Alrighty tighty folks. Here it is, the birthday update from the wunderkind (That’s me, cuz, it’s my birthday! Hm, maybe not any more, but in blog world, it still is – and besides, I haven’t gotten any card from Cyd yet, so it must still be my birthday.)

I had a really nice birthday. I didn’t have to wake up early and Flo was still in the bed when I did wake up. These two things are different than normal, so it was really wonderful. Of course I opened my presents straight off.

Excuse me, the photographer got a little distracted. This is our new TV, which was also a birthday gift. It’s a 42″ plasma screen whammy. Wahoo! No more guessing who died in the show!

OK, then, back to business here.

No, this wasn’t taking up that whole box. That was a different gift. More pics of that later. This one is a gift certificate to a nice brunch. Ooh, was someone thinking of us!

OK, this is the gift from the first box. You will now see Pirates of the Caribbean photos interspersed throughout the blog entry.

This is my long-awaited, long-back ordered Christmas gift – a spoon rest. Maybe I won’t have to scrub the stovetop as often now.

My Cap’n Jack rings…

Flo seems to have some sort of imbalance that becomes solved when he puts things on his head (see his birthday blog entry, for instance – swim shorts on his head). In this case, it’s a silicone bundt pan. Seems to be the right size, anyway.

And more from the baking set (gonna use the loaf pan tomorrow, after I buy eggs. Here I come banana bread!)

My toothbrush holder! My toothbrush holder! I no longer fear placing my toothbrush next to my hairbrush and exchanging hairs! I got my toothbrush holder!

Since I can only wear black, white or gray at work, I wanted something colorful and bold to make a splash with. Flo wonderfully obliged! (Unfortunately, it sort of blends in with my green sweater, but come on people, work with me!)

Somehow, I thought I recognized this box, despite its clever white disguise…

And confirming my suspicions – it was the toilet box my mom had sent our presents in! Now I’ve gotten TWICE presents in a toilet box. Ei ei

Oohoo – still a few left-

So. After we got done playing Captain Jack together, Flo and I went to the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart. I had never been there and he hadn’t in years. We had a really nice time. I read it’s one of the largest combined zoological and botanical gardens in Europe and I’ll tell you, I was at least (if not more) impressed by the plants as by the animals. Since there were too many photos, I posted them on our picture website, with commentary, so if you want a Kristy-tour of the zoo, click the photo here

And then in the evening, we picked up pizza from my favorite Italian restaurant and spent the night watching Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – one of my birthday presents.