The big 3-5

I have to say so far that 35 is not my favorite! I was so excited to have my birthday (Tuesday) off, because there was so much I wanted to do. My main goal was to get to Pi-Yo (a pilates/yoga mixed class that my gym only offers on Tuesday mornings, hence I can never go!) and since Josh took the day off, I thought he and I could get lunch together or something and just have a fun day. Then maybe some reading and a nap in the afternoon. Sounded perfect. And oh, leftover cake for breakfast also sounded like a great idea.

I stayed up a little later than usual on Monday night, since I knew I didn't have to go to work the next day, but when I tried to go to sleep, tummy trouble struck. I was up sick until about 2 a.m. and then awake at 6 a.m., still feeling like crap. Josh made me some toast, but it quickly became apparent that the gym was out, and my day of fun was just not going to happen. I hated feeling so miserable on a day I had so many plans for, and I really hate that my stomach issues keep resurfacing but they cannot find a cause.

What did end up happening was a lot of laying around. Then I went through a couple boxes of pictures I had in the garage and really tried to pare them down to just ones I really wanted. I take a lot of pictures, and I had easily 20+ years worth and a lot of them were several of the same things. Here are some gems I found.

Me as a blonde in 1997 (!!) with Dimebag from Pantera. RIP, dude.


With Rex from Pantera:



And Vinnie:



And back around 1998-2002 I LOVED the band fuel. Went to more of their shows than I can count and met up with a lot of friends a long the way. Here are a few photos from when a bunch of us met up in Wilkes-Barre PA for a show around 2001. It was so fun. And man, I've always been a pale chick, but do I look flourescent white or what?



We bought gigantic underwear at Walmart and wrote things on them and threw them onstage. It was fun. Notice the giant underwear on my head that I am wearing like a do-rag... Oh, to be young and thin again!





These are just pictures of the pictures that I snapped with my iPhone, so sorry for the quality. I wish I would have taken one of the photo of us with the whole band and the giant underwear. Fun times! They always got a kick out of seeing the same groups of us at different shows. Really nice guys, and man I loved their music. Wish they were still together!

Florida (I think?) with my friend Danyel, 1999... I cannot believe I was ever this thin. Wow!! And I didn't even have to try. I even have a slight tan, can you believe it?



Memphis, 2001:


My first Fuel show - meeting Brett Scallions. I was totally starstruck for some reason. And good lord, I look 15 instead of 22!



I found this so humorous, I had to put it on my facebook wall:



The closest I got to a festive meal was some leftover birthday cake and cheese and crackers with Fig Jam:



I returned to work yesterday to find these lovely flowers from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law who live in CO. Love them!



I'm feeling better now, and good thing, too. My mom and aunt are arriving from Ohio late this afternoon and I'm going to be busy this weekend cooking and showing them the sights. They leave Monday morning, so I took the day off to recuperate (I'm going to need to!)... Next weekend I can hopefully start canning.