25

On Wednesday I celebrated my 25th birthday!  25.  A quarter of a century.  The number sounds old (when you're my age, at least), but I still feel so young.  Most of the time I can't believe that's my real age!  : )  

We were with my family in Greenwood for a family reunion right before my birthday (much more on that later).  We ate a birthday dinner at Johnny Carino's, and then had a party with my favorite chocolate cake with raspberry filling and cool whip frosting!  I received some awesome gifts, including a new apron, nail polish, a cardigan, earrings, a pair of brown shoes, chocolate truffles, a cookbook of crock-pot recipes, a kitchen rug, curtains and an area rug for my living room, and the parenting books I Didn't Plan to Be a Witch and Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood. My mom gave me this lovely bouquet of flowers (I LOVE having fresh flowers on my table!).

On the morning of my birthday, David made me a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs.  When I got Eli out of his bed he gave me a big smile and I declared, "It's Mommy's birthday!" and then had "him" sing me "Happy Birthday."  : )  

Once I cleaned up the chocolate milk that Eli spilled all over himself and the kitchen floor, we were off to a great rest of the day!  David came up with the idea to check out the Arts District in Carmel (about 15 minutes from where we live).

We started off in an Antique Mall.  It was HUGE and so much fun!  They had some really cool items and beautiful pieces of furniture.  It felt like we were visiting our grandparents many years ago.  

I had a particularly fun time playing dress-up with all the antique hats, coats, purses, etc.  I would have loved to spend hours trying them all on with some girlfriends.  : )

Next we checked out a music store where David strummed on a guitar for a few minutes, and then we stepped into an art gallery.  Not at all my taste, but it was still interesting to see (and wonder how some people's minds work).  There were several other art galleries on the street, but none of the other ones were opened.  Sometime in the future David and I will go back on a date night and visit them.

There were statues placed all along the sidewalks--an old man sitting on a bench reading a newspaper, a lady carrying her groceries, as well as this couple.  Love it!

It was a very hot and sunny day, so after being out for a while we were ready for a treat!  Normally David would never agree to just get ice cream out of the blue, but luckily this was not a normal day.  He told me at the start of the day that if there was something I wanted, just ask.  So I did.  : )  We got a yummy smoothie and slushy at this place--

Before we headed home for lunch and naptime, we stopped at this fountain to let Eli play for a bit.  It was in the courtyard of these apartments.  Pretty snazzy.

Eli enjoyed soaking his feet for a while, until he got tired of just his feet being wet and threw his shoe in as well!

My mom offered to come up and baby-sit so we could go out during Eli's nap.  We went to see the movie Brave.  It was our first time at the movies since seeing Harry Potter last Fall!  Definitely a fun treat.  

After the movie we went back home for a little bit to see Eli, and then David and I went on ANOTHER solo date!  We hit a bucket of balls at the driving range (something we did on our first date)!  It was crazy hot, but fun!  David had some really good shots, and my dad would have been proud.

We went out to dinner in Noblesville (where the driving range was, a few miles away), at a place called Conner Station.  It was a fairly casual family diner-like place, with great service and yummy food!  

I just had such a terrific day!  We are usually so frugal and hardly do any "fun" things, so my birthday really did feel like a very special day.  It's nice to grow old when you can grow old with those you love.