This year, I hijacked my birthday by telling Leao and the boys I knew exactly what I wanted for my birthday.  I wanted books, craft products, lunch at my favorite Japanese restaurant and to adopt two elephants.  Once they were on board, I ordered my goodies and as each package arrived I put them in a bag and set them aside.  This required a lot of strength that I really didn’t know I had until yesterday.

Leao took the day off to spend with me so after we dropped the kids off, we went for tea at Starbucks. Then we came back to open my presents.

I love pretty notebooks and this cute trio set make me smile so I can’t wait to use them.  I have also always wanted a Copic sketchbook. I have made my own but this one is already bound on Copic paper and it’s the perfect size to carry around. The pencils are so cute. They say things like “Don’t Steal this pencil”.

You know I love books and I am great at finding them at low prices. I ordered some from Amazon marketplace, Bookoutlet and Book Depository.  I really had to sit on my hands at times as they arrived over the past week. This has to be the largest book haul I’ve ever had. I’m set for summer reading.  The books are a mixture of Japanese fiction, new fiction, fantasy, poetry, mystery and I think a contemporary.

Then I received some craft supplies that I have had my eyes on. Can’t wait to play with them. There are actually a few more craft goodies that haven’t arrived yet.

Then we attended Nicholas Science fair at his school. It was so much fun seeing all the different projects. After that Leao took me to my favorite Japanese restaurant.

 I love sushi and miso soup for starters.

Leao always tries to convinced me to eat the raw ones. But I am still whimpy. I like avocado rolls and shrimp tempura sushi but the raw – nope.

I had my first glass of alcohol since my cleanse and I was a light weight before but I think it hit me even harder this time!

I had fun and then I even squeezed in some reading before pick up.

My best friend, Natana called and we talked a while which was a treat because the past few weeks we have been playing phone tag trying to catch eachother with the 3-hour time difference. So it was great to catch up.

Earlier this month I adopted two elephants from an Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. I received the adoption papers on my birthday. How cool is that? I will be writing a post with photos and sharing more with you soon.

The second half of my day was spent with the boys while Leao went to a Red Sox game with friends from work. So the boys and I ate dinner and we went to an exclusive viewing of Disney’s Inside Out movie, 3 days before the movie is released to the general public. It was so much fun and the movie was excellent.

The final gift I received was an order from my Etsy store while we were at the movies.  What a great day right?

I am grateful for all the blessings and I hope you are having a great day today.

Belinda

Hello! As some of you might know, my birthday was last Monday and my birthday month is rapidly coming to an end so I thought I would share some of the things I did that made me really happy.

The first thing I did after dropping the boys off for school was to take my morning walk. I recently started walking in the mornings. Inspired by my sister Berni, I lace up and walk my neighborhood. I really love walking the lake in Wakefield but I can’t make excuses when I walk here and it is more efficient so I can get back to work faster.

Then I went to shop for a few outfits and spent several hours in the Barnes and Noble bookstore reading and drinking my Soy Chai tea!! That had to be me favorite thing. If I have free time, that is one of the things I enjoy most is drinking tea and reading a book especially in cafes.

Leao came home early from work and they took me to one of my new favorite restaurants, Qchara in Melrose. Yes, that is avocados stuffed with quinoa, corn and other goodies and fried plaintains with a yummy smoothie. It was a delicious meal.

Then we headed home to relax.  A perfect birthday indeed.

Then later in the week, I spent time with my crafty girlfriends and celebrated my birthday with my dear friend Ashley.

She made me some apple sauce, yum! She also made this lovely box on her Cricut and used her flower punch board to make the flowers. The little garden lady in the middle is a garden decor. Isn’t this the cutest gift?   I hung it up in my craft room and the garden lady, who my son Apollo has renamed her “Ashley” is now in my garden. I think I will take pictures of her in different areas of my garden throughout the summer.

Well enough about my birthday until next year that is…

Have a blessed Monday my friends!

Belinda