Oct. 26th: Happy "Free"-Day to me!

Today I celebrated my birthday in the way that everyone should celebrate their birthdays - by being a little spoiled.  Not necessarily through gifts from friends (but there was a little bit of that going on), but more from indulging in the many free things offered by businesses around town.

I started my birthday with a free Grand Slam at Denny's, shared in the company of some good friends - who are surprisingly very good at responding to absolutely last minute invitations.  Then I went to work to enjoy another day of catching up on e-mails and solving some mysterious issues.  While at work I ate a delicious cupcake made by the ridiculously talented Lois Dawson - offered in an individual cupcake container.  Then I enjoyed some left over snacks from our staff retreat quickly followed by what I am pretty sure is the best cake I have ever been given.  When someone combines my two favourite things in life - ice cream and immaturity - it makes for an amazing birthday experience.

Behold . . . My boob ice cream cake made with love by Andrea Loewen!  DELICIOUS!

After lunch the work continued, until it was time for me to leave and collect on some birthday coupons, starting with a free dinner at Vera's Burger Shack.  It was no Anchor Bar, but the burger was really flippin' good.  Also quite large.  I didn't end up eating the whole thing (mostly because I knew I had to leave room for some other treats) so I ended up giving a portion of the burger to a homeless man who was extremely hungry and even more appreciative.  Then after I picked up my tickets to the opening night of a local theatre show, I continued the festivities with a free Booster Juice, and a trip down to Sephora where I picked up my free 3-in-1 shower gel, shampoo, bubble bath gift.  And the evening concluded with the showing of the Arts Club's production of The Penelopiad - which was phenomenal.  I won't go into the details of the show, but considering that I spent a good portion of last year looking into the stats of Women being represented in the Professional Canadian Theatre scene (and the results being a bit disappointing to say the least), it was quite refreshing to see a cast of 11 women, performing in a play that was written by a woman and directed by a woman, so that they could tell a great story about women. 

What an awesome way to spend a birthday!  All of the messages and phone calls from friends and family were pretty great too.  I feel spoiled and loved.  Thank you everyone for making this day great!