
Good mail day!
Excited about this, though bummed to miss out on kfan’s new address stamp!
Posted by snicker-snack on January 25th, 2010 :: Filed under +1
Tags :: tumblr

kfan:
the debate rages on (via .April.)
One of the funniest things I ever read happened in the comments on one of April’s Facebook status updates.
So many choice quotes (“BIG BEAUTIFUL NACHOS” “WHY ARE FRIES EVEN UP IN THERE”).
Also that Michael has to pull his car over to the side of the road in order to participate in this debate, only to have April accuse him of having dystentery.
Epic. Click through, view large, live large.
so amazing u guys
One of the things I learned shortly before my birthday is that in Ann Arbor, there are a number of businesses that give away free things on your birthday. While this may be the case elsewhere, it is so prevalent here that there’s a whole page on the ArborWiki dedicated to free birthday items, and organized in such a way as to maximize your freebies. After some consultation and careful planning, and in the absence of any other significant birthday plans, we decided to rack up as many free things in 24 hours as we could.
Let me preface this truly ridiculous list by saying that Shane and I split almost every single thing on this list, and some of the items went straight into our freezer for later consumption. Still, I think I could not eat desserts for a month and be OK.
1. We started the morning off with a free ridiculous coffee beverage at Caribou Coffee – a sugar-free turtle latte with whipped cream and Snickers bits, to be precise.

2. Up next, free aero-press coffee at Zingerman’s Coffee Company, obtained while picking up beans.

3. And then, free “John-do-ya” gelato at Zingerman’s Creamery. We tried many flavors, but this was literally like frozen Nutella – therefore the obvious winner. The gelato guy congratulated me on having a birthday in the best month of the year. His is next week, I think. We ate about 1/3 of the gelato before moving on to the next stop.

4. A free 1/2 dozen bagels at Zingerman’s Bakehouse! The bakehouse folks made sure to remind me to get the other 1/2 dozen at the Deli later.

At this point we took a break from the free stuff to enjoy a very lovely brunch, complete with croquembouche, at our friend Shana’s. More on this later!
5. On our way home from Shana’s, we stopped for the second free 1/2 dozen bagels at Zingerman’s Deli – it was too busy and crowded for photos, so one from home will have to suffice.

6. Having rested up and returned a few phone calls, we moved on to get a free chocolate-covered strawberry cupcake at Cake Nouveau. It was tasty, but had nothing on any of Buzz’s cupcakes. I miss you, Buzz Bakery.

7. Next door, I picked out my free tea at Tea Haus – a cup of the Vietnam Yen Bai. The woman who made my tea recommended that we check out the birthday deal at Weber’s, where she very nearly got a free lobster on her son’s 2nd birthday.

8. We’re not huge fans of Arbor Brewing Company, but they offer a free appetizer, so we stopped in for dinner. We had free nachos, played some shufflepuck, and drank a couple of beers before rolling on.

Several restaurants offered a free dessert, free logo pint glass, and free $10 gift card for birthday people – however when we tried both Grizzly Peak and Cafe Habana, we were told that the purchase of an entree was necessary. After all of this free stuff, though, neither of us were hungry enough for an entree, so we made a mental note to edit the ArborWiki page and moved on.
9. …to The Arena, where you get a free shot with purchase. Any purchase. I have no idea what my shot was called, but I know it had Bailey’s and I know it was on fire. Shane took one for the team and purchased a beer for our required purchase.

Once we were firmly wrapped up in our alcohol blankets, we wandered around downtown, stopping in at an art gallery and a record store, where Shane bought Remain in Light, before continuing on to our final destination for the night.
10. …Ashley’s, where we got a Free Tollhouse sundae – freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, ice cream, chocolate syrup, etc. Sooo good.

11. On our walk back to the car, we stopped in for my free scoop of ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s. This was, I might add, the first time all day that anyone had checked my ID to confirm that it was my birthday.
In addition, I might add that the following free things were obtained either shortly before or shortly after my actual birthday:
1. Free entree at Noodles & Company, split for lunch earlier in the week
2. Free “creation” at Cold Stone Creamery
3. Free scoop at Baskin-Robbins
All told, a pretty ridiculous way to spend one’s 30th birthday, and that’s without me describing the pastry-building process that took place just before brunch. I was feeling pretty blue about not being able to celebrate my birthday with family and old friends – but I think we totally made up for it in fun and food.
Tomorrow is my 30th birthday, and as one is wont to do on the eve of milestone dates, I’ve been thinking a lot the past. I imagine that most people make a lot of stupid mistakes in their 20s. There’s a lot of fumbling around, and perhaps a quarterlife crisis or two, though I really hate that term. My 20s were no different, which is one reason I have no problem with the new digit at the front of my age. Many of my friends have already turned 30 and seem no less awesome than when they were in their 20s, and I see no reason why this won’t be the case for me!
Ten years ago I was living with my boyfriend and a roommate with whom I had a long and complicated relationship. I was about to leave for London, where I would, in short order, meet my favorite band, hang out with them in Amsterdam, fall in love with Spain, meet my favorite author, spend hundreds of dollars on film processing and phone cards, help my friend avoid ordering 3 #3 meals at McDonald’s in Paris, and dig deep into England’s history with the most charismatic teacher I’ve ever had. I was young, very insecure, and not at all sure what I wanted to do with my life. I remember coming back from London and writing in my journal that a huge adventure had just ended, and I didn’t know if I’d ever experience anything like that again.
In the intervening ten years, I have:
Tomorrow I’ll celebrate #30 with Shane and new friends and a giant croquembouche that I’ll be building tonight with two friends. I’ll hopefully sleep in and cuddle some cats. Maybe I’ll go for a run. I have no idea what the next few years will bring, but looking back on where I’ve been over the last ten years, I’m confident that there will be many more adventures, heartaches, changes, and surprises to come!
I wouldn’t mind finding any of the following under my birthday tree:
1. Build up an emergency fund to cover my half of 3 months’ worth of the household budget (approx $4500).
I didn’t make it to this dollar figure, but I did save enough to be not uncomfortable for 6 weeks of unemployment and 2 following months of part-time employment. At this point, my savings are pretty depleted, but I’ll start replenishing them with my first paycheck from U of M, due to arrive tomorrow!
2. Pay off laptop loan to SB.
Done!
3. Finish my CAS.
Done! I defended my thesis in March and finished my last class in May. Recap available here.
4. Get published (something, anything).
Done! David’s and my presentation at ACRL was included in the official conference proceedings. Buy your copy now! Oh, AND our talk was mentioned in The Chronicle of Higher Education!
5. Start eating beef again. (after almost 13 years!)
Done! I had my first bite of beef in nearly 13 years at our fancee NYE dinner last year. I’ve since become an enthusiastic omnivore, which has changed my life less than you’d expect.
6. Run a 10K (or two 5Ks).
I ran one 5K – the Race for the Cure, run with my friend Tina in June – and started running longer distances in the fall once we were settled in Ann Arbor and I was devoid of a gym. Nike+ reports that I’ve run 169.05 since I started using it to track my runs in February. I discovered sometime around May that the Nike+ calibration is off by up to .25 miles per mile – a pretty significant difference! Regardless, this is far more running than I’ve ever done before, but less than I hope to do in 2010!
7. Do an unassisted pull-up.
Total unmitigated fail on this one. With no access to a gym, I took a lot of time off lifting, and when I started working out in our home gym again last month, I could barely do girl pushups. Adding this one to the list for 2010.
8. Make one craft project per month.
Done:
9. Take a trip with SB.
We took a quick overnight trip to Rehoboth Beach in April – really our only vacation, as the rest of the year’s travel was either for work or weddings or family visits for the holidays. I’m hoping that this next year brings more day trips and weekends away for us, though we’re planning to knuckle down and save towards a house in the near future.
10. Reduce magazine subscriptions to 5 or fewer.
Done! I started out the year with subscriptions to: Domino (ceased publication, replaced with Vanity Fair), Blueprint (ceased publication, replaced with Martha Stewart Living), Everyday Food, Body + Soul, Self, Natural Health, People, Fine Cooking, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, and Cooks Illustrated. I actually think there was one more, but I can’t remember what it might have been and I don’t have any issues lying around. I have opted to not renew all but the following: Body + Soul, Self, Bon Appetit, and Cooks Illustrated, and am resubscribing to Real Simple. The superfluous subscriptions will start running out soon, and the piles of magazines sitting around will decrease accordingly.
11. For the third year running – complete my Bond resolution!
Fail again, though I did make some progress.
26 minutes from leaving the house to starting up my computer in my new office. Not bad at all, especially on a morning like this when the streets are quiet and it’s just cold enough to keep a spring in my step.
+1 academe birthday body talk camino capricorn cats Champaign crafting cute dc deps election2008 faith fiction food France friendos funny grad school gyne instruction house internets Iowa City kittems! librarian-y libraries list London moving music nanowrimo new york obama politics recipe resolutions SB the great bar experiment travel travels tumblr uiuc workity yoga