And now the beginning of 43.

I am going to hold this week very close to my heart. The people I love the most showed me love BIG time. (And if there ever is a time when I get to have it all about ME guilt-free, it's my birthday!)

And what felt good was today, after the awesome week I've had that I was "paying it forward"... While I was waiting for the bus to come home from R & K's there was a woman who was also waiting for the bus who bummed a smoke (uh, yeah, let's not talk about the smoking right now) and it turns out she left her wallet somewhere and when she went back to get it, it was gone. She didn't ask but I guess I figured she didn't have any money so I gave her this a free bus ride voucher that I had in my purse that I've been carrying around (for something like this) and covered her fare on the bus we were waiting for so she could use the voucher for the next ride she needed.

Yeah, I realize it all could have been bullshit but I've recently been reminded that shit happens (including when a person is an idiot for not planning things a bit more carefully) and sometimes we all need a little help.

It felt good to help someone out, make them happy,

The week of "stay-cation" really turned out to be a great week. It wasn't that I needed to really do a whole lot of soul-searching, it was that I needed to connect with the people that I care about and care about me.

It was a perfect blend of me time and not alone time. I had Monday all to myself and Tuesday was spent with I and her sweet baby girl and Wednesday was another me day -with a quick visit with my new Dr. -who shares the same birthday as me (and did I mention the last person who cut my hair has it too?) -And Thursday...my actual birthday...

O M G

I got everything I wanted and more from B. God, I love that man so much. And when he lets me know that he wants to be with me as much as I want to be with him...well that just rocks my world in the best way EVER. We had breakfast and when he commented that we'd never gone out to breakfast before that was like the coolest because I love it when he makes observations about us which means he's thinking about us. (He is so good at remembering so many things about us (me :P)) Getting to spend some quality time with him was the best gift.

And then there was going to Amsterdam.

Ah, yes, my latest Amsterdam adventure.

While it didn't go quite the way I planned, I do now know that I can do it in about 24 hours ..essentially a weekend. And with very little money (as long as nothing really goes...wrong.)

I really didn't think about the reality of my every other Friday paycheck not being available when I arrived on a Friday at 6am AMS but really still Thursday 11pm US/MN time, until we landed. If I had planned a little more carefully, I would have realized that I needed to already have some cash available so that I could take the train downtown, find the coffeeshop I read about that opens at 7am, take a canal tour (they start around 9am) and be back to airport by 11/11:30 am to catch a 1:20pm flight home.

Thankfully there was free wi-fi available so I was able to change my return flight to an earlier one and come back home.

So now it just gets to be one of my travel tales where/when I'm very thankful that I work for an airline and that I was lucky enough to get business class round-trip AND there were no delays or cancellations. (And it doesn't hurt that I now have a better sense of what times are like in terms of getting through security and customs internationally/domestically which can only help me do my job better.)

Overall, the flights were good. BC is definitely nice when you're not a size 14 (ha). I was able to catch up 3 of the latest movies out on DVD -A Good Day to Die Hard, Admissions and Argo (my reviews; the first was OK but then again I'll watch almost anything Bruce Willis is in, the 2nd was really good and the last one was really REALLY good) and see at least the first episode of the past Dexter season and eat some pretty good food.

While I was pretty fried, after I got home with a couple of extra hours to spare before heading over to R & K's, I had time to come home and take a shower before meeting up with them.

It was a perfect low-key kind of night. We had been thinking of going to a movie but since it was a long week for both of them and I was completely knackered after taking these 2 international flights in 24 hours, we just had dinner in (K put together a taco dinner for us AND made cheesecake ..yum!) and rented a movie -Jack Reacher (pretty good.)

Sidebar: It (finally?) occurred to me today that when I'm done paying my loan off (the one I got for the car that I no longer have ...did I really have to put it like that??) which will happen within the next 2 months or so, that I will just have that money go directly into a savings account. It's money I've learned to live without and R says we can find a savings account to put it into that I can't touch easily so I'm not tempted by it.  (I should probably give some serious thought to why I feel the need to spend everything I've got. Maybe it feels like it's good to say yes instead of no when I want something? Hmm.)

And now back to the rest of the birthday fun with my favorite marrieds...they gave me a really great card and bought me breakfast. After breakfast, R had to get ready to work (doing his DJ thing for a wedding tonight) so K and I went for pedicures before she took me back to the transit center to catch the bus. How indulgent but fun and my feet look good for a change!

And now I'm home, reflecting on the really great week. And now it's time to start coming back down to earth and mentally gear myself up for life to go back to normal.

Work, continuing to get my financial shit together, eating better and just generally keep on keepin' on.