My name is zoom and I live on the moon. . . *

My first birthday! Man I was excited. I was pretty much this excited when I  woke up this morning too.  That was until both of the animals pounced on me and I had to quick duck for cover to avoid being wiggled and boxed to death.  You have to love my ginormous bald baby head in this picture. 

Second birthday! Now those are some healthy tree trunks, er,  legs!  ( still have not had my 1st hair cut yet) (oh and I still have those healthy legs!  yes Pup healthy!)

Third birthday at McDs!  I look so innocent!  (Note: Mom claims that I still had not had my 1st hair cut yet. )

Last night we went out to dinner at Bistro Bella Vita.  Wonderful restaurant in downtown Grand Rapids that specializes in all local food.   I will, however, be paying for my indulgences today.   I choose to order whatever I wanted last night.  So what if I knew it would make the j-pouch scream out in pain or react in protest?  I didn't care if I  had to pay the price today or not!  It was my 3oth damn-it!  

Since the food  was so good I'll let you know, First up, cocktails! I had a pomegranate martini! For an appetizer we ordered the wild mushroom and goat cheese on flatbread.  (Honestly, probably my favorite dish from the evening! And probably what I'll be paying the most for! Darn flat bread.) Main course I had the Paella.  So, good!  (Oh wait I just remembered I brought home leftovers, oh and now I just remembered I already ate all the good stuff out of the left overs!)  With the paella my waitress paired me a nice glass of white wine.  I have no idea what kind.  I'm not a big fan of white, so she did the pairing.  I wish all restaurants could do that for you.  And the dessert!  Lemon cheesecake on a pine nut crust.  Yeah I am happily paying the price today.  Completely and utterly worth it.  

*WTF is up with the title right?  Well when I was about 6 maybe, my Aunt Nancy bought my brother and I these tapes with this birthday song on it.  Every single year since then, ANdy and I have sang this song for each other.  Sorry, Scott says it is one of our odd sibling quirks. 

"My name is Zoom 
And I live on the moon 
But I came down to earth 
Just to sing you this tune
Hey, stephanie, 
It's your birthday today! 

A present for you
I wanted to find
An outerspace creature
A one of a kind! 
A wild whop or a kukelchoo,
An apple drop or a buzzardstew
Or maybe a 3-eyed tickleshay
For your birthday"

The Birthday Week

Here at the Stolen Colon house, we don’t just celebrate your birthday on the actual day; we celebrate all week long! (Don’t you wanna come live with me? Well at least for the week for your birthday day, huh?) Last weekend kicked off my thirtieth birthday week celebration. So far we have grabbed lunch at an eclectic delicatessen place that usually has way too long of a wait for Scott’s patience. (Marie Catribs, for my Gr’s peeps.) Then we spent most of the day Saturday walking around my Alma Mater, just hanging out taking some pictures (which all turned out crappy, must learn how to take better pictures in craptastic lighting) and visiting local haunts. Later we spent a few hours visiting my niece and nephew. Oh yeah, and their parents!

I know I’ve joked in the past about being a bit freaked about the approaching big three-oh. But really I’m not. Honest. I welcome this and every birthday I am blessed with from here on out. After the last year, I have new outlook on birthdays. They are a blessing, not something to dread or hide from. So on Thursday I will not cry. (You hear that Dad, unlike you I won’t cry!) I won’t moan or mope. I will cheer. I will celebrate. I will climb on my roof and shout! (ok for those of you who have actually seen me attempt to stand on a roof, know that last statement was a lie.) I will toast having made it through this past year. I will party like I am turning 30 or something.

To be honest, sometimes I do feel just a bit surprised that I am 30. I mean what ever happened to 26? Seriously did I sleep through fours years of my life or something? Did I lose them? I had assumed by the time I was 30, I would have done so much more. Finished having kids, seen the world, have had some important career. Oh well.

So I am not where I thought I would be. Hey I never thought I had cancerous bullshit growing inside me either. Life can throw you for loops; it is just all in how you roll with it.

So, what’s on deck for the rest of the three-oh weeklong celebration you ask? Well, Scott is cooking dinner all week (did you read that honey?) Except for when we go out for our fancy meal. Still haven’t decided on where for that yet. (Gr peeps, any recs? Feel free to leave them in the comments! I’m looking for local owned place, doesn’t have to be fancy.) Then we will probably head up to the cottage for the weekend.

See weeklong celebration doesn’t really mean I am super spoiled. It is just fun to say, “Buuuuut, do I have to? It my birthday week!” I mean it's not like I get gifts everyday of anything.

So, you may be asking yourself "what's with the picture of the horse hooves Steph?" Well, let me tell you. A. I took this picture over Memorial Day weekend and I like it. B. It's my birthday week!

A 1/3 life crisis?

I chopped off all my hair. Actually I didn't do it, but my awesome stylist and good friend Erin did. I had it with my hair. It just wasn't meant to be long. It was brittle and would break if it was in a pony tail. Plus it just wasn't healthy. It wasn't really growing at all either. And I was sick of the hair monster in the shower. (I know I know my hair monster is NOTHING compared to when you are on chemo. And yes I thank my lucky stars daily for that.)

Anyways, did I lop off all my hair, because it looked crappy from nutritional deficiencies through out the past year? Maybe. A Result from the stress? Perhaps.

Or was the spur of the moment cut all the hair off, a result of an impending birthday, one that ends in a 0? Ah, most likely.

So for your viewing pleasure here are a few pictures of the new do.

The Boss Man and I. And excuse the silly face, I was trying to get a good smile out of him. But the thumb won that one.

Look close and you can see Dexter Cat makes a cameo.