Birthday Post And Spooky Monday!

Dear bloggy friends and readers thank you so much for joining me for my birthday post, and thanks to you who have participated in my birthday giveaway (mentioned in the last few posts)! I have decided to extend the giveaway through Monday my birthday, so if you are here for a visit or for Spooky Monday, you are welcome leave a comment and/or become a follower to be entered!

WARNING: this post will most likely be long and rambley, and slightly self-indulgent (it is my birthday after all), so feel free to read some, all, or none of it! Also, if you are here for Spooky Monday that portion of the post will be at the very end, so skip ahead if you wish!

I am one of those people who believe in celebrating your birthday for a week around your birthday. This is mostly because you never know if you will actually be able to do fun birthday things on your actual birthday. For example, although my birthday is Monday, I am writing this Sunday night because lovely things have already happened and I don't see anything especially special happening on my actual birthday (except maybe going out to dinner) because let's face it, it is Monday and I have to work and do homework.

Okay so the first wonderful birthday thing happened on Saturday. For my birthday I decided to take myself out for tea at the Chantilly Tea Room here in Tucson. I have always wanted to go there and it did not disappoint. It is so cute and frou frou, and they have the most fabulous gift shop with every wonderful tea related thing you could imagine. I went by myself because I don't know many people here, and I know Mister B wouldn't appreciate it, so I figured it would be more fun to go alone than to make him go with me.

I ordered the Victorian Tea, which comes with a pot of tea of your choice (they have an amazing selection), scones with all the fixins, and yummy tea sandwiches. Here is what it all looked like. I only had my cell phone with me, hence the less than awesome photos.

The food was so delicious!

This is the area I was sitting in.

Oh and one of the really neat things is that when you order tea, you get to choose which tea cup you want to use from their lovely mis-matched selection! This is the one I picked.

Okay so I was happy as a clam sitting by myself and was just finishing up my food when a lady, from a group of ladies who had come in a few minutes earlier, came over and talked to me. She said that they saw me and thought I looked pretty in my dress and wondered why I was sitting alone. I explained the situation and she insisted that I come join their party, which was also a birthday celebration for one of the ladies who was turning 70. This is the birthday girl (you can tell by her hat. it had a big paper 70 on it)!

They were so, so, nice and such a hoot. They were having a tacky tea party so were dressed up all fun. Here is the whole group.

I had such a nice time and thought it was so sweet for strangers to just take me in like that. Sometimes wonderful things happen when you least expect it. The tea place even gave us little cakes with candles for our birthdays! Yes this is me, and definitely not the best photo of me ever, but we will just blame that on my phone shall we?

So I had such a lovely time, and even bought myself some tea and cute stickers at the gift shop.

Oh and I almost forgot, I asked if they were hiring, and they are for the winter season. So I might get to work there which is like an ideal job for me! Oh yay, things just turned out so well.

The second wonderful thing is that I got my birthday present from Mister B early (it came in the mail early) and when I got home on Friday I was surprised with this in the bedroom...

I have really been wanting this poster and he even got a poster frame for it so it looks more classy!

Oh and it had a big purple bow on it.

Thank you Mister!

The third wonderful thing that happened is I had a magical evening alone at the pool. Okay maybe that doesn't sound so exciting, but it was seriously awesome. I didn't have my camera and even if I did it doesn't really take good pictures at night so it probably would not have helped, but let me try to paint a picture for you so you can feel what it was like.

Caution: word picture ahead, and I am not a writer or wordsmith by any means.

It is 7:30, but still a balmy 90-something degrees outside. You decide to go for a moonlight swim and hot tub. You take a flashlight for your walk to the pool, but you don't need it since the moon is so bright it lights your path. The pool is dark and deserted, you have it all to yourself, there are only a few perimeter lights to add a soft glow. Picture a lovely pool with integrated hot tub and a waterfall that makes a soothing water noise. The night is perfectly still and the surface of the pool is sprinkled with tiny purple flowers that have drifted down off a nearby tree. The delicate blossoms swirl around you as you glide silently through the pleasantly cool water. The crickets provide a gentle background chorus. After a nice swim you move to the hot tub which is just the right temperature for you because it isn't heated all the time and you can set a timer for however long or little you want the heater to turn on. The bubbles are so relaxing and the heat is a welcome change after the coolness of the pool. Now just add a drink of your choice, lie back and gaze up at the gorgeous moon which is so close this time of year, and seriously the brightest stars you have ever seen. Do you have a perfect feeling of peace and serenity with a dash of wonder thrown in? Then you have a small idea of what the experience was like. Pretty nice huh? The only thing that would make it more magical would be if the pool had phosphorescence in it that sparkle as you move through the water (I have experienced this a few times on an island in British Columbia, and to a lesser extent in the Caribbean, both times in the ocean, and it is the coolest and most amazing thing ever).

Hmm, where was I? Oh yes, so you can see why I had such a lovely evening.

So that is it for my birthday post I hope you enjoyed sharing some or all of my birthday experiences (depending on how much you actually read). Thank you for helping me celebrate!

Now on to the Spooky Monday portion of the post!

There three things I want to share for Spooky Monday (hmm the magical rule of three seems to by applying quite a bit to this post, is that spooky?)

This is a witchy lolly-pop the ladies at the tea party gave me. Not only were they filled with birthday spirit, they were also filled with Halloween spirit!

Yummy.

I also wanted to share this corsage that Mister B made for me, and may I emphasize he MADE this, for the Homecoming dance senior year. That is right we have been together since high school and on this, my birthday, I am turning 25. Not too shabby considering we are not married (by mutual choice until we graduate from grad school....I mean in case you were wondering....you probably don't care a wit, so I will move on now). So ANYWAY, the theme for the dance was something like Red Carpet I think, and we as a couple dressed up really punk. He made this for me because of our outfits, but he knew it was something I would love anyway.

So awesome right? What a guy!

The last thing I want to share isn't mine, it is an Etsy shop I discovered that has the cutest, spookiest, little pumpkin darlings you have ever seen! I will most likely be purchasing one, and I think you will want to as well after you see them. Please visit Pumpkin Hollow without delay!

Well I think that about wraps this crazy post up. I hope you enjoyed it and please come back and visit again soon!

<3 Alia


post script. As I was writing this a wind sprang up, I could hear it outside and went out to investigate. It was one of those warm, wild, draws you out and urges you to go places winds. Do you know the type? I think if you mix two quotes, from two of my favorite movies, it describes it perfectly.

"But still sometimes, when the wind is warm or the crickets sing... I dream of a love that even time will lie down and be still for."    -Sally Owens, Practical Magic

And,

"But still the clever north wind was not satisfied. It spoke to Vianne of towns yet to be visited, friends in need yet to be discovered, battles yet to be fought..."    -Storyteller, Chocolat

Now do you know what I mean? I love that wind, it brings out the gypsy in me.

pps. I am a little behind since I have had a lot of things to do, but I have my whole "Buried" series of paintings ready to go up in my Etsy shop so check back in a few days and hopefully they will be available!