33, prepare to be rocked.

Tomorrow is my 33rd birthday. The last several years, my birthday kind of seems to spring up on me. I just kind of forget that it's happening. Are you like this? Don't get me wrong--it's not cause I'm humble and self-effacing and that I don't like presents. I loves me some presents! There just seem to be so many other things going on. Perhaps it's just old age though, and my mind is already starting to go. Am I still talking?

In other news, Jason and I had a great mini-holiday in the city last week. We were celebrating our tenth anniversary, and spent two nights in a hotel in Darling Harbour.

And I know I've said it before, but dang, this is a beautiful city. You should come visit, you really should. We walked, we talked, we ate, we shopped. Well, I shopped. And though I did not drink the ridiculously priced Diet Coke in the mini-bar, I did have an $18 Peach Bellini at dinner. I have one about every 3 years or so, so I figured it was okay to splurge.

Speaking of getting older, the hotel we stayed in is attached to a large casino. Jason and I aren't really ones for gambling, but we wanted to go into the casino to check out this enormous aquarium they have there. The security dude stopped us and said we couldn't go in 'cause they weren't licensed for minors. I thought he was making a joke--you know how people pretend you look really young to flatter you? Like, "Oh, I'm gonna have to see some ID...", that kind of thing? So we kind of laughed and started to walk through and he was like, "No, really.", and pointed to Grace. Smart man--this girl cannot be trusted in a casino.

She hits the blackjack tables, and you can kiss the next six hours goodbye. What a card shark! Not many breastfeeding infants have her natural aptitude for the game. And you should see her one-handed shuffle! Pretty awesome.

Here's a few pics from our time in the city...

This is the view from where we had dinner. This is Darling Harbour at night--that's a ferry boat cruising by there. The photo doesn't really do it justice, all those lights reflecting off the water was a beautiful sight.


This is our dessert. Am I pathetic, showing you pictures of what we had for dessert? Oh well. It was a hazelnut and chocolate delice (I don't know what a delice is), with raspberry sorbet on top. And that's gold leaf on top of the center sorbet scoop. Apparently, we're putting gold leaf on desserts now. Were you aware of this? I was not. But, yum.


Grace and I, enjoying the view from our room. Look at that little fuzzy head! And Grace's head is cute, too.


I should compile an album called "Photos we took of ourselves", cause that's the only ones we seem to have. There's an art to it, really. Wrong angle, and everybody's got a double chin.


And one more--I just love the expression on her face. Grace was good as gold on this trip. Jason and I are hardened veterans of the fussy baby wars--a story for another time--so we know when we have it easy. We actually had a three hour dinner one night while she slept in the stroller. We couldn't believe it. I kept pointing wordlessly at her sleeping, and Jason was all, I know. It's good to appreciate those moments when they happen.

Well I have to go to bed, because now that I'm almost 33, sleep is important to help my skin retain its elasticity. But next time I wanna tell you about a list we made on our getaway--Ten Things We Wanna Do in the next 10 years. But don't worry--teaching Grace to gamble isn't one of them.