Thanksgiving and the Big 3-0

Warning: no pictures in this post. Just words. Pictures later, when I have time to download. ;o)

As you all know--or at least as you NOW know--I turned 30 on Thanksgiving this year (that's Nov. 27th). I was not looking forward to that number, although I did tell myself repeatedly that being able to turn 30 was better than NOT having a birthday and being dead, which would pretty much stink. ANYHOW--the good thing about having a holiday birthday is that there is a better chance of having family around to help celebrate! On Wednesday evening Craig and I went to Bella Monica for dinner--I know I've blogged about it before but I've provided another link because if you live here or ever visit the Raleigh area, you have to try it! We had buffalo mozzarella for the appetizer, I got some *very* good wine (I'd tell you the name but I don't even remember, our waitress recommended it) I had a Caesar salad and then pumpkin ravioli for the entree. It was one of their specials for the night and was fabulous! I know it sounds weird but I did read somewhere that pumpkin is a very traditional filling for ravioli--anyhow, if you ever have the opportunity to try it I highly recommend it. Afterwards we skipped dessert (I wanted some of their olive oil gelato--again, I know it sounds weird but I swear it's delicious! You can trust me....I'm not a very adventurous diner so if I say something strange is good, it probably is. ;o) and just enjoyed some hot chocolate at Starbucks. On Thanksgiving day, we had the usual turkey dinner and then two desserts--the pumpkin cheesecake that I make every year, and then an oreo ice cream thing my mom made for my birthday--both were VERY good. The best part of everything was spending time with the people I love, of course. (Although the Ann Taylor gift certificates were nice too! ;o)

On a side note (I have to finish up, Craig is waiting for me, he wants to play Uno...), my mom and I took Ava to see Santa on Wednesday...and she LOVED him. We really thought she was going to cry but she was very cuddly with him and even pulled away when I tried to pick her up off of his lap! Weird kid. Oh, and I am about 99% sure that her ear infection is back, which would make it the third one in two months. LOVELY. And on a weekend, no less. We're loading her up with the numbing ear drops and if she wakes again (I should say "WHEN" she wakes again :-P) I'll give her some Tylenol. The next time we see the doctor I'm going to insist on seeing a specialist, but I probably won't have to plead my case too hard, as the doctor said he'd recommend considering tubes for her ears if it happened again. Poor baby. :-(

Okay, so on a side-side note--I'm a phenomenally horrific mini golfer. I went with mom, Billy and Lauren (Billy's girlfriend) on Wednesday and it was not pretty. At all. Oh well....