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I think 33 feels more than 1 year older than 32. I needed a longer birthday celebration to offset it.

Wednesday: Steak dinner by Chef Beej. By far the best ribeye in town. Perfectly medium rare. Served with herbed mashed potatoes, sautee’ed spinach and red wine. yummm.

Thursday: Pedicure and Hair cut at the spa. It’s nice to be pampered. I came out with the softest feet in Newburyport courtesy of my Pomegranate pedicure. Then on to dinner at Ab and Dave’s. It was great to see them. AJ was already in bed but I did see the latest photos of Englebert/ha. S/he looks healthy, and we figured out the photo was shown actual size (about 2 inches long). Ab has a lot going on lately so it was nice to carve out a few hours to catch up.

Friday: It snowed! The storm was forecast to start in the afternoon, but it was already snowing in Burlington and Arlington when I woke up, and started snowing in Newburyport a short time later. I made a few phone calls, sent a few emails, and decided to work from home. Dan Dunn arrived around noon time, also working from “home” – in this case our living room. Nate, Brian K, Ronin and Atticus arrived at 5:30pm; Dan and I were almost done working by then. Heather took the train, which got her to Newburyport by 8pm. It was a party!! Brian K’s birthday is Feb 23 so it was a multiple birthday celebration. We ate dinner at Agave, sat around and chatted until past midnight, and retired to our rooms for a long winter’s slumber, after the ~8 inches of snow accumulation. The Juddmansee B&B accommodations were simple but provided sufficient soft horizontal surfaces for everyone.

Saturday morning dawned clear and warm. The boys (Ronin and Atticus) woke up around 7am, eager for a romp in the snow. Heather and Brian took them out to the backyard, tired them out, then all went back to sleep. The rest of us started emerging between 8am and 11am, lounging around and enjoying bagels and coffee. Oh, and the juicer. We loved playing the the juicer on Friday night and Saturday morning. 1000W of powerful juicing action! It also buffs your floors – just kidding. Eventually it was time to get on with our days. Guests left for Arlington, Brian and I packed, napped, I finished some work, and we headed up to New Hampshire to stay at the Christmas Farm Inn for a couple days of snowshoeing.

Sunday, a beautiful day for a birthday (bright sun, cloudless blue sky and about 19 degrees), and the perfect way to spend it was on a scenic winter hike. We met Steve Hines in Franconia Notch, tromped up to Lonesome Lake, stopped at the lodge to rest and eat, and arrived back at the trailhead in less than 4 hours. Here are photos courtesy of Brian. It was especially cool to see it in the winter, after we’d hiked that area with the Sheldons in April 06. We decided to head up to The Flume to see the ice climbers while we were in the area. Then we said goodbye to Steve and drove back to Jackson, NH to soak in the tub, relax by the fire, and enjoy a romantic dinner at the Inn.

Monday: With the epic snowfall this season and another beautiful day, we couldn’t resist another snowshoe outing. But first, sleeping in (ahhhhh – no alarm clock) and a hearty breakfast at the Inn to fuel us for the trip. On Steve’s recommendation we went to the Pinkham Notch visitor’s center to do a loop along Old Jackson Road and George’s Gorge before driving back to Newburyport.

On top of all this, I received several cards, messages, and a singing voicemail!  Now that I’m back home, I’m feeling my normal obligations start piling up on my shoulders, but that just means that I was able to shed them for a few days.  That might be the *best* part of my birthday – to fully enjoy each moment and not worry about the stuff that wasn’t getting done in the mean time.