{"id":2095,"date":"2013-07-29T07:29:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T11:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicolevanputten.com\/?p=2095"},"modified":"2013-07-29T07:29:55","modified_gmt":"2013-07-29T11:29:55","slug":"turning-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nicolevanputten.com\/2013\/07\/29\/turning-35\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning 35"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turning 35 is not like celebrating a fifth birthday. There aren’t any Thomas the Tank Engine themed games or Curious George plates, birthdays are different at 35. Sure, a castle bounce house<\/a> in the front yard would have been pretty freaking awesome, but honestly, it would have been more fun if there were a bunch of five year olds around. I don’t have any spare five year olds, unfortunately and Moon Pie probably would not like the bounce house concept.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t matter. \u00a0Last week I did everything I wanted to and even though the last seven days were tough, Team VP prevailed, and my birthday week was really amazing. On Wednesday Mr. MVP sent me flowers, including snapdragons. Snapdragons were Grandma Poochie’s favorite flowers and every summer she had an enormous garden of snaps along the fence around the swimming pool. At nap time at my grandparent’s house I would lay in my Dad’s childhood bed and watch my Mom swim laps and count the different color snapdragons and wait to fall asleep. Snapdragons are my sign from nature that there is still an abundance of good in the world.<\/p>\n

\"Birthday<\/a>

Birthday Week Flower Joy.<\/p><\/div>\n

Last month Mr. MVP gave me my official birthday gift an Ambient Weather 2080<\/a>\u00a0personal weather station. It’s amazing. Now, I actually asked for a weather station, so this gift was incredibly exciting for me. Mr. MVP gave me my weather station early because UPS delivered it and Team VP has no self control. What can I say? The Ambient Weather is super handy. I use WeatherSnoop<\/a> for Mac so I can download all my weather information from the outdoor sensor and then I upload the information to my Weather Underground<\/a> page. I can keep track of rain, wind, humidity, pressure and dew point, along with the daily indoor and outdoor temperature. I sort of love the weather.<\/p>\n

\"Ambient<\/a>

Ambient Weather 2080.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mr. MVP also gave me Shwings<\/a>, which I have been wanting for my sneakers for a long time, but they are always sold out. I’ll let these speak for themselves.<\/p>\n

\"Spectacular,<\/a>

Spectacular, Right?<\/p><\/div>\n

On Friday Mr. MVP took the day off and we watched movies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My Mom brought us vegan cupcakes from\u00a0The Cupcake Zoo<\/a>\u00a0in Otsego, Michigan and we ate way too many of them. The Cupcake Zoo makes the most delicious FODMAP free cupcakes you will ever taste. They are labeled vegan or gluten\/dairy free, but we call them FODMAP free which means both Mr. MVP and I can enjoy them. The Cupcake Zoo takes special orders and every Wednesday they post a Friday walk-in menu<\/a>. On my birthday one of the vegan\/FODMAP cupcakes was a hostess cupcake and it was the best gluten free cupcake I’ve ever had. My Mom is convinced The Cupcake Zoo is loading their vegan cupcakes with gluten and dairy because nothing vegan can taste that good.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

My Birthday Cupcakes.<\/p><\/div>\n

Along with the cupcakes my Mom also brought me three balloons, but my Mom drives a convertible and like me, doesn’t stop to think ahead.<\/p>\n

\"Mr.<\/a>

Mr. MVP driving my Mom’s car.<\/p><\/div>\n

Apparently one balloon ended up flying away and one balloon popped, but the yellow balloon persevered and made it through our front door. It was actually a really fun surprise to receive a balloon.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Yellow Balloon That Made It.<\/p><\/div>\n

Friday afternoon I spoke to David and we had a funny conversation. I had called David earlier in the week to get some much needed advice on some major home repairs that we need to undertake and we were laughing about how worried I was.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

An Original of David and I.<\/p><\/div>\n

On Saturday we went to Mom and Dad’s house for dinner. Dad smoked chicken and grilled vegetables and we had rice and avocado. It was really delicious. We’ve been playing Rummikub<\/a> with Mom and Dad and the last time I won, but this time I didn’t do so well. My Dad’s Rummikub game has been improving dramatically, as he starts to understand the finer details of how to play, which means the rest of us start to lose more often. It’s a fun game and even though our family has modified it to make it easier to count and meld, it still can be a challenge.<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>

I Can Meld, Right?<\/p><\/div>\n

Mom and Dad gave me a gift certificate to Knit Picks for my birthday, which I promptly spent on yarn for two sweaters that I have been wanting to knit. I’ve been following this designer on Ravelry for around three months and her sweaters are so well designed that I knew I needed to knit at least two of her pieces. I picked these two:<\/p>\n

\"Shellseeker<\/a>

Shellseeker by Heidi Kirrmaier<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Beeline by\u00a0Heidi Kirrmaier<\/p><\/div>\n

I’m knitting both sweaters in the original colors as shown, but I’m using Knitpicks Shine Worsted<\/a>, which is an amazing yarn. You can visit Heidi’s Ravelry shop here<\/a>\u00a0to see all of her wonderfully imaginative designs.<\/p>\n

I also received the most amazing gift any knitter can get, a yarn swift<\/a> and a ball winder<\/a>. I’m going to have the most organized yarn stash in Kalamazoo. Organization makes me super happy. For those of you who think I’m speaking a foreign language, my favorite website, VeryPink Knits explains how a yarn swift and a ball winder work and why they are so magical.<\/p>\n