I had a work thing last night and so I crashed at The Realtor's rather than make the 45 mile drive home.  Best part? Waking up on my birthday and getting to have breakfast with 2 of my closest, dearest, most beloved friends: The Realtor and The Banker.

We met at The Flying Biscuit where I overindulged in The Meggxican Wrap (a spicy scramble of eggs, cheddar cheese, onions, serrano peppers all wrapped in a flour tortilla and topped with tomato salsa and sour cream) and this:

Guinness with a shot of espresso. I didn't even have to order it special - it was on the menu and everything!

So yeah - obviously I took a vacation day because...HELLO - it's my birthday and there must be celebrating and fun things and Guinness with breakfast otherwise it's just Wednesday.

Anyways - my BIG plans for the day included buying new sneakers, doing a little upscale grocery shopping at Earth Fare, and coming home and working on the menu for the party I am throwing on Saturday because I have 30+ people coming and no clue what I am going to serve them other than mac & cheese because I am in the midst of a major mac & cheese obsession right now. So yeah - BIG STUFF.

En route to the sneaker store mom called to wish me happy birthday and I was telling her all about the thrilling birthday I had planned and she said: "Rougie - you need to do something special. Go get a pedicure or a massage."  And I was like: "Well maybe I will. I don't know."

And long story short she INSISTED I go to a spa on her - sort of an impromptu birthday gift. And even though I am 35, I had no problem accepting so I called the spa I go to monthly to get my ladybits groomed and seeing as the economy still sucks, they had a 9:30 opening for a massage and an 11:00 opening for a pedi. It was 9:24 and I was exactly 5 minutes away. It's like the Universe was looking out for me. 

So I spent 4 hours getting totally blissed out (because mom added a facial because she is the BEST MOM EVER) and these:

Seriously - I was all set to get my toes painted a classy, opaque, pale pink but my eyes kept getting drawn to this polish called Lapis of Luxury and I figured - what the hell: If you can't get a blue pedicure on your 35th birthday, when the hell can you get one?

The bliss wore off a little because Holy Hell - buying sneakers at Dick's nearly killed me but then I went to Earth Fare and spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 on cheese which I was actually ok with because if you don't overindulge on your birthday, what's the point? Also, I now have to amend Saturday's menu to include mac and VERY EXPENSIVE cheese.

The day has been truly wonderful. Essentially since midnight the love has poured in: calls, texts, Blackberry Messenger, Tweets, Facebook posts, cards - I even came home to a giant yellow balloon with a birthday hat taped to my door.  

And what's more - I am not spending tonight alone. I thought I might be and I was ok with that but my good friend The Barmaid shares my birthday and she and some friends are going to dinner and I am going to tag along. 

Truth be told,  I didn't quite know what to expect but today has turned out to be pretty damn fabulous and so I am hoping that this a sign that the coming year is going to be pretty damn fabulous too.    

Thanks to you all for your love and support and friendship - Chez Rougie is nothing without you.