I made it! I Turned Forty!

OMG how did I make it through my 30s? It really wasn’t looking too optimistic there for awhile.

So, here’s a birthday photo dump, and some rambling and thought and whatever it may be.

Firstly, I got some AMAZING new cat ears handmade, hand felted, by Suzanne aka Satan Herself. She’s a wonderful Twitter friend who is trying to get herself out of the clutches of Centrelink by starting a felting art business, making all sorts of clothing and bits and pieces and SHOES and HATS and cat ears now. These are her prototype ears, and I LOVE them and will pimp them to death when she gets her shop set up!

a woman with purple hair, cat ears and glasses holding a glass of sparkling wine. She has a purple dress with chickens

I drank this lovely de-alcoholised Brown Brothers Prosecco I’d purchased from Sans Drinksย for election night (but the order arrived a week after!). Lovely and light on the tongue, didn’t interfere with the Antabuse tablets either ๐Ÿ™‚ Party!

Speaking of Antabuse, I stuck to my regular Friday morning routine, collecting OzHarvest fresh fruit and veg and assorted breads from the food bank to share with my sister – I’m glad I can eat gluten these days! There was also a bag of pies and sandwiches and the like. More importantly though, I’ve not had alcohol since Feb 2021, so I’m on a 17 month streak, with some good sober time over the last three and a half years. It feels good, and sobriety is working well for me. I get to be more useful and reliable and present and so on. It’s great. I have to say I’m looking forward to life and things again. Even without “real” red wine.

Bruce and I went to dinner at Mizumi (which I now know means “Lake”) here in Toronto. We ordered the usual takoyaki, and went for the Mizumi sashimi platter. OMG that was amazing! Fresh and tasty and noms. Only problem was that I prefer my sashimi after it’s warmed up a little, and this came as a ice basket as you’ll see in the photo. But AMAZING nonetheless.

How good is that?

(yes, I booked under Sienna, yes it’s because I phoned up and couldn’t be bothered correcting her when she said it back to me. Often get Sienna)

Another birthday present I got was the new phone I’ve been using for a month now. The Xiaomi 11 Lite 5GNE (that’s a lot of terms). Bruce ordered it for me at a super awesome price and I’ve been getting used to it, but here’s the first night mode photo I’ve taken because I’m slack and didn’t use the function til he nagged me the other night:

The beauty of Toronto Boulevarde by night…

So I had a lovely birthday, out in the real world. Plus, I also had a bit of a party on my Animal Crossing island!

My friend code for switch is SW-0541-2956-7407. Add me and come to my next shindig!

Saturday was my birthday party – lollies and cake and kids in the backyard ๐Ÿ™‚ Such fun! Got a new Fitbit from my parents, the old one had a crack screen after 7 years, it was time. Spent the last of a few giftcards I had at woolies on lollies hehe

Still working our way through the cake – a $30 buy from Costco, with fluffy chocolate and rainbow icing!

Some of you internet sweethearts have spoiled me too with items from my wishlist and gift cards and birthday money through PayPal and buymeacoffee. Thank you so very much! I got the bread knife I needed and Diet Coke is always appreciated.

I have some onesies on the way from onesies downunder and a Shein order full of Care Bears stuff!!!

Thank you all for celebrating with me ๐Ÿ’œ

Bruce’s Birthday Dinner – Mizumi Japanese Toronto

Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki
Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki

We really don’t get to go out much for dinner, Covid put a huge halt on that too, so making an effort to go for something nice for birthdays has become very important. This year for Bruce’s birthday we finally dined in at Muzimu Toronto, after getting takeaway sushi and bento a few times.ย 

salmon sashimi
Salmon Sashimi

We got the usual – a plate of salmon sashimi each – they also do a melt in your mouth tuna sashimi – and some takoyaki to share, then Bruce selected his main – Tenpura Donburi, and I asked for the Wagyu beef entree, but they didn’t have it so I went for something I haven’t had since probably high school – an Okonomiyaki.ย 

Tenpura Donburi
Tenpura Donburi

I have fond memories of making Okonomiyaki in the tiny classroom we had our Japanese lessons in back in high school. This one was clearly better, and who doesn’t like the dancing flakes on top?!

Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki

Now I’m all inspired for going back to Japanese lessons on Monday! They were paid for by a lovely Tweep called Eric, and I’ve been doing my Japanese revision on Duolingo to try to get back in the swing. This week I started doing the lessons live on Twitch to encourage me to practice the pronunciations rather than very passively reading to myself.

MIZUMI Japanese Restaurant

2/58 The Boulevarde Toronto
NSW 2283 (02) 4049 2567

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