So What's It Like To Turn 30?

This was the question my older brother asked me on Saturday. Seeing as he is the older of the two of us, I said "I don't know; you tell me." I had a very nice birthday on the 19th that resulted in being spoiled at a nice restaurant and getting some nice gifts.

My husband had to wait until he got his paycheck to buy me gifts [which I didn't want him doing anyway, but he was determined...] and he ran out that morning to go shopping. I ended up waking up early [Hey! 10a.m. is early for me on a Saturday] and watched t.v. until he brought up breakfast. We went to the mall so that I could use my 20% birthday discount at FYE where I limited my purchases to a couple of CDs and then we went home to hash out where to go for dinner. My usual birthday spot of choice (the Melting Pot) was way too expensive even with my coupon for a free chocolate fondue dessert, so I went looking up the different Cameron Mitchell restaurants in town to pick something. We ended up choosing a place called Martini's, a place we last went to for our anniversary a few years ago, and he called to make reservations. I also got to talk to my mother-in-law to wish her a happy birthday and to thank her for the gifts she sent to me [a necklace and a yarn(?) woven basket]. It's kind of weird to share a birthday with my m-i-l, but it makes it easier to remember when it is, so it's a decent trade-off.

At dinner, we discovered that Prom season starts early in these here parts, as there were a ton, and I mean a ton of prom goers at the restaurant. There were eight couples seated right behind us and another ten couples in other areas of the restaurant [not counting the couple of girls who came an hour later to be horrified at all of the "popular" kids who were already there; I'm not sure if they were dating each other or going as two friends without dates, but they were nice sized girls (read: not skinny) and very cute]. Note to Project Runway judges: That dress that Victorya won with for the prom dress episode isn't the style that prom goers are wearing this season. Sweet P's and Chris' dresses were much closer to what I saw Saturday: Every dress reached the floor and there were a number of ball-gown styled dresses were on display. By ball gown, I mean that they were Cinderella-esque in the skirt (but not too full). Some were taffeta and others were silk in the skirt. The rest of the girls wore dresses that had a split up to the thigh (usually showing the left leg) and they all looked very nice. I haven't seen many people wear short-length dresses to the prom, from high school (where I didn't miss one; dating an upperclassman had one privilege) until now, so I don't know what they were thinking on that show.

Anyway! If you are ever in Columbus and go to Martini's, ask for John Z. He is the nicest waiter you will ever meet and he gives great suggestions for substitutions for the dishes that make them better. And if you are nice to him, he'll be nice to you [We are always polite, but to get it back in spades was quite a surprise]. He was catching hell from another table because he was delayed dealing with one of the large prom tables when my husband decided that he would tell the manager how great a job John was doing even before the meal was finished. The manager, who I thought was a class-act, said that John is his best waiter and that he hears compliments for him a lot, but he appreciates hearing them every time. John gave us a little extra sauce to go with our leftovers and even packed up the little bit of dessert I had left. When he brought out the desserts, he put a pink candle in my husband's dish and a blue one in mine because he didn't know what kind of baby we'll be having, and he apologized for not singing to me because, in his words, "What little appetite you have will be gone" if he had. After dinner, he offered me some tea for the road, helped me gather everything from the table, and even put me in the car once my husband returned with it. We're the kind of people who are usually good with tips (even though people would sometimes assume we weren't going to tip when we were younger), but John went above and beyond to be the best server we have had anywhere. He did so well, we are going to return to Martini's for our anniversary this year (if we're not broke again).

So what did I get for my birthday? The Second Bathroom Reader (I own a ton of these books), a new manga, a little Charlie Brown Book called "Security Is...", and the new Gnarls Barkley CD. Oh yeah, he surprised me at home with the Dave Gahan Hourglass Remixes LP (you read that right; I wanted vinyl) that I had been trying to get for over a month. He (smartly) held onto it when he surprised me with it because he didn't want me to break it in my excitement; something that is, sadly, a possibility with me. I wanted it because it would be my first new record (I have a collection of old albums, but nothing contemporary & you'd be surprised at how many new records are put out in the market today) and it comes with a bonus CD. I just love the idea of the CD being the bonus.

I got to talk to my mom and uncle on my birthday, and my brother sang to me (which was hilarious!). It was a very nice birthday, and here I was ready to sleep through the whole thing.

So what's it like to be 30? It's not bad. I don't feel different. Am I supposed to? I don't know.

Edit: The link for the prom dresses immediately defaults to Sweet P's dress, so the link may seem a little out of place because of it, so my apologies.