Happy Birthday to Me!

It's a Wednesday. With lots of regular things to do. Like take the empty display box I bought on Monday back to Sam's Club because they forgot to exchange it for the real camera I was buying for Ryan to take on his trip to Northern Tier. And buy him a knee-length swimsuit so his legs won't fry in the canoe. And look for a water-proof match case and Nalgene bottles and mosquito nets.

I have apparently been absolutely determined to not remember my birthday. I knew a birthday was coming up, so I've been semi-consciously looking for gifts to give to Ryan. Duh, it's MY birthday!

Last night, Jared reminded me that we needed to make a cake. So we whipped up a lemon bundt cake right before the boys went to bed. I let it cool, but it fell apart when I tipped it over. I don't think that's ever happened to me! Really!

So I figured that we'd celebrate on Friday and make another cake of some sort. We've been planning to go out to Tucanos (Brazilian restaurant) and Harry Potter Thursday, but I just can't seem to find a babysitter!

But Ryan rallied the boys when he got home (a little late) from work. We cut lumps of lemon cake and drizzled some lemon frosting on top, scooped up some ice cream and grabbed cameras. He directed me to stick three candles in one cake lump and two in another, to stand for 32, then handed me a gift bag.
Inside was the best kind of present, the kind that you never knew you wanted, but the second you unwrap it, you suddenly know that you should have been wanting it all along! It was a total surprise, and totally perfect. Ryan got me a gorillapod!


It's a tripod that bends into any shape, and can even wrap around poles and such. No more trying to balance my DSLR on the hood of the Jeep, propping it up with my Nikon manual and a stack of lens caps to get it pointing high enough to get the family in the frame. No more setting my precious camera on a garbage can (it always makes me nervous to leave it just sitting somewhere, even though I'm only moving a few feet away to get into the picture). And no more wishing I had a tripod with me, because I'm pretty sure it rolls up into a ball small enough to fit in my camera bag!

So Ryan managed to salvage the day a bit. I hope I can get in a more festive mood when we actually get to go OUT to celebrate!