It was a wonderful birthday...

Well, I definitely could not have asked for a better birthday. The day was fabulous!!! We started out the day at the house infusing my with my morning ration of coffee and opening presents from my parents. My mom made the most incredible birthday card. It is rare that I get emotional about stuff like that, but it was so incredibly sweet and thoughtful and I definitely got emotional! She also sent me some gorgeous clothes and this awesome Diva travel mug...LOVE IT!!!


When the day began, it was really rainy and wet and was like that all the way to Durham, but as we entered the city limits the clouds began to break up and it turned out being the most seasonable day we have had all summer. Low 70's with absolutely no humidity. It was gorgeous!!! God was smiling down on me for my birthday!!!

Our first stop of the day was, of course, Carolina Memories so I could buy my own birthday present. I sent the guys off to another store and told them to give me 1 hour to shop. About 15 minutes into that hour, I was starting to panic that I wasn't going to have enough time when my brother, Daniel, called me on my cell phone to wish me happy birthday. Immediately when I answered it, it started beeping to tell me that my battery was low...ACK, why didn't I think about charging it before I left home??? Daniel, I love you, but at that point I was way more concerned that I was going to run out of time and not have the battery to call DH to tell him to come back later. I am so sorry that I cut you off!!! I really appreciate the call....REALLY!!!

After being extremely rude to my brother (I love you, Daniel!!!) and telling him that I had to keep shopping (priorities here, right?!?!) I finished up and got in the long line to check out with all of my fun purchases. Carolina Memories was celebrating their birthday too with all kinds of freebies and discounts so it was a madhouse in there! I just got to the checkout when my mom and the rest of the extended family called to wish me happy birthday. They were in Oklahoma at a mini-family reunion with all of her sisters and families. That poor lady trying to check me out...she was trying to tell me what stuff I was getting free while all of the Griffin clan was doing a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday on my cell. LOL! It was crazy, but so much fun!!! When I got off the phone, she asked me what was going on so I then had to explain that it was my birthday which gave me a break from all the people that had been in line behind me giving me dirty looks...they then started laughing and wishing me happy birthday too. It was a lot of fun and here is all my new stash...



We then went to lunch (Macaroni Grill, my favorite) and out to the Duke Homestead which was an absolute blast. That place was awesome and really interesting. The perfect weather meant that we just wanted to walk and wander around the grounds. They ended up kicking us out at closing time.

On the way home, we stopped at Cracker Barrel
for some "birthday cake" in the form of a brownie sundae...YUM! It was a great day!

smiles,
christi