Another year

It was my birthday on Friday; I turned 39 years old. It's amazing how age is such a perspective related concept. Hanging out with my immediate colleagues who are mostly a decade or more younger than I am makes me feel every day of my age sometimes, but if you'd asked GG before she died, she'd say I'm a spring chicken! And apparently my looks haven't caught up to the calendar yet; a new hire at work recently asked me if this was my first job out of college. Wow.

Mostly I'm noticing the physical changes, the fact that my body doesn't heal as quickly or bounce back from exertion as springily as it used to. That and the continuing accumulation of white in my hair. 

I took the day off from work, which I always like to do. Contrary to my usual plan to sleep in, I was up at about my usual time, since the only massage appointment that was available was 9:10am.  Stuart and I stopped at Cobb's for breakfast treats and then made the drive out to Cochrane. He and Ursa went for a walk in the river side off-leash park while I was getting my massage. Crystal said that I wasn't in as bad a shape as she had expected, given how long it's been since I was out there last. Why, oh why did she have to find a great place to work that is an hour's drive away???

We ran a few errands on the way back into town, dropped Ursa at home with her lunch and hightailed it over to the movie theater to see Iron Man 3. We were actually a few minutes late, but they were having projector troubles, so we got to skip the ads and previews, get settled in our seats and have the movie start - I wish it always worked out so well. LOL I was slightly apprehensive, given that Iron Man 2 was a pretty big disappointment, but I enjoyed it immensely. I haven't analyzed why, but my emotional investment was much bigger this time around, which is what makes it easier to ignore the bad science and plot holes.

After the movie, we had time for a short nap and then got ready for dinner. The drive out to Banff was lovely; all sunshine-y and on the verge of spring. There is still quite a bit of snow in the backcountry, but they already have the fire meter set at high. (Nordegg was just evacuated due to a fire that's gotten a head start up there. I predict a long and fire filled summer.) I found us a parking space right outside the restaurant and we had time for a bit of a wander down main street. We went to The Bison, of course!

We started with prawns on cornbread in a jalapeno corn chowder and some baked artichokes with mustard aioli.  Stuart had the bison ribeye with seasonal vegetables and I had the rack of lamb - it was so amazingly tender and delicious. Stuart discovered a new brand of cider that he fell in love with called SeaCider - he had the RumRunner and a pear & ginger. I had a vodka drink with muddled lychee that was very yummy and refreshing. We were going to share the cheesecake with sour cherry and pop rocks, but they were sold out - we were among the first customers of the evening, so did the pastry chef not make it in that day??? The other desserts that interested us had nuts, so no go there. Instead, we had a lovely drive back into town and got a milkshake at Peter's. Very haute cuisine! 

Stuart gave me some DVDs to tide me over until I decide for sure which bow I want. Dad gave me a couple of books about archery and $50 that I'll use at Tandy to get leather for a quiver. Many people sent me birthday wishes via Facebook, Google+, email and *gasp* phone, which was a very welcome ego boost! All in all, I was only sad that I don't get more days like it.