Full Steam Ahead

First of all, thank you all for your kind birthday wishes - I loved hearing from everybody, and it made yesterday especially....special!

So how did I spend my birthday, you may be wondering?

Source

Yup, I took the day off and had a 'Me' day. AND IT WAS AWESOME.

I spent the day in Georgetown, which is normally not my favorite part of DC. However, Georgetown becomes a lot more pleasant when its the middle of a work day and there's barely anyone there. WIN #1. It was also an unheard-of 65 degrees, which normally I would be environmentally concerned about, but yesterday was my birthday so I took the day off from worrying about global warming and enjoyed the sunshine. WIN # 2.

First on my list was a manicure/pedicure at Vicky's Nail Boutique. I'd never been there before but I took a chance based on its stellar Yelp reviews. They definitely did not disappoint!

Polish Check: Essie Bahama Mama

After Vicky's I headed down to M3 Massage for a 25 minute Swedish massage. I've been to M3 before once with a Groupon and was pleasantly surprised to find the non-discounted prices still very affordable. While getting a massage is really not something I normally do on a day-to-day basis, it was certainly a treat to get straightened out before my 5:45 spin class (more on that in a bit.)

I then moseyed around for a bit, picking up my free gift from Sephora (Fresh Sugar Kisses Mini Lip Duo, which is one of my very favorite products - WIN # 3!) and a new top at LuluLemon (somewhere I don't normally shop, but I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket - and holy cow, if last night's workout was any indication of product superiority, I'm a Lulu convert.)

I then headed over to Eastern Market for a birthday ride at BikerBarre. I've talked a little bit about BikerBarre on here before, but I'm going to give them another shout out -- if you DC ladies aren't going there yet, you need to head over there right now. Working out there has turned me from a self-proclaimed couch potato who truly believed that she just wasn't built for exercising into a person who looks forward to her workouts. If you think spinning isn't your thing (and believe me I thought the same thing), they also have barre classes which are just as fun, just as intense -- just not quite as sweaty. The owners are super-friendly, the staff is wonderful, and it's a local business. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

(The instructor also played Kanye 'It's Your Birthday' and my personal favorite, Coolio's 'Gangsta's Paradise', which I'm taking as a shout-out, even though she didn't know it was my bday when she chose the playlist.)

I had class last night, so the dinnertime celebration has been put on hold until this weekend. However, I still managed to cap off the day with some bubbly and New Girl.

I feel really good about 28, you guys -- better than I ever did about 27. It's been a bit of a tumultuous year for me, and I'm glad to be putting it behind me. Twenty-eight is already going to be a good one, I can tell.

For years, I've suffered from what I call habitual waking, but probably has a more scientific term. In short, at least once a night, I wake up anxious about issues big and small, anything from something I forgot to do at work to worrying that I've upset someone to anxiety over my life path. (That's a post for a whole other day.) But on Monday night -- really Tuesday morning, on my actual birthday -- I woke up in the middle of the night and just felt happy. I had no anxiety, I had no worries, I just woke up and looked around and smiled.

To me, that's a sign from the universe. Full steam ahead to 28!!!

Also, come back tomorrow for a VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!