happy?

I’m in a ridiculously good mood. 🙂

yesterday afternoon the universe gave me an early birthday present. I went for a bike ride out to Lowes and back, and on the way back, in front of the VFW hall on Martin Way, I found a $20 bill…saw the flash of green out of the corner of my eye, stopped, and there it was.

I was thinking I’d save it for my birthday dinner tonight, but when I got home, two friends were at the house and talking about D&D with C…so instead I bought pizza for the gang and we gamed (the 4 of us, plus J’s wife) all evening. much slaying of goblins and bugbears. 🙂

this morning I brought in a bouquet of flowers from the garden: cosmos, mostly, with a few of the 2nd round of wildflowers. that, really, is my birthday gift to myself, not the shoes I’ll probably buy tonight, nor the jewelry piece I want to try over the weekend, but this pretty little thing that makes me smile when I see it next to my monitor, and which represents the serendipity that I’ve found in growing things.

…and my department had decorated my office. 2 days ago, our dept. assistant turned 50, and they went absolutely nuts. black streamers & balloons, signs everywhere, weird gag gifts, etc. I got pink streamers, signs that say “Elaine is 30!” and a big bow on my monitor. I’m wearing my hair sticks today, so of course as soon as I walked in, I got all tangled up in the streamers. 🙂 and it feels like a sweet thing, a happy thing. (pictures to follow)

honestly, it reminds me of the silly office/birthday pranks that used to happen at UWPC, esp. when “Tom”:http://humantail.com was still there. (the time we filled Dan’s cube with shredded paper and made buttons that said “Dan Appreciation Day” when he complained about not getting recognized on Assistant’s Day stands out, as does the time they filled Tom’s cube with balloons and decorated it like a English cottage, complete with tea kettle and embroidered curtains.)

yesterday I also had what feels like a very important breakthrough with therapy, too. it’ll take good followup work on my part, but even that feels *right* somehow. and this morning, on the van, I had a lovely writing moment, working on Aila’s tale, which hasn’t happened in a really, really long time.

so, yeah.

tonight? if Sears still carries those shoes I got last year, I’ll buy a pair when I get off work. then dinner at Mini Saigon, and maybe one of our Netflix movies, and that will be a lovely birthday.

the rest of the birthday went lovely well. lunch out with those few who were at work, a new pair of shoes, take-out Thai, and possibly the strangest/cool movie I’ve seen all year. (a Chinese historical fantasy action mystery?)