It's My Birthday!!!

Yep, that's right, today is my birthday! And I don't really have any ideas as to what to write about. But I was tagged for a Meme by Karen the other day, so I guess I'll do that and make it work!

So, for this Meme I have to divulge 7 random things about myself. And since today is my birthday I'll see if I can think of 7 random birthday memories.

1. For my 11th birthday my cousin and her husband took me to Great America. I had never been before so it was great fun to be able to go. Another part that made it even more fun was that I was able to take one friend with me! (do you remember that Wendy?)

2. One year, as poor newly weds, my husband gave me a gray turtle neck sweater. As I do remember the gift, it is the 'card' I remember the most....it was a homemade card using toilet paper (see, I told you we were poor!). It had a very sweet message written on it, and I kept it in my purse for years.

3. When I was a little girl I was made to stay in my room one afternoon on my birthday while the family prepared something special for me. When I came out I was dressed up like a queen and at lunch my seat had become a make-shift throne. My mother had used cardboard, decorated it and wrote 'Queen Deanne' across the top. I loved that birthday!

4. The first birthday party I remember was when I was in kindergarten (I think). I had a few friends over and my gift that year was a huge doll my mom made, and a bird. I named the doll Betsy and the bird Christopher. Betsy was taller than me and, if I remember correctly, my mom made Betsy and I matching outfits.

5. When I was in Jr. High I had some friends over to celebrate. We were split up into two groups and each group had to go door to door and ask for toppings for our pizzas that we would make for dinner. I can't remember how the pizzas came out but it couldn't have been too bad otherwise I'd probably remember that, right?!

6. For my 19th birthday, again, I had a few friends over and we had a mystery dinner. The mystery dinner was the kind where the menu was unknown. We were given printed menus with the selections written in code, then we had to deduce what each item was, then order each course. The tricky part was that utensils were part of it too, so once we ordered we had to hope we were not served soup with only a knife to eat it with. My parents put a lot of time into this for me. They got some ideas from my cousin who had done several of these kinds of dinners before, but they also came up with some of their own. Here's an idea of what was on the menu: side of Wilbur, petite foil, great beginnings. Can you figure out what those are?

7. Among my most memorable birthdays was when I turned 20. Ryan and I had decided to get married and my parents had given permission and we had already picked out the ring (I think my dress may have been ordered too, I can't remember), but I had yet to receive the ring let alone been asked 'the question'. Ryan was going to take me to San Fransisco for the day and I just knew that he was going to officially propose and give me my the ring. I had even told my parents, family and co-workers that it was going to happen at that time. However, Ryan is such a sneaky guy when he puts his mind to it. He knew I was expecting it so he tried to throw me off. He tried. We drove to San Francisco and ate a picnic lunch at Golden Gate Park. I thought this would be a nice place for him to propose. He didn't. Then we went to the zoo. In the car, before we went inside, he gave me a package. I unwrapped it and found a teddy bear. No ring. hmmph! My inward dialog told me that the zoo could also be a nice place to propose. Again, nada. After the zoo we went to Pier 39. Nice place, you think? Nope. As we drove home that night I was so disappointed and embarrassed. All I could think of was going home and to work the next day and having to tell people that Ryan did not propose. There was no ring on my finger and I was not officially engaged. Then through the course of conversation I figured out that he had planned to do it later than night. He tried, but I figured it out. So, after we arrived at my parents and we were alone in the living room he pulled out a card that had his proposal written inside. After I read it, he had the little box in his hand then got down on one knee and finally asked me marry him. Yeah!!!!!

According to the rules of this Meme I have to select 7 people to divulge 7 random things about themselves. I choose, in random order:

Caterina
Jenn
Sandra
Amanda
Kim
Wendy
Mary