I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. You can read more about it on San’s blog the in between is mine. #nablopomo2022
I had a busy Saturday because we were getting ready to celebrate a birthday. It’s not my daughter’s birthday quite yet, but we will be out of town the weekend before and after, so she invited a bunch of her friends early. I love to see then interact. They are very supportive of each other and hearing their laughs is music to my ears. I am so happy that she found such good friends.
Before coming to the US I never ever celebrated a birthday early (supposedly it’s bad luck – like opening presents early – even though it does not make sense at all). Now that I am Americanized I don’t mind 😉 Another superstition: don’t gift white flowers – my grandma always said they are funeral flowers. I find white flowers very beautiful but it still reminds me of what my grandma said. Any superstitions in your family? I tend to avoid them these days – with a scientist husband and a scientist myself I need solid data.
Here come a couple of pictures from my day:
Laundry always first. It was sunny today so I got everything dry by the evening.
Since we had guests the house was cleaned up and ready to go.
I thought the frogs were so cute. I love the someone seems to have inherited my craft passion.
There were lots of murals near the escape room so I did some exploring while waiting for them to escape. In the last couple of years they are showing up everywhere around town – Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond,… Is that just something that got popular here or is it a trend? I hope it lasts. It’s better than the grey walls.
With the time change the sun was already setting when we drove back. As usual lots of traffic on the freeway. Quick view on the Oakland freight harbor through my dirty car window. It’s sitting under a tree most of the week and especially with the rain it tends to get dirty quickly. Car wash next week! At least from the inside it’s clean since yesterday.
Home here and there 
Hahaha, I am known as the “superstitious German” in my office who refuses to celebrate birthdays early. 😉
Love the murals – we have a ton here in Sacramento and I keep meaning to go no a little trip through the city and check them all out.
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That sounds like an excellent idea! I would love to see pictures (or the murals – Sacramento is not really that far from us and might as well visit the state capitol one day).
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Wow – I had never heard that celebrating early was bad luck. That said, it always feels disappointing to have the celebration over before the day. If anything, I’d rather celebrate late. Ironically enough, we’re hosting a birthday party for our son next weekend and it is before his birthday! But it’s the date he requested. His actual birthday might not include too much special stuff, but then we have family arriving the day AFTER his birthday, so he’ll likely get a second, smaller celebration.
Love the froggies. So cute.
Love the murals. The town where I live has just commissioned several new murals and it makes me so happy. The pop of colour on an otherwise dingy blank concrete canvas is wonderful!
Our car windows are horrible, but it’s a streaking issue we have been trying to correct for years. This Friday – for the first time since buying our house 5 years ago – we’re getting the windows professionally cleaned (shockingly inexpensive?!) and we’ve asked the company to also do the car windows. Hopefully they’ll be able to work some magic for us, because the situation is dire! It’s really hard to see at night because of the glare reflecting on the streaks…but we’ve literally tried a dozen products and nothing has worked!
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Good luck on the car windows! I usually use the drive through car wash and it’s been working ok. My husband is responsible for cleaning our windows from the outside and gets a kick out of it how clean they are after – not taking that away from him).
Her birthday is always the Thanksgiving week what makes it kind of hard to celebrate with so many friends gone for family visits. We will make the day special for her as we are at our family away from home friends and there is a potential after birthday party in the future. Yesterday was with her three bestest friends and we will see if she wants to invite again when we are back.
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I love white flowers.
I would call myself mildly superstitious, I guess. I don’t have any specific superstitions, but I do say things like, “Knock on wood” semi-seriously.
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I do the knock on wood thing, too. It’s interesting how ingrained some things become just by being around people who will repeatedly say or do it even if we don’t really believe it. We probably should not be surprised why so many people believe that vaccination is bad for you. I saw me replying so many times to posts online: “Show me the evidence for that.” At least the knock on wood does not harm anyone 😉
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My grandmother would get really upset if someone sent her a card or gave her a present that only had a single animal/person on it. Like, I have beautiful notecards with a single bird on it and she would get upset because the bird would be lonely. So now I have sort of internalized that and only buy stationery with bird couples. LOL. It’s crazy what gets passed down, isn’t it?
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It definitely is crazy in some ways. I am fine with it as long as it does not harm others (or yourself for that matter) 😉
I think the one animal/person thing is cute. My mom had a boss in the past who was so superstitious that on Friday the 13th he would not leave his house and he gave everyone the day off…
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Yes, I remember that it was bad luck to celebrate a birthday early in Germany! But I’m pretty sure your daughter will be fine with this early party. It sounds really fun. There’s an area down in Miami with a ton of murals, and we went there a few years ago when my sister and her husband were visiting. Her husband is an artist and he really enjoyed them.
How old is your daughter?
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I am for murals everywhere! I think most are beautiful and brighten up the city.
My daughter was completely in agreement celebrating early. If we push it way back it does not feel like a birthday party anymore either. SHe is going to be 14 and I have the feeling time is slipping away. Wasn’t she just a baby/toddler yesterday? She was just telling me the other day (very proudly and a bit terrified) that she is now closer to college than to Kindergarten.
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I’m not really superstitious. My mum can sometimes be.
Melbourne is famous for it’s street art which I’ll check out again now that I’m staying walking distance from the CBD, but there is also plenty of street part around the suburbs here too. I love it, as it gives something extra to look at.
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When is your daughter’s birthday? I have a late November birthday, which means I always had to work around the Thanksgiving holiday. I usually waited until afterward, though. One year, I didn’t have my birthday party until January! That was a crazy year, haha. I’m glad she had a fun time and has a great group of friends to laugh with. ❤
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It’s on the 25th. I enjoyed hospital Thanksgiving the year she was born. When is yours?
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Mine is the 28th! 🙂 I just made the cut for a Thanksgiving birthday – the 28th is the latest it can ever be.
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I sometimes feel bad since it’s hard to get the party organized but then again you get the chance of the day off besides the weekend.
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I don’t think I have any superstitions, but oh, yours are interesting! I also love murals, and have learned there are a lot more in my town than I knew about. They’re so much better than plain walls, to be sure.
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Murals seem to pop up everywhere these days. It makes me always so happy to discover a new one.
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So late to catch up but here I am.
I would never celebrate a birthday early. How can you celebrate another trip around the sun, when. you haven’t finished. What if something happens and you don’t see the day come? I don’t know just seems wrong. I would say I. am superstitious about it.
The frogs are cute. May I ask how old your daughter is? Definitely inherited the crafting gene.
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I guess 5hat’s where my superstition is coming from 😉 it took me a couple of years to get over it but it can have it’s advantages. And then again – isn’t every new day worth celebrating?
My daughter is 14 now. I don’t remember when my crafting obsession started but I think about that age. Curious to see where it takes her.
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