Another Birthday Comes and Goes

Last week I celebrated another birthday. . . and because my b-day post from last year was so "popular," I thought I'd share with y'all once again. (I enjoyed writing that one too.)

My birthday started with all those Facebook wishes you get. . . which was a first for me, since I've only been on FB since the beginning of the year. That was cool. And my phone buzzed with text messages once I turned it on at six o'clock in the morning. (Some people either stayed up really late to wish me happy birthday, or they live in a different time zone.)
After getting ready for school (uh, yeah. . .school already. . . can you believe it?) I headed up stairs to grab the CUPCAKES that my friend Megan had prepared for the special occasion. As most of you know, I have an affinity for cupcakes. . .and Megan is an excellent baker--so I was thrilled to get to share 60 cupcakes with my coworkers at school. She also made the cutest little cake just for me, with our school mascot emblazoned on the side. Here are a few pictures of Megan's handiwork!



Pretty cool that she did everything in our school colors. My teacher-friends were very impressed.



So, I'm 34. . .hmmmm. 33 seemed so much more interesting, but a friend of mine, who's a die-hard Minnesota Twins fan reminded me that #34 was Kirby Puckett's number--yes, that's a sports reference, because you know that's where I'd go first. Anyway, here are the nifty things I've found about the number 34.

34 is the traffic code of Istanbul, Turkey--I don't know what a traffic code is, but my student-teacher from last year just moved to Turkey so, I guess there's a connection.

"#34," is a song by the Dave Matthews Band --I am a fan of DMB. Not like, crazy-groupie fan. . . but I have an album or two on my iPod.

+34 is the code for international direct-dial phone calls to Spain--Yeah!!! And I just went to Spain. . . so that's cool.

In the book The Count of Monte Cristo, 34 is Edmond Dantès's prisoner number. --Terrific book, suspenseful, well-written and made into an fantastic movie as well.

In baseball the number 34 has been retired by the following teams:
The Minnesota Twins in honor of Kirby Puckett.
The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers in honor of Nolan Ryan.
The Oakland Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers in honor of Rollie Fingers.

The number 34 is also retired by the Houston Rockets in honor of its most famous wearer, Hakeem Olajuwon. And in American football the Chicago Bears retired #34 in honor of Walter Payton and it is retired by the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans in honor of Earl Campbell.

So, there you have it. #34 is not so boring after all.

Here's one last birthday picture to start my 34th year. Take care. . . and next year I'll write about 35. :)

A Visit from My Pops

So, my dad came to town last Wednesday, and it has been a whirlwind of projects around my house. Some of you may remember that Dad drove out last June to help me construct a new deck in the back yard, since the old one was rotting off the back of the house. Well, this year it was time to stain. Of course, the weather in August isn't quite as nice as late May, so we had to battle the heat a little more this summer. (Day 3 of his stay. . . 112 degree heat warning-ridiculous!) Obviously, it didn't take us as long to stain the deck as it did to build it, but it was good Mard-Dad time and we enjoyed the heat of the day inside--with the air conditioning.

Thought I would show you a few pictures of the finished product, and there are a few of my first-ever grilling adventure on my new grill. Here they are. . .





Part of my dad's "negotiated agreement" included a steak dinner on one of the nights during his stay. Rib-eye, potatoes, asparagus. . .Yum.






Lights, Camera, Action. . . so yeah, come on over and experience a little Robinson handiwork. :)





Cool-huh. My dad's the best. Now I have a finished deck where I can enjoy a good book, or hold a Mardy Party. :) If only the weather would cooperate. . .