Birthdays and Love

My birthday was on Sunday. I had a nice relaxing day at home, basically studying. I also got to chat with my three best friends for a couple hours, which was really great. I miss them a lot. I went for dinner with my parents and then had a celebratory cupcake from sugar + sunshine bakery in pboro (chocolate cake with strawberry frosting). Based on the candle count, I turned one. Friends and family asked me what I wanted as presents for my birthday, and of course I told them to not get me anything. In reality, the things I appreciate the most are birthday cards. Nowadays people always email each other, which is fine, but I write a lot of snail mail, and I always feel like it's more personalized when you have a physical card that someone took the time to write out to you.

Monday was Valentine's Day. I had a terrible morning, but went out to get groceries, picked up Jeremy from work, and went back to his apartment to cook him a three-course meal. Meal consisted of:

Appetizer: Sesame Shrimp over avocado with Passion Sauce (oven-baked shrimp over fresh avocado slices and a sweet and spicy raspberry sauce sprinkled with sesame seeds)

Entrée: Chicken with a Lemon Brodetto over garlic spinach (seasoned chicken breast, lemon sauce with shallots, and spinach sauteed with garlic)

Dessert: Lemon Ricotta Granata (lemon ice slushy topped with sweet ricotta, fresh lemon zest and sprinkling of dark chocolate)

Unfortunately, there was no time to eat the dessert since I had to rush out to get to class on time. And I literally RAN to class...

If you couldn't tell, my gift for Jeremy was this meal and a card. In return, he wrote me a poem.

Valentines Day has always been my favorite holiday, only because it's near my birthday. It's so interesting to see the spectrum of reactions and celebrations on valentines day though. It ranges from singles moping about and dreading being alone, to singles celebrating not having to spend money and worry about this hallmark holiday, to couples expressing more love for one another, to couples spending ridiculous amounts of money on wining, dining, flowers and sweets. One thing I don't like about this day is that it often gives people the impression that there's only one day a year where you should express your love for your significant other. Luckily, I have Jeremy, who I know loves me everyday. :)

Positive Thinking

Yesterday was the first session of counseling that I had in my lab course. It was the first time that I experienced what it was like to lead a session and be a counselor. As nervous as I was to begin with, I managed to calm down and incorporate some of the techniques I learned thus far into the session. I felt accomplished afterwards and it was definitely one of the first times I've realized that maybe I can do this - be in this profession and be not only great at it, but excellent. It feels good to have some confirmation that the field or profession you chose is the right one for you.

On another positive note, triple birthday celebration is coming up soon! I'm excited to see everyone and just have a good time. I feel like with the stresses of school work, classes, and babysitting, it is difficult to fit in a social life. This will be a lot of fun though. I'm also excited to go to the Zaffron Grand Opening this weekend!

My birthday is coming up, and usually around this time I'm stressed out and bummed out about it. For the first time in awhile, I'm actually doing well and thinking positively about this. Maybe it means I'm maturing? Probably not. But most aspects of my life are doing well, so I'm happy.