a fantastic birthday!

thursday was my birthday, and i must say it was an excellent day. here's a recap of events so those of you who are far away can feel like you were here :)

• the teacher i work for has a birthday the day before and so our coworkers got us a cake and a card and had everyone sign it. plus several of my kids sang solo versions of "happy birthday" which was awesome
• the morning of my birthday i woke up to notes on the wall and pictures of all of my favorite things around the house. it was really sweet!
• i then walked into the kitchen and karen had made me breakfast! it's a dish her mom used to make called "samoule" (spelling is questionable). it's basically cream of wheat on a plate with nesquik chocolate powder and raisins on top. an interesting dish, but very fun
• after school i came home and there were flowers and chocolate awaiting me! my brother jon and his wife melissa sent them to me! the chocolate is delicious and the flowers are beautiful and just now starting to bloom. remember how i never liked to get flowers? i must say i don't feel the same way anymore.

• my folks were supposed to take me to an indian restaurant but instead took me to one of the nicest restaurants in charlottesville! it was amazing food and service and so much fun. all the food looked like it came straight off of top chef! we had many delicious courses but here are the main dishes- the first is mine- it was some sort of lobster dish, the second is my father (wearing my favorite hat of his in my honor) and he had a trout stuffed with crab, and then my mother had some sort of steak with amazingness

• on top of all this i got phone calls/emails/and other messages from many dear friends (including you all!) thank you everyone for being so wonderful and i promise to return all your calls in the days ahead. i love you all so much!