My Birthday #2

I need to finish my birthday list since I only had 16 out of 28 items. So here is the conclusion:
17. Latin ladies - the beautiful roses my baby gave me for my birthday. The picture doesn't do them justice; they are light pink on the outside and dark pink/red on the inside. Insanely beautiful.
18. New shirt - I bought a new shirt at Target the week before, and it is always fun to wear something new.
19. Matt's present - could I have a more creative man? He checked into buying me a few shares of stock in ISC (International Speedway Corporation). It's the company owned by the people who founded NASCAR, and they own about half the tracks they race on each week. He even asked me first, though, to make sure I would want that. How thoughtful is he? Does he realize how high he is setting the bar for the rest of his life? :-)
20. Shopping - I bought a few things at Old Navy that were 50% off the clearance price. And Matt even stayed by the dressing room to watch me try on clothes (after I begged). It was fun, though - I like to know if he likes something or not. He generally does like what I pick out, but it was still fun to put on a little fashion show. I liked it. I hope it wasn't too torturous for him.
21. More shopping - I went to the mall with my Mom; she bought me something for the wedding night, I bought a couple more things at, um, that store; I bought a shirt I had loved a few months ago when it was new at Limited (got it for $9.99, thank you very much, regularly $60) and two other tops for $6.99.
22. Cookies - we had cookies for a snack since we weren't hungry enough for lunch. Yum
23. Dinner - my grandparents and two aunts/uncles showed up for dinner. That was really fun; we showed them our engagement pictures and pictures of my flowers from that morning.
24. Dinner again - the shake was amazing - chocolate espresso. Oh. My. Word.
25. Phone calls - my friend Christy called at 8:30 a.m. - first person I talked to. Then my sisters both called in the afternoon. Maggie called. Leann called. It was nice to know that they all remembered me and took the time to call.
26. Cards - I had my Mom and Dad's card to read, Vern and Cyndi's, and Tyler's when I woke up that morning. But by far the best was Matt's. He made a little drawing even though his hand was impaired. But what he wrote was amazing, and I've read it multiple times every day since then. I carry it around with me so I can read it whenever I want. I'm blessed to have a man who is so eloquent with words, especially since I am one who appreciates that gift very much.
27. Driving - We had over 4 hours in the car during the trip to Des Moines and back. But it was good time to be able to talk, especially about the books we're reading for pre-marital counseling. I always appreciate deep, insightful conversation, and the books give us those things to dialogue about. So I enjoyed that time with Matt very much.
28. Overall - I have for years marked my birthday with some thought of, "Another year goes down in the record books, and I'm still single." And with some bit of wondering if this will be the year that will change. And this one was. So I was (and am) incredibly grateful to have Matt to share the day with. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do that day because I have high expectations for birthdays, but I had come to the conclusion that it didn't matter what we did as long as I got to spend it with Matt. And it was wonderful and special. I could not be more grateful for the man God has blessed me with this year. What an amazing 28th year of life it was. I am so excited to see what the next one holds.