Happy Birthday to Me

It seems silly to jump back into this creative blogging thing with a materialistic post but really, I'm just segueing into a renovation blog, let's be honest. A couple of things I got for my birthday are making me so ridiculously happy I have to spread the love.

First was the surprise internet radio from AH. We had talked and talked about finding a good one but he pulled the trigger for my birthday. It's a little more "nostalgic" than I would normally go but in this case, funtion outshines form to the nth degree. For the past 10 years I have been using a red "jelly" style alarm clock radio from Radio Shack as my personal listening device in the kitchen. I do two things when I wake up: put the kettle on and turn on the radio. My kitchen radio has been permanently tuned to NPR as it's not a digital tuner and switching between KEXP and NPR is too painful. So sadly most mornings I wake up to Morning Edition - now with a 100% more Mitt Romney! - or worse, Marketplace. There are not enough adjectives to describe my hatred of Kai Ryssdal, especially before I've had a cup of coffee. Yet strangely, silence in the morning is worse. I need that chatter, that background hum. But I am also tired of yelling at the radio "you lying sack of doo-doo!" and switching it off in a huff. So the internet radio - amazing. I can preset and stream all my favourite radio stations from around the world and the internets - including every CBC radio station and BBC. I can attach my iPod or phone and play that. Or stream my Pandora stations or my iTunes playlist. If it could stream my record player we would truly be in business. But this is so perfect for my cooking, doing dishes, Sunday Brunch life. I love love love it and love tossing out my cracked, ancient, buzzy ridiculous alarm radio for good.

While on the last minute birthday trip I bought myself a new cookbook:

Oh I love everything about it. I read it from cover to cover and I want to make everything in the book. And then I put it on display.

 Then I bought this clock I have been wanting since approximately 2002.

Contemporary Clocks design by Amazon

and the densest, least frivolous purchase (I'm not even including my new red peep-toe wedges) was this book:

Because we are set to close on the silly house tomorrow, 6 months after we began this process. And we have a lot of renovation to do. Which I might just document here, cause a house needs a lot more than 1 million cookbooks and a decent clock.