A Birthday Celebration

What birthday celebration isn’t special when there is a BIG surprise thrown in?  I knew my baby girl was cooking up some sort of surprise for me because she kept telling me she wanted to take me to The Cheesecake Factory in Denver to celebrate my birthday.  Now Denver is a bit far to travel for a piece of cheesecake but she kept enticing me on by saying that it would be fun to walk around the 16th Street Mall.

With snow flurries accompanying us, my husband and I met her down in Colorado Springs for a quick lunch before driving up to Denver.  Knowing how much I love monkeys, a feeling that began whilst  hosting several Monkey Sock Swaps, she bought me these adorable monkey slippers.  They will bring a smile to my face every time I look down at my monkey feet…..

 

 

And, nestled amongst other sweet treasures was my birthday card that had an envelope with this written on the back…….

 

The envelope contained tickets to see the musical WICKED.  And, of course, the Denver Theater of Performing Arts just happened to be on the Denver 16th Street Mall and The Cheesecake Factory was two blocks away from the theater!  So, with great anticipation, we hopped in our car and drove north on the Yellow Brick Road (aka I-25) to Denver to enjoy a musical that I have long wanted to see.

 

 

We walked around the mall enjoying the hustle and bustle of people rushing about as the sun began to set.  Along the way we stopped at Starbucks to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte, my favorite,  to warm us up.

We then ended up, no surprise, at The Cheesecake Factory where I enjoyed a decadent slice of their famous Pumpkin Cheesecake.

THE GOODNESS OF PUMPKIN!

 

The musical was absolutely delightful and it was great fun to hear the untold story of the Witches of Oz.  I’ve been a Wizard of Oz fan since I was a little girl but had not read Gregory Maguire’s immensely popular novel, Wicked. For those who do not know, the story is an ironic twist on the roots of the story we all grew up with.  It explains how Elphaba, the so-called wicked witch was born a lovely shade of jade and was misunderstood and shunned in her youth.  And it tells of the unlikely friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, the so-called good witch, dating back to their school days.  I won’t divulge anything else other than to say, “What you think you know, you don’t really know.”  As I said, it was delightful and I guess I will have to add WICKED to my ever-growing stack of books to read.

 

 

The only thing that could have made this perfect day even better was to have my firstborn daughter and her sweet husband  join us but, alas,  Tennessee is as far away as the Land of Oz.  And, of course no birthday is truly great without some serious stash enhancement.  My Tennessee girl and my mom gifted me with luscious yarn, you know, the kind that feels like ‘buttah’ as it slides through your fingers.  I see some luxurious shawls in my future made with Sundara Silky Lace, Hand Maiden Sea Silk and Malabrigo Lace.

Sundara -Voices of the Sea

Malabrigo Lace – Red Java

Handmaiden Sea Silk – Paris

The ladies I teach in a Bible Study gave me this cute Old Country Roses Teapot to round out my Old Country Rose teapot collection, now I have three!

What a fabulous birthday celebration!  Another year on this earth and, hopefully, another year wiser!