A very happy birthday

this was the first year (in 5 or so years) that i've worked on my birthday.  normally i take the day off and spend it relaxing and doing anything i please, but this year i went in.  my students did not make me feel special, and i just felt down all day.  billy took me out to the new york pizzeria (my choice) but they failed to meet my expectations = (

the only redeemable thing about the evening was the delicious ice cream cake we bought from baskin robbins on the way home.  billy and i each had two servings from this cake = )

luckily, friday i took off so that we could find out whether our little one would be emily or william.  i spent the whole day with alice, had lunch with my billy, and learned that emily annette would be our next little baby = )

then, saturday sarah came down with grandma, so that billy and i could have a wonderful evening.  we went to brenner's on the bayou (we'd never been, but had heard good things).  when we arrived, billy had ordered flowers to be delivered to the restaurant, and they were sitting on our table = )

now, to make things even better, our table was the only one on the split level of the stair case, so we were halfway up from the ground floor, and halfway down from the top floor.  it made for a very special dining experience.

everything we ordered was very well prepared, and billy and i had an enjoyable (lengthy) meal = )  for desert, billy had preordered the godiva souffle, and it had a candle and happy birthday already spelled out on the plate (in chocolate might i add)  = )

my first physical present from billy was a t-shirt:

my other present from billy is en route.  he bought me the television stand we weren't able to get in june. i will be taking pictures once it arrives, but here's the one from the website:

and last by not least, sarah bought me 6 agatha christie books, hard cover!  since i only had two before, my collection now looks most impressive = )

so, despite my birth"day" being sub-par, i felt very loved & enjoyed my birthday dinner very much. = )