Weekend highlights

Well, did I get a huge surprise over the weekend! DH and DD said they were taking me to a nice dinner to celebrate my birthday. Instead I found myself at a surprise party for my 50th birthday! And to make it even more special, DH was able to get my 3 best friends from high school (and those 3 were in our wedding) to come. I have literally not seen any of them in over 25 years. Wow - it was so fun and special. Several of our friends were able to make it and even DS's ex girlfriend, which was sweet. All my siblings were out of town, unfortunately, but they all sent me a pretty basket of spring flowers.

I was opening cards and a few gifts and was then blown away by my mom's card.....inside was a check......for $2500!!! Holy crap! I showed it to DD and she said "I can't wait until I turn 50" LOL. What to spend it on?! DD and I went shopping yesterday (she wanted to buy herself some new hangers) and I took a glance at the Bissell Little Green spot cleaners again. I've been wanting one for a couple of years. I just haven't ever wanted to spend $100. They were out of stock on Black Friday when Target had them for 1/2 off. So, I'm looking and see they don't have any (just the pricier pet stain model), even the display one is gone, but price tag still there. Then I turn around and see several boxes of them on the end cap aisle and realize they are on a clearance end cap that says 30% off..woo hoo...but then notice the price tag and it was marked down 50% off. Needless to say I bought it.

Then we went to Ross, where I needed to return a $25 pair of black jeans. I decided not to keep them as they were going to be pet hair magnets. I still couldn't find any regular jeans I liked, so I got 2 pretty cardigan  sweaters and a top, all for $35, so only $10 extra.

I think we'll use some of it to have some big trees trimmed in our back yard. Some are overhanging onto our neighbors on both sides and DH got an estimate a few months ago at about $800, I think. Not what I would want to spend money on, but after 25 years of growing (just since we've lived here) it is something that really needs to be done.

I'm also going to buy myself a new pillow - mine is getting old and not enough support anymore, so DD and I are heading to Bed Bath and Beyond this afternoon. I like the foam/latex (not memory foam) pillows and that store seems to be the place I have always found them, over the years.  Maybe a new purse. I don't really like the last one I got very much, it's a little too small. Other than that I don't have any big expenditures to spend it on.........though a vacation to somewhere sunny and warm sure sounds tempting...but I won't. LOL.

Woke up this morning to find an email from my boss - giving me the day off! She is just the best. And then DD texted me that her 8am test only took her less than a half hour and her next class wasn't until 11am, so I went and met her for breakfast. Tonight I'm making them take me to a new restaurant that opened nearby. It's a local area gourmet burger restaurant (not a national chain) and the food is so good. We went on their opening day last week - had a 25 minute wait but it was worth it. We had eaten several times at one of their other restaurants while in that area, but it was 2 hours away and the closest one. So happy there is one just a mile away now. DD and I are going to split a meal and then share a hot fudge sundae dessert. DH always has a huge fresh mushroom burger.  All in all it's been a great long weekend.