  Wow!

Nathan had catfish, hush puppies, and coleslaw.  

Here we are finishing off our tasty meal with some chocolate cake. 

To finish the day, Nathan gave me my "birthaversary" gift, a binder full of this whole blog!  He formatted it, printed it, and presented it to me.  What a treasure it is... and he is.

Thanks, Love, for making my 29th birthday a memorable one.  I love you.