FINALLY! 
It’s finally here!! I”ve been 26 years old for exactly 3 hrs and 20 minutes. (I was born at 6:37am. by the time this posts, it’ll be after that… but when I started typing, it was 9:57!)
I love my birthday. I love all birthdays, actually, but mine… well, it’s mine. *lol*
My birthday actually started on Monday when I received a package from my October Birthday Swap Pal. I tried to be good, but well.. how do you do that when you have a big box that you know is filled with all kinds of goodies staring at you, mocking you?
Tuesday night, my sister took me out for a birthday dinner to Tin Star. I’ve been trying to get her to go the last few times we’ve hung out, but we ended up not, so she emailed me while we were at work and was like “sometime this week, i’m taking you out for a birthday dinner.” It ended up being that night, which was great, because I didn’t want to miss the get together at Shoemaker and Hardt (where we meet every Wednesday), or my TV on Thursday. After dinner, we went to Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream.
Wednesday, I made it to S&H for the knitting get-together, and it ended up being a good thing because Becky has a present for me!
The yarn is from http://handspunanddyedtoo.etsy.com, and it’s gorgeous!!! Not sure what it’s color name is, but it’s been dubbed Sunset by moi!
Thursday, I received a card from my aunt which I was good enough not to open. I love the cards as much as any present…but I’d set the mail on my table and never went back to it. Oops. So I opened it a few minutes ago, and it’s HILARIOUS My aunt sends the coolest cards. ehehh On the front it says “THINGS I’VE LEARNED: A universal remote control does not, in fact, allow you to control the universe.” On the inside it says, “I did not get you a universal remote controle for your birthday because, believe me, you’d just be disappointed.” Thanks, Aunt Barb, for sparing me the disappointment. It’s the greatest gift of all. 
Friday, I ended up getting to open my present from Dina at work! A day early! Since I’m now the new party planner person of the group, she figured she’d help me get organized w/ a Franklin Covey organizer, and some other fun stuff.
Her card, so far, is my favorite of all of them. It says “Fire!” on the front and has a picture of a fire extinguisher. When you open it up, it says “Oh, sorry, it’s just your cake!” lol
In the picture is my new organizer (pretty pink and brown!), some pens and mechanical pencils and stamps & an ink pad and some stickers. One says Rock Star, the other says I ♥ Me, the other says Over Achiever, and the last one says FRESH w/ a pic of a Lemon on it. Teresa said I should post the OverAchiever sticker at work. *lol* I’m like, I’m not an over-achiever!! TC put Dina on speakerphone while I opened my presents, and she got to meet half the office via speakerphone.
So thank you, Dina!
I was also hoping to come home to a package from my Sockret Pal, but it wasn’t there, so I’m hoping it shows up today. She really wanted it to get here for my bday, so we’ll see if she made it. I did, however, come home to birthday cards from my grandparents and Bev, the runner of the October B-day Swap. My grandparents’ card was really sweet. It says “Granddaughter, got you something special for your birthday …” Then you open it and it says, “But how do you mail a hug?” AWwww There was also a bit of yarn birthday money in there, so thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for that! Bev’s card was really cute and says “Happy Birthday” on the front, and when you open it, it says “Today, may your little part of the world be perfect.” How sweet is that? Don’t worry, it will be!
Today has been all about phone calls. Joe called me (while I was sleeping, and I didn’t get it..oops) and sang Happy Birthday to me on my exact-minute birthday. How cute is that? I sure do love him. eheh My mom and my sister also called and wished me a happy birthday!
That’s all for now - It’s now an hour after I started typing this up, so that’s enough time spent on this. I’ll post pictures of the cards later, and any other goodies I might end up getting! Joe arrives about 1:30, but I think I’m going to leave a little earlier and grab something to eat and pick up some thank you cards. I’m going to have a lot of people to thank!
Manda | 
10 30th, 2006| 
Dude.. you’re OLD now. 