40!!!!

I officially survived my 40th birthday!

Thursday the 11th was the actual day, but I just took Friday the 12th off. I kicked it off with a party Thursday night at Lowry Beer Garden and had about 25 people come. It is always quite a treat to have all my nearest and dearest in the same space…everyone is so easy-going that it can't help but be a good time!

Friday I dropped Rene off at Mom and Dad's for her first overnight with them without me, and my first night away without her. I stayed at the Hotel St. Julien in Boulder, a most fabulous resort hotel where I used to retreat a few years ago. My friend Jill met me up there and stayed with me, and we met my friend Amanda for dinner. When I got to the hotel, Mom and Dad had sent up some little treats for our stay! It was so cute.

The bathroom at the Hotel St. Julien is remarkable. It is bigger than my own at home!

We ate at Bramble and Hare, a little farm to table restaurant Amanda recommended. Jill and I did some shopping both in the evening and the next day. Saturday when I came home I found Rene to have been excellent house guest for Mom and Dad! Later in the evening, the family went out to dinner at The Cherry Creek Grill. Robert and I always have to take a selfie when we are together!

I stayed the night at Mom and Dad's and came home this morning, to get myself together and get ready for the week. Oh, and to cap off the weekend with my Valentine…Rene!

The Countdown Begins

The kick off weekend to my 40th birthday week has been really enjoyable. Friday night I went to the Denver Botanic Gardens for an evening with orchids, music, food and drink. I went with Mary, my current neighbor, and Pat, my former neighbor, and had an excellent time. Did you know the vanilla bean is actually an orchid? I learned so many different things about this unusual plant, it was fun. We ate a late dinner at Shells and Sauce and just gabbed until around 10pm. It felt very European, the only thing I wish is that I could walk everywhere and not have to drive from place to place.

Yesterday, Mom and I went on our annual birthday lunch, with a shopping expedition to Cherry Creek Mall. We went into the new Restoration Hardware store. It is impressive but a little too…um…neutral toned for me. It seemed like everything on display was white, tan or grey. But, it looked nice and I wouldn't complain if I won a shopping spree to furnish my home in RH! Their rooftop patio's display and selection is dynamite, and I look forward to checking it out in the summer time as well! Of course, we went to Anthropologie. Every year I get 15% there during my birthday month, so I bought four new dinner plates:

After lunch at Nordstrom Cafe, I had my hair appointment. Anna did me right again, of course, adding a little lightness to my tresses for my 40th and also just trimming it up a bit. She mentioned something, like, "You don't have too many gray hairs we need to cover up." I said, "aren't those just really blonde hairs?" She agreed, of course just to placate me.

Today I have a massage scheduled and then Rene and I will watch the game at Mom and Dad's. We will eat bar-b-que and dips like velveeta cheese and Rotel tomatoes. Rene and I will stay the night, because it is always a little treat and she loves seeing grandma and grandpa first thing in the morning. Then, off to work for the week, until Thursday where I will kick off a long birthday weekend full of party time, a stay at the Hotel St Julien and a birthday dinner with the family.

Everyone has asked, "So, how do you feel about turning 40?" And still, I am really excited about the new decade. I just feel like good things are going to happen. 

The Rabbit

I took Rene out tonight to go to the bathroom one last time. In the gutter downspout right by the front door was a rabbit, with it's little paws stuck in the ice. It was so frantic trying to pry itself loose but it couldn't. It would show itself, then try to run up the spout, all the while it's little paws stuck.

I don't know why but when animals are helpless, I feel helpless, too. Flash back to the time Mom and Dad had a bird stuck in their fireplace. All the boys-Dad, Robert and Mike-were not around. Mom called me…"Melanie, there is a bird in our fireplace! What do I do?" I went over there, and indeed there was a bird, um, in the fireplace. I had no idea. I remember frantically making calls to animal control and such, and finally the bird made its way out of the fireplace and flew out of the chimney.

Or the time Robert and I took a hitch-hiking chipmunk inside the rim of my tire from the Black Canyon to my little Montrose country home. It just shook, scared out of its mind. I remember making sure Ches and Stan didn't come outside until the little chipmunk got a grip and dashed away; I didn't want the boys to see it for fear of pouncing on the poor little creature.

Tonight, I didn't quite know what to do. I couldn't just leave it, but I didn't want to try and touch it for fear of getting bit or some sort of rabbit fever. I called my neighbor Wyetta and she came down with a cupful of warm water. She threw it on the rabbit and it got loose and scrambled up the gutter. "Hmmmm," She said. "That is the second time a rabbit has entered into my life recently." And she went on to tell me about a friend whose dog wanted to bring his rabbit prey into the house for dinner.

I decided to look up the meaning of the rabbit. Here is what I found, according to www.whatsyoursign.com:

"Symbolic rabbit meanings deal primarily with abundance, comfort, and vulnerability. Traditionally, rabbits are associated with fertility, sentiment, desire, and procreation. Rabbit meanings are also closely linked to the seasons, the changes of Mother Earth, and specifically Springtime. Have you ever heard the term "madder than a March hare?" It has to do with rabbits going bonkers around this time of year. They feel the call of spring just as strongly as everyone and everything else - perhaps moreso. Creatures of all kinds feel the tremors of springtime's return and respond to it in wild courtship. It's a celebration of life, and bunnies bounce right back into the swing of spring. 
All of us know the power of population the rabbit has - they are legendary for their ability to reproduce fast and furiously. For that same reason, the rabbit is a perfect symbol for this spring which is fertile with themes like: New life, New beginnings and the undeniable current of growth. The rabbit is also a symbol of Ostara, an ancient fertility goddess whose symbols are rabbits, various flowers and eggs."

Neither Wyetta, nor I, of course are pregnant or hoping to become so. We both, however, appreciate symbolism and making meaning of our lives. Both of us were excited on January 1st to start a new year, and my own journey is taking me to my 40th year of life, so I see lots of hope, promise, possibility for the future, and glorious springtime just around the corner. Freeing the rabbit perhaps has some symbolism of its own, maybe freeing my own spirit to be open to possibilities of whats to come!