Birthday Weekend

I guess I'm milking this turning 40 thing for a little while longer, ha ha! After all, you only turn 40 once.

Todd spent the whole weekend working long hours for his company's software deployment. I felt bad for him because he missed out on some basketball games that he was really interested in, like the Big 10 tournament where Ohio State won, and the Cleveland Cavaliers game.

To take a break on Saturday, we went running at Miramar Lake at around 11am. I didn't realize until I got there that I didn't bring my camera with me, so I don't have any photos. It was cloudy with some sunshine coming through. I was so proud of myself because I ran six miles. It's been since last year that I've run six miles! Todd ran over seven miles in less time than me. :-|

Location: Miramar Lake
Distance: 6.08 miles
Time: 1:08:33
Avg time/mile: 11:16
Calories: 602

I felt very good, and ran progressively faster with each mile. My 6th mile was 10:44. I always feel good when my last mile is faster than my first miles. :)

After running, we stopped by Chile Peppers for some Mexican lunch.  And no, Todd did not get another churro!

Tonight I had a birthday dinner with my favorite friends. I had emailed them last week asking if they would be interested in coming to my birthday dinner. I said I'd treat, but Todd ended up treating because I did't bring my wallet. Hmm... a conscious mistake? Ha ha, it all comes from the same pot anyways. :) So anyways, everyone said they could come Sunday night, so we had my birthday dinner tonight at Dumpling Inn.

I'm always excited to take friends to Dumpling Inn, especially if they're newbies. It is in my humble opinion the best Chinese restaurant around here. The price is reasonable and the food is delish!

We picked up Anne and Gilbert on the way, and arrived around 5:45pm. There was already a waiting list, so we put our name in. We didn't get seated until about half an hour later.

Here's the whole birthday dinner gang.

Gilbert, Meera, AJ, Todd, me, Sally, and Anne.

We ordered shao long bao (a very tender pork-filled steamed dumpling), potstickers, and shrimp dumplings (did I already say that this restaurant is called Dumpling Inn, LOL) to start. Then we had white sea bass with black bean sauce, pepper steak, deluxe tofu soup, sauteed greens with garlic, and szechuan eggplant. Everything was DELICIOUS. After the food arrived, we were all too busy chowing down and I didn't remember to take a photo until we ate a bunch of the food already.



AJ and Meera


Anne and Gilbert


After the food was all gone, they brought out my birthday cake that Sally bought at Extraordinary Desserts (a famous dessert place in Hillcrest). Every side was so pretty I had to take two photos!





And if you thought it LOOKED pretty, it was even more delicious than I could have ever expected! It's white chocolate cake with strawberry and raspberry filling, and whipped cream frosting. We all ate a piece. Then there was still some left. So I ate another little piece, as did Todd. AJ decided it would be egregious if there was any cake left, so he took care of the rest, LOL!

One last photo of the girls before heading home.


I left with a full stomach and a warm heart. I'm so thankful for my friends.