Happy Turkey Birthday!

So it’s been a few weeks since I posted last, handful of new adventures have taken place since then.  Was worried that the week of Thanksgiving was going to be a tough one, and I was right.  I worked Tues, Wed, Thurs, so by the actual day I was pretty exhausted anyways.  The day at work was like any other (hospitals have a way of just trudging on, no matter what day it is) so that was helpful in making the day pass.  We got free lunch as well- turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, apple pie.  I got the green bean casserole and forced down a couple bites because they make me think of my dad so much (not sure why he likes them...).  I got a few texts from family and friends saying ‘Happy Thanksgiving! Miss you!’ so it was nice to hear from some people back home and hear about what they were doing to celebrate.  I was in a pretty ‘blah’ mood for most of the day, but it wasn’t that bad.  I had to catch myself a few times when I was feeling especially sorry for myself and be thankful that I am in a hospital on Thanksgiving because I am getting paid (quite well with the holiday incentive) and not because I am sick and have to be in there like my patients had to.  I tried to put on a good face for them, be enthusiastic when they also received their traditional thanksgiving meal for lunch, but there seemed to be this unspoken understanding between them and myself that today pretty much sucks. 

The day after Thanksgiving was more than Black Friday, it was also my birthday!  I got woken up at 7am by Ms. Erika calling me to wish me a happy birthday and to catch up on the last weeks.  Was nice to talk to her, Jaime, and all the other people who called/texted wishing me a happy day.  I’m used to waking up and going downstairs to my mom cooking breakfast for my birthday with my favorite cake waiting for me, but I knew that wasn’t waiting for me as I got out of bed so its not surprising I didn’t get out of bed until noon.  To my surprise, I go into the bathroom and find a pink polka dotted balloon tied to a lollipop by my sink!  I have the best roommate.  As I go downstairs to take the dogs out, there are more balloons!  And a CAKE!  A beautiful cupcake cake that she made for me.  I felt so special.  My day was turning up after all.  A few hours later Jeff took me to see Happy Feet 2 in the theaters (along with 20 little kids) which was oh-so-cute.  Those penguins and seals get me every time, such a fun movie.  After the movie I got to have some real Thanksgiving food thanks to Jeff’s mom, Connie.  There is just something about having homemade food, knowing that it was made for family and friends and in preparation of a good time.  It felt good to have a piece (or 2) of that.  After ravaging Connie’s kitchen I ended the night with a bonfire with some friends.  I was a on a mission to get some drinking in and I clearly met it.  Certain folks at home will be happy to know that I resisted the urge of getting into the bathtub while I was laying on the bathroom floor…

Saturday I went out to a nice dinner with Laura and I convinced her to go see Breaking Dawn with me!  I loved it, I’m sure she was probably confused since she hasn’t read or seen the first 3 movies, but she was a good sport.  Those movies make you want to believe in love, as silly as it sounds since it’s about vampires and werewolves, but I think a rather large group of tweens, and adults would agree too. 

Sunday Marie and I took a road trip to Whittier.  Talk about a ghost town.  Whittier is one of the places cruise ships stop off to in the summer and the town survives on that tourism industry.  With that being said, in the middle of winter when there are no cruise ships, there is no town.  We saw 3 people, two of which were staring at us eerily thru the window of a convenience store, seeming to try and will us to come into their store so they could have some human interaction.   Town was very creepy and gloomy.  Found this scary old building that people lived in during the WWII era but has been vacant since the earthquake.  It was dubbed Shittier Whittier by the end of the day.  The cool thing was driving thru the Whittier Tunnel, which was the longest tunnel in the US before the tunnel in Boston that was built in 2003 for the Big Dig.  How do I know that?  Googled it. The Whittier Inn was nice though, we had a mocha and some soup before we headed into ‘town’ (=Anchorage) for dinner.  Even though Whittier wasn't much to look at, I had a good time catching up with Marie and seeing the ice-climbers and even a sheep on the drive down. 

All in all a good birthday weekend.  Did some fun things and enjoyed getting care packages in the mail from some special people.  I miss everyone at home tremendously, but I was happy to have the people out here close by to help make my birthday special.