Happy Birthday to Me!

On Tuesday, I turned a quarter of a century old. Yikes! Most days I feel older than my age. But there is the rare occassion when my age surprises me...like days when I realize it's been 7 years since I was in school, or when my baby brother turned 18 and graduated high school. On those days, I can't believe that I'm 25 and an adult. Sometimes, I still feel like the naive 17 year old who thought she already knew it all. I thank God every day that I am not that girl anymore; that I am not the same as I was when I was 17.

25 seemed a little scary at first, but I think it's going to be a good year. The dreamer in me is making a comeback and I am happy with so many parts of my life. I think this is gonna be a good year...

So for my birthday, I had the day off work. (It should be mandatory that you get a day off on your birthday.) Steve also took the day off and we had a great time galavanting around Denver.

We started the day purchasing a birthday present: John Mayer's new cd, Battle Studies. It's good. Mellow. I've had it on repeat for the last 3 days. :)

After that, we headed to Happy Cakes for a birthday cupcake.

I had never been to the little shop, but the website had my expectations high. I was slightly disappointed, but I'll probably give it another chance.

The cupcakes were pretty darn good! I had the C.O.C. (chocolate on chocolate) and Steve got the red velvet with cream cheese frosting. We ended up switching half way through. :)

For dinner, we went to Osteria Marco in Denver. (sorry...no pictures. I was too busy taking it all in. Plus, it was dark and my phone camera has no flash.)

I had seen the owner/chef, Frank Bonanno, on the Food Network and had been dying to go here.

It was everything I had imagined. The building was beautiful. It was classy and elegant, but casual and cozy at the same time.

We tried a variety of small plates including homemade Burrata (homemade mozzerella and ricotta cheese) and Salame, pesto, and broccoli rabe pizza. The wannabe foodie inside me was in heaven.

It was absolutely delicious. The food was simple, fresh and the ultimate definition of "rustic". Simply lovely. AND, might I add, extremely affordable.

If you're in the mood for rustic Italian, I strongly recommend it; I will definitely be going back.

Back at home Steve set off my "birthday fireworks". I have a video, but can't get it off the phone. Maybe I will try to post it later. It was definitely memorable...how many people have had fireworks on their birthday?? :)

We ended the evening seeing the Blindside (finally) and Up In the Air. I loved the first, of course. It was a wonderful, inspiring movie. As for Up In the Air, I would suggest you to wait for the dvd. All I really remember about it is that I kept thinking how good George Clooney looked for being so old. (seriously though. wow.)

All in all, it was a great day. I felt loved and couldn't have asked for more.