On the eve of 29...

My birthday eve started bright and early with a trip to the farmer's market.  We haven't been in two weeks (due to other Saturday morning events), so I was eager to get my fill of fresh grass fed beef, eggs, fruit and produce.  When we got home Ryan whipped up breakfast: an onion and bell pepper omelet, bacon, and a side of avocado.

It was huge, I couldn't finish it all.  I think my stomach is starting to tell me when I've had enough to eat.  It took (almost) 29 years to learn this fantastic communication skill, and I hope that my stomach continues to communicate as well as it did today.  Because breakfast was later than normal, we skipped lunch and waited until dinner to eat again.

We had dinner plans with my parents to celebrate my birthday.  It is longstanding Cozad tradition to celebrate my birthday at the Cheesecake Factory in Redondo Beach.  Who am I to break tradition?  I ate NO bread, I didn't order my favorite item on the menu (chinese chicken salad - oh so good), and I didn't even eat my teeny birthday sundae after everyone sang to me.  I felt (and sort of still feel) like I deserve an award for this.  It was more challenging than I expected, and I felt kind of slighted to not have cheesecake on my birthday.  But a 30 day challenge is just that: challenging.  I'm almost done, and I'm not going to start cheating (myself) now.

That's right, folks.  I ordered the Cobb salad with no bleu cheese.  It was no chinese chicken salad, but I ate half of it and was satisfied.  Ryan, on the other hand, glared at me endlessly for "making" him order something paleo, rather than the shrimp scampi that he wanted.  He got a ribeye and broccoli.

Even though I knew I couldn't eat the dessert that I was awarded for celebrating my birthday with the Cheesecake Factory family, I still like it when everyone sings to me and I get to blow out a candle.

My dad, however, had no problem taking care of the sundae...

It was a great birthday celebration - look at all of the kitchen cooking goodies I got!

A chopper, veggie produce bags, a bendy cutting board, a scrubber/colander, and an awesome peeler/julienne slicer!  Two of the produce bags even came stuffed with fresh veggies from my mom's (organic) garden.  I guess that means I need to step it up and try some new recipes.

So far the birthday has been a success (though it hasn't officially happened yet).  Tomorrow: more celebrating!