Not Young, Not Old, Just...

30! Yup, I celebrated my 30th yesterday and it was probably one of the best birthday celebrations ever! Growing up, birthdays were always so special for me. When else do you have your very own special day? But the last couple of years, I've been feeling very "grown~up" as my birthday has seemed like just another ordinary day. But yesterday was different. I woke up and inspected my reflection in the mirror. Whew! No gray hairs magically appeared at the stroke of midnite and all of my wrinkles were the same familiar ones from age 29;)

Tom woke me sometime after midnight to tell me happy birthday and to remind me that I was 30 now. Gee, thanks! But if there was ever a time I needed beauty sleep it's now! With old age rapidly approaching, it's crucial I get a full 4 or 5 hours!:)

Several hours later, Austin presented me with my birthday present (which was lovingly wrapped in homemade wrapping paper~ complete with a rainbow, a "30", and "mama" on the front. Inside was New Moon.... sweet! (Can't wait to watch it tonite when the kids are asleep.) Although, Austin (or the girls) have never watched the movies, they all know about mommy's slight obsession and he and Tom had gone birthday shopping the nite before when I was in Camden Frontier with the girls for a track meet.

Tom called around noon to tell me to have the kids at his parents by quarter to six that evening. Hmmm, since I had already had a expensive fabulous birthday/scrapbooking weekend, I wasn't planning on anything else special. But I was turning 30, after all, so I didn't protest to the evening's plans.

After meeting Tom we headed out of town toward Ann Arbor. I was secretly wondering if he was going to take me to the Melting Pot but when we parked in a parking garage and headed toward Mongolian BBQ I started thinking stir fry. It wasn't till he paused on the street corner across from Mongolian's and started looking up and down the street that I realized he had different plans. And sure enough, he confessed that we were headed to the Melting Pot for 7 o'clock reservations. Yum!!!!

We had a super private little booth in the back of the restaurant and enjoyed 4 courses. Our waiter prepared everything table side. We started with a cheddar cheese fondue. It had a beer base and he added minced garlic and fresh crushed peppercorn to the shredded cheddar cheese. That course was served with assorted bread chunks, granny smith apple pieces, and raw veggies. This was super yummy and I would definitely get it again!

Next came the salads, which were included as part of the dinner we chose, but next time I would skip this course and save room for everything else. Tom had the house salad and I had the California salad, which was okay but I ended up picking all of the Gorgonzola cheese off (a little too pungent for my tastes).

For the main course, our waiter brought out some sort of broth base and added garlic and cilantro and then squeezed the juice of an orange and a lime in (this was the mojo style for those of you taking notes;) Yummy! All of our meat and vegetables were raw so we received a quick cooking course on times and techniques then we were left to experiment. Our platter included teryaki (sp?) sirloin (Tom's fave), kiwi lime shrimp (my fave), lobster tail, sushi grade tuna, chicken, pork, and vegetable dumplings (weird). We also had red potatoes, broccoli, and mushroom caps~ all really good with the fondue base!

And finally.... dessert (the BEST part:) We picked the turtle explosion (or something like that). It had a milk chocolate base and Mr. Waiter added in caramel and chopped pecans before flambeing it with Bacardi 151. The dipping platter had rice crispy treats, a piece of cheesecake, chocolate covered cherries, brownie and pound cake bites, marshmallows rolled in oreo and graham cracker crumbs, and strawberry and banana slices. By this time, I thought I was going to explode, I was so full. It was an amazing dining experience and we were there for almost 3 hours.

We hadn't planned on being out so late and I ended up having to call in late for work (yes, I am such a responsible adult that I didn't take my birthday nite off;) I got to work 45 minutes late and I'll probably get written up for it (kinda like when I got my one {and only} detention on my 13th birthday). So I ended my day filling candy bins but feeling pretty special and loved (and very full!) What more could a birthday girl want!?!