Birthday Firsts

I turned 31 on Friday.  Not necessarily the most exciting age to turn, in my opinion, but what a fantastic week/weekend I've had!  I had to put aside the 3 case studies, 1 paper and the ginormous amount of studying I have to do on the gastrointestinal system just for a few days so I could celebrate with friends and family.  Boy was it worth it. 

My good friend Liz threw together a happy hour with some of the BEST friends a girl could ask for.  We had a fun time at Jackson's in Reston Town Center and it was so nice to get out for the evening.

Thanks for the picture, Liz!

On my actual birthday, I had my last Friday clinical (I now switch to Monday's....can you believe the semester is halfway done???) and since it was our last day on the unit, it was quite relaxed.  My clinical buddies brought me a muffin with a candle to start off my morning just perfect.  I finished off the day with dinner with my family at Olive Garden and nice big piece of cheesecake.  Sienna made me this cute note and it made me smile.  She has shown a recent interest in typing things, so we tell her how to spell some words and she puts together documents on Word.  I love how the first thing on here is "washing dishes."  Nothing gets past Sienna.  Oh and for some reason she wrote my cell phone on the bottom....which I didn't want to put on our blog...haha.

Saturday was the bomb.  I ran my first 5K at the Great Pumpkin Race in Reston.  It was so fun!!  I ran the race in 34:19 and I now have a goal for my next 5K which may be in November.  I'm really not a huge fan of running, yet, but I'm slowly getting used to it and it's becoming easier everytime.  I love the race part, however.  It was such a fun experience and I can't wait to do it again!!  This race also had a cute fun run for the kids, so Sienna and Hudson got to "race" themselves.  It was adorable and they had a blast.

Keeping with the theme of "let's try lots of new things all in one day," Scott and I headed to DC for our first ever trapeze lesson!!  Ever since I found out about this place from a friend, I've been begging Scott to take me.  We decided it would be a good birthday present and a cute thing for us to try together.  (Believe me, I gave Scott plenty of opportunities to back out, but he wanted to do it.  I promise I didn't make him.:)  The trapeze school's motto is "Forget the Fear.  Worry about the addiction."  I'm not sure who came up with that, but it's pretty much a spot-on tagline.  I'm addicted.  I realllllly want to go back, maybe next month, anyone care to join me??  ;)  I think having a gymnastics background really helped because it's a lot like swinging bars.  And, there's just something about flying in the air again....it really took me back to my teens when flipping and flying was at least a 5 day a week occurence!  It was the most gorgeous day, we got to do our session outside and I was truly in Heaven.  Oh, and I can't forget about Scott.  He was such a trooper and the only guy in our little group.  He did awesome and made me so proud.

First swing off the platform.

Scott swinging.

I think this was my third turn on the trapeze.  They really don't mess around.  They basically just tell you're going to flip off, like right before you let go.  Haha.

Practicing how we would catch someone else.

Scott actually catching Daniel - who works there.

Daniel catching me.  This was the most fun part.  After you catch, you let your knees off the bar, and the feeling when you swing through is incredible. 

Our evening ended at Buca di Beppo in DC and then we came home to re-arrange our bedroom furniture.  (read:  a perfect birthday ending for me....haha).  Buca is DELICIOUS.  We had never been and I highly recommend it.  31 is definitely off to a great start.