Birthday Celebrations!

I celebrated the crap out of my birthday last weekend! Earlier in the week I was a bit nervous about going out for so many dinners later in the week. I had dinner plans on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday last week and I felt overwhelmed.

Would I make good choices?
What if I overeat?
What if I make all terrible decisions?
What if I gain 10 pounds from all of those dinners?

AHHHH!

I had a mini breakdown about it and talked it out with my health coach who gave me a lot of valuable tips, but the best one being to just slow down and appreciate it all.

Appreciate who you’re spending time with. Be thankful for their presence. Enjoy the moment and don’t focus or obsess too much about the food. Eat a snack before hand if I think it will help. Be mindful of how I’m feeling while at the dinners.

I was able to make it through all of the dinners without stressing, or obsessing, or feeling guilty. Did I overindulge a bit? Yeah, I sure did. But I loved being able to spend quality time with my friends and family and that was more important. I stopped eating when I got full but sometimes dessert was just too important… haha.

Here are some highlights from last week!

Wednesday

On Wednesday I had dinner at Rubio’s with Emily and Cris. Rubio’s will be posted in my big free birthday round up that’s coming soon so I’m only going to show dessert.

We went to Meet Fresh next to H Mart in Mira Mesa. I wanted this one dessert that had mochi in it. Cris said that it was “like a three person dessert” anyway so we could share.

Holy moly. This thing was HUGE.

Cris got us individual bowls so we could scoop out what we liked. I had some of the shaved ice stuff and a bunch of mochi and taro balls and then called it quits because I was full.

[mochi]

[taro ballllllllls]

We had fun sharing this dessert and we didn’t even finish it!

Thursday

Laura and I went to the Cygnet Theater to see “The Last Five Years”, a musical about a couple’s 5 year failed relationship. The wife’s story starts at the end of their relationship while the husband’s story starts at the beginning and they both progress in opposite directions. This was also a movie with Anna Kendrick that I saw a few years ago that I really liked. The music is great though the story can be a bit sad.

We tried the Cosmopolitan Restaurant again. We haven’t dined here in a few years because we had terrible food awhile ago during a Restaurant Week. But I saw they had a $12 Burger & Beer special on Thursdays and felt it was time to retry them.

The burger has a churro on top. The churro sucked, though. But our waitress brought us fresh ones later. It was a decent beer. Mostly this was great because of the beer addition (which I didn’t photograph).

The Kung Pao Calamari was the highlight here (it’s really more of a sweet thai chili sauce). I only ate half my burger and half of those fries before I got full (probably because I mostly ate the calamari and the slaw).

Friday

Friday was dinner with my parents, Jake, and Jake’s mom. We went to Souplantation! I picked it because you get a free meal there for your birthday plus 20% off for everyone in your party.

I had a nice, big salad to start out with. I put a lot of spinach and veggies on top.

Jake got a plate of the mini blueberry muffins. Souplantation is literally the only place where I want to put butter on top of muffins. I don’t do that at home. But at Souplantation those mini muffins are just calling out for some honey butter.

I had a few muffins, some chicken noodle soup, and maybe half a baked potato before I got full.

Saturday

In the morning, Jake took me out for a “surprise!” drive out to Cardiff State Beach. It was early in the morning before sunrise.

Maya ran around the beach, as happy as could be and it filled my heart with joy to see her so happy.

She’s 14 now and still doing good but I’ve noticed her slowing down. She can’t hear as well anymore. She can’t see as well anymore. But she still loves going for rides and spending time with Jake and I.

I enjoy these little moments I have with her and Jake and am so thankful that she’s my dog. Probably sounds silly but I’m trying to enjoy having her here while I can. I know it won’t last forever.

After the beach, we had a lovely breakfast at a placed in Encinitas. I think I’ll save that for another post!

Saturday was the big dinner day with my friends! We went to Cucina Basilica off Aero Drive. A few people got lost because silly Google maps sent them in the wrong direction. This tiny restaurant is in the same plaza as the Sizzler off Aero Drive. Our party took up about half the restaurant!

I made cookies earlier that day so I could make treat bags for all of my friends!

Some of them couldn’t believe I would be baking for others on my birthday, but I love baking treats. I made pumpkin cookies with browned butter glaze. Recipe soon!

[moscato]

I drank some wine before dinner came and my photos are just a litttttttle blurry.

Like this one. This is my actual dish with a light cream sauce, sausage, and added shrimps! I picked rigatoni for my pasta type (you have a choice and all pasta is made in house).

[side salad I ate before the pasta]

[lasagna]

[ravioli with butternut squash]

[another blurry dish with bacon and shrimp]

[with clams! I would get this next time]

[Stacey got a salad]

[this food was eaten by food bloggers. CC sent it to me!]

[pestoooooo]

I had so much fun chatting with and spending time with my friends! I felt so happy to have these people come and join me for a little dinner to help celebrate my day. I’m lucky to have such good friends!

I’m grateful I didn’t think about my food TOO MUCH though I did have trouble deciding which delicious pasta I wanted. Also I had a salad first so there was no guilt about my pasta (I ate about half and took the rest home). The one thing I did regret was that when we got home, after having two glasses of wine and dessert, I decided to eat my leftover pasta and then immediately felt way too full. I think the wine buzz tricked me into thinking I was hungry again.

It was a lovely birthday. One of my friends who I hadn’t seen in awhile told me that I was “glowing”. I told her it with the wine buzz and she said, “No, you were glowing at the beginning!” I’m in a happy place!