Hello friends and Market Friday enthusiasts! I love #marketfriday, run by 
And instead of just going through the motions in some forgettable, mindless way, I think about how to capture the experience so I can share it. And that instantly makes those experiences more memorable. I am more mindful of my surroundings, the people I am with, the decor on the walls, the food in front of me, and so on.
Birthdays in my circle are never just one day. The actual day was Thursday, November 3, but that meant both Thursday and Friday were devoted to celebrating and there is more this weekend. It really helps that I celebrate with friends and family members who have birthdays close to mine, as I quickly have enough of being the center of attention.
So! It started off Thursday morning. My husband and I had to drop off one of the cars at the shop, and then we picked up some McDonalds breakfasts to take back home and share with the at-home “kids.” (It’s in quotes because they are 21. But I will probably always think of them as kids, or at least as long as they are still living at home!) Sorry, no pictures of any of that.
I took the day off work, which is my tradition (especially since I work a stressful job). I like to spend my birthday doing fun and relaxing things. In this case I first went to Massage Envy for an hour and a half facial, which included shoulder and neck massage. So wonderful!
Okay I finally have some pictures to share of the next phase — a shopping trip. I recently broke my Apple Watch, so I went to a nearby mall that has an Apple Store to inquire what can be done.
The good news is that I can get the watch replaced for a “deductible” (about a quarter of the price of a new watch) since I have Apple care. The bad news is that I had to make an appointment and go back in two days.
In case you’ve missed the riveting (ha ha) story of me breaking my foot about a month ago, and subsequent foot surgery, this is perhaps the appropriate time to say that it’s not all that easy for me to get around right now.
Here’s my trusty steed, which I’m now able to get in and out of my van on my own when I need to get to a store.
I actually took that as I was leaving the mall with my little parcels. I don’t have a basket on the trike, so I only buy what I can carry in handled bags on my handlebars.
Okay but back to the mall experience. Even though I’m like a snail getting around, and it’s rather a workout, I traversed the mall a bit. It was kind of a ghost town on a weekday afternoon!
Not a soul in the kiddie play area!
Quite a few of the stores were not even open. I think it’s very hard to get entry level and minimum wage employees these days! Especially when young people are in school and most people who need to make a living wage go for something more profitable.
Something about this Forever 21 sign seemed sad and ironic.
I was looking around for gifts for both a friend and a sister-in-law that I co-celebrate birthdays with. One has a birthday two days before mine and the other one day after.
My wheels took me to The Body Shop for lotions and scents, where I managed to find gifts for both ladies!
I took many more pictures at the mall but this post is already getting long! I’ll just add the ones of the sculptures and the mannequins.
The sculpture at the center of the mall is amazing. Here it is, viewed from the street level floor and the upper level.
Mannequins are so interesting to me. Wouldn’t it be cool to writer a creepy mystery about a mannequin factory? I am always intrigued by how the manufacturers and marketers of clothes appeal to their audiences through mannequins. In recent years they have done a much better job of being more inclusive with mannequins that represent people of color, and full-figured people, which was at least somewhat in evidence in my rounds through Macy’s.
Okay that’s enough of the mall! Let’s move on to the evening festivities, which involved a family dinner out. We all love sushi, so we headed to one of the two sushi restaurants in a tiny waterfront town near us. They were playing country music, so it was a bit of an odd atmosphere!
My son eats almost as much sushi as all the rest of us put together, so he orders his own serving! (But he surprised us all by picking up the tab. What a sweet kid!)
These are the joking around pictures. My youngest daughter has a very colorful personality! She got it from her dad. As you can see — here he is pretending to be crabby.
After that we ended up at home for cake and gifts.
Whew! Actual birthday over! The next day (Friday) we met up with friends at a microbrewery for a dual celebration with the friend who has a birthday near mine. We arrived at sunset, and the sky was rippled with pink clouds the whole way over.
I had never been to this particular place. They had a food truck outside, a nice selection of beer and great live music!
These are some of my closest friends. We had a wonderful time. The musician was wonderful. It was a lovely night.
There’s one more celebration tomorrow, with my sister-in-law, who is one day younger than me. But perhaps that will be a post for another time.
I know I am tardy with my Market Friday post, as usual! Fridays are terribly busy for me and I just can’t manage it most of the time. So it’s a “better late than never” situation!
Thanks for visiting my blog. Have a wonderful weekend!
Photo credits: All of the photos in this post were taken by me with my iphone and belong to me, unless otherwise noted.
Join Hive at Hive.io
Hive is a social blockchain where you can join communities, blog about your favorite topics, curate content and earn cryptocurrency.
Get started
Sign up an account by clicking this referral link: HiveOnboard.
Or start at Actifit.io! Simply click this referral link to get started. Earn tokens by getting active every day and sharing your results.