Today (it’s still July 7th, barely) is my birthday and I just turned 34. I was mildly disappointed because I liked the number 33, but so far 34 has been just fine.

Yesterday we went to see my parents to help them out with some stuff and to have supper with them (my mother still makes a better spaghetti sauce than I do), and they even bought a black forest cake for me, something I always associate with my family. My mother said she didn’t know what to get me so she gave me a card with a cheque, and seriously, that is always welcome. I may put it towards a new set of contact lenses or I might buy some clothes. We’ll see.

Last Wednesday, a package arrived from my sister which was really hard for me because I don’t like to ruin surprises, but I also like instant gratification, so having a box sitting in my living room was difficult to ignore. I managed to persevere though, and I didn’t unwrap the packing stuff until today, then kept the gift itself for this afternoon. When I opened it, I was happy to find a nice set of fancy teas – I love tea at night but I had finished all my really good ones (except for my nice loose teas which I can’t use because a certain five year old lost the infusion ball), so I just had Red Rose type of tea bags. That’s fine, but I am looking forward to a nice cup of good tea tomorrow!

George, Hayley, and Breanna surprised me. And that’s an understatement. I wasn’t expecting anything in particular. George had asked me what I wanted and I was exceptionally helpful by shrugging and saying I didn’t really know. Luckily, he knew what I really wanted, even though I wouldn’t have actually asked for it. I was shocked when I reached into my gift bag and pulled out a box containing this monster:

It’s the Canon 75-300 mm lens and I still wonder if he actually thought I didn’t like it because in a move that was very uncharacteristic of me, I was momentarily shocked to utter silence. I couldn’t believe they gave it to me, I’ve been dying to get it for awhile now.

Between that, my camera itself, the “nifty fifty” I got back in March, and the wireless remote I ordered for ten bucks off of eBay, I am now pretty well set for a good while.

I can’t wait to take my new lens for a “walk” and see what I can get pictures of with that kind of focal length!

Other than that, it was a pretty low-key day. George had to work and so did I although I managed to get it done earlier in the day so my evening was free. That’s always nice. We had a quiet dinner and just took it easy. Hayley had soccer tonight but we planned ahead to ditch it so we wouldn’t have to rush through supper and getting out the door. It was good anyway, since it was super hot and humid today, to the point that the Weather Network sent me a high heat and humidity warning advising against outdoor activity and to drink a lot of water (yes, I’m that much of a dork, I get email reports about the weather!). It was cool enough after supper to just walk down to the store for some red wine, and I fired off a few test shots with my new baby:

LOVE.

I don’t need a big party to celebrate. I just need, apparently, a new lens!