Today is...

my happy birthday! Yaaaay! I didn't go for cake or anything tonight, just a NY strip steak, grilled asparagus and my new best friend: cauliflower mash... or as my b.f.e. calls it: "notatoes." Dinner was great.

My daughter presented me with a very, very thoughtful gift this afternoon. Recently, I'd gone through storage and started to purge a whole bunch of things...designating some things for consignment, some for yard sale, some for donation....things like that. She saw that I was donating a heap of you-only-wear-them-once prom and wedding party dresses and asked if she could have them. I said she could if she made good use of them (only because I'd intended to donate them to a prom outreach that gives dresses to girls in need) and she said she would.

Well, I'm not sure where the other dresses are...but, she recreated the one I wore as a bridesmaid in my oldest sister's wedding for a porcelain doll. She and her grandmother made the pattern and sewed it together so now I have a little version of the dress I wore on the doll. I was taken by her creativity and initiative and thoughtfulness - really taken. I'm stunned in the nicest way. I put the doll on my dresser so I can admire her work and the care she put into making it.

I make kind of a big deal about things I love, so she's rolling her eyes at me as the night wears on and threatening to take the dress and the doll back if I don't stop gushing. I can't help it though... who thinks of that?! At high school age?!

So, yeah, I had a lovely weekend and a couple of great days off with unbelievable surprise and tasty dinner. I'd say this is a very, very good start to a new year.