And today, it’s my birthday! And what a weird one, right? As many of you who’ve had birthdays in the last eight months know, birthdays aren’t the same. But before I get to my birthday I have to share a couple of pics from the weekend. I went for a walk with one of my best friends and I’m totally in love with her dog, Pippa.

OMG, she is such a pretty girl. Lazy, but pretty. She doesn’t go on walks with us because she doesn’t like to walk very far and will just lie down and refuse to move. And it’s pretty impossible to get her 120 pound body up once she’s down. #quarantine15

On our walk we saw this beautiful mural on the street:

It was huge (and difficult to get a picture of) and so impressive! When we walked by someone else had a ladder with them so they could get a better picture from higher off the ground. It was really incredible.

Oh and one more thing before I talk about today – my gym opened its pools last week! We have to reserve a lane and we can’t take showers (well, we can, but only to rinse) so I go home in my wet bathing suit every time, but it was magical. I was the first one in the pool on opening day and the gym posted a story of me (and the other swimmers) swimming on Instagram.

While it felt like I was swimming through cement and my arms were tired after about four lengths, it was so good to be back in the pool. And masters synchro started back again too (I felt like I was drowning), and it was awesome. We all have to wear masks on deck and social distance in the water, but it’s really not too bad and it was so fun to be back.

As you probably guessed, I started my birthday off by swimming so f*cking early this morning. I thought I’d swim early so I wouldn’t feel bad about lying around all day eating cake. Which is exactly what I’ve done! Last week, I decided that I wanted to bake a cake for my birthday. A layer cake, which, for whatever reason, I’ve never done. I found a recipe for a Vegan Biscoff Cake that looked great so I thought I’d give it a try. And it was a success!

It wasn’t the most neat or perfect cake, but I think it was pretty good for a first try! And I ate about a million pounds of frosting and felt like I was going to die sick. I watched all of the episodes of The Vow and started watching Love Life (both on HBOMax), took two or three naps, ate a cupcake that J got for me and then contemplated throwing all the cake away. Instead I had a great idea and sent a text to one of my best friends and eating partners, George! I told him I had leftover cake and he drove right over to pick it up! LOL.

Old habits die hard, right? Well, G was thrilled to take 3/4 of a cake home with him and I’m so happy J and I won’t eat the rest of it tonight/tomorrow.

Needless to say, I had a great day, didn’t do anything but bake and eat and I loved it! Happy Birthday to me!