Celebrating the "Ol' Double Nickel"

At Cameron Adams' wedding in September, Jayce asked me how I felt about turning the double nickel this year.  It took me a second to process what he was saying, but once I did, I had to laugh. When we used to take our children to Bingo night at Tippy Country Club years ago, the caller would always say, "It's the ol' double nickel" whenever he picked number 55.  The thought of turning the ol' double nickel this fall sounded extremely funny to Doug and I.

Now that the day has officially arrived, I can say that turning 55 was very nice.  Last week I enjoyed celebrating with my parents.  Today was a continuation of the celebration for me.  I spent the day shopping where I bought some items for the home that I needed, found a new a pair of boots and purchased a few decorations that fit our Florida theme.  I ate lunch at McAllister's where I redeemed my free cookie birthday treat.  I also picked up my free birthday candle from Yankee Candle and walked around the mall.

Doug was worried that I would be sad to spend the day by myself on my birthday.  He had to be at work because the owner was there and couldn't take me to lunch.  It had also been a very long time since I celebrated my birthday without at least one of our children at home.  I definitely would have enjoyed some company on my shopping trip, but I did have a lot of fun even if I was alone.  Cameron called while I was at lunch, so it was almost like having someone there with me.

I picked Doug up from work at 4 p.m. this evening and headed straight to The Peacock Cottage.  When we were buying our lemon tree at the botanical garden last month, I visited their tent as well.  They had the cutest hippo garden and I was hoping to find something like it for my birthday.  Today I saw a lot of wonderful plants, planters and accessories, but not exactly what I wanted.  As I looked through the shelves in the back corner, I finally found it - a hippo garden.  There was a llama one as well, but the hippos just seemed to call my name.

Once we bought my gift, we headed to downtown Ocala to find a birthday treat at Grandpa Joe's candy shop.  I hadn't noticed before that they had truffles, so Doug and I each picked one.  We had a drink at District Bar and Kitchen, a new rooftop bar that opened recently.  It had a wonderful view of the city.  We finished our night out with dinner at Bonefish Grill where the food was delicious as always.  We were home in time to play a few games of Ticket to Ride before watching the Amazing Race.  Doug even surprised me by giving me the book "Practical Magic."  Meg and I had been talking about it recently and she must have suggested it to him.  

Although I didn't get to celebrate my birthday with our children today, I did get to talk to each one of them.  I loved catching up with them and hearing their birthday wishes.  The best part was knowing that they would all be here next week together.  I can't wait.