longtime readers will know that i don’t make a big deal of my birthday — i typically begin my day with a run, spend most of the day reading, and might go out for dinner, but it’s generally low-key which is exactly the way i like it.

this year my birthday fell on a wednesday, and a midweek birthday when you’re turning 43 isn’t very exciting, but i decided to do something fun each day to stretch out the celebrations and despite the awful heat dome that descended it was a delightful week full of friends and delicious food and good books and lots of tennis and soccer.

monday.

i had a $10 coupon for my nail salon [literally around the corner from my apartment], so i spent my morning treating myself to a pedicure and gel manicure [my first since december!] and a 10-minute neck and shoulders massage.

that night alexa and i had dinner at balthazar, a place neither of us had been to. i had a new york mag subscriber perk for a free round of champagne which was a delight, and our food [salmon crudo to share, chef’s cheeseburger for alexa, steak frites for me] was very excellent. the servers topped off our evening with a candle in my chocolate mousse, and in spite of other tables turning over they let us sit and gab and people watch for 2.5 hours.

tuesday.

i needed to go to the indian grocery store, so i used it as an excuse to have a birthday eve lunch at nepali bhanchha ghar. sel roti and beef jhol momos were exactly what i was craving, and they were delicious.

wednesday.

actual birthday was spent precisely how i wanted — i did my run / walk [43 minutes for 43 years], took a nap, spent the day reading and watching wimbledon and the world cup, ordered chinese food for dinner, and capped it off with a glass of old monk with thums up. it was perfect.

thursday.

earlier in the week a friend has posted asking for help with a project, and i got to spend my thursday afternoon being a part of it. i’ll share more once it’s finished, but it was a lot of fun and i’m excited to see how it turns out.

friday.

alexa gathered some friends to watch the argentina v cabo verde match, so i swung by for a bit to say hi and watch the first half before going to meet rochelle for the liberty game. once a year or so her group will have an extra ticket, and it so happened to be available during birthday week. we had a great time catching up and eating delicious jamaican food, and the liberty won and my record improved to 2-0 so hopefully i will continue to be invited.

sunday.

after not doing anything saturday apart from a run because it was too hot, i spent my sunday in fort greene hanging out with ruca while stephen and kristen went to the brazil v norway world cup match in nj. she’s such a cute and easygoing pup and i got lots of snuggles which made me very happy, and as a bonus i had a sandwich from brooklyn hero shop.

i love a week full of small joys, and birthday week this yar was exactly that. here’s to continuing to celebrate the little things.

xx