So – 60 eh? Yup I am still a little in shock but I actually feel more energetic and vibrant than I did in my 40s when I was still smoking like crazy, eating crap and barely getting any exercise. And I try to remind myself it is stupid to feel bad about getting older because – what the hell is the alternative anyway? My mum died at 58 – lung cancer took her out way too soon and she begged me on her death bed “not to go out like this”. 🙁 It took me more than 10 years to quit smoking but once I did – that was it – I tried to have 1 cigarette at the 6 month point – (long kink – play involved story there) but the bottom line was I got sick as a dog for HOURS afterward and that was that. I was officially a non smoker ever since but I also gained a bit of weight afterwards that I have been trying to work off ever since.

Anyway, now I have officially outlived mom by a couple of years and have been smoke free more than 15 years. These days, I am eating better (trying to eat more whole food plant based meals than not), hitting the treadmill at least 6 days a week and trying to add more strength training to my regimen, getting good quality sleep, drinking more water, all that good healthy stuff! I am most definitely on a mission to improve my health and overall well being so I can stay as fit and healthy as possible for as long as possible!! I want to go crowd surfing again this summer!! LOL

So to kick off my 60th birthday this morning I decided to run / power walk an 8k race on my treadmill to “earn” myself a virtual race birthday medal that says “Birthday’s are just natures way of saying Eat More Cake!” This medal offered by VirtualRunEvents.com benefits “Make a Wish Foundation” (whom I love helping.) While I don’t think I will ever be a super fast runner, I am getting pretty decent endurance at this point. I managed a bit over 5 miles in 77 mins which included a 5 min warm up and a several min cool down! That was definitely one of the longest races I have ever run so I was pretty pleased that I managed it no matter what the pace was. So yay me!! <wink>

Brett of course pampered me the entire rest of the day – although not much more than usual, which is already really freaking well. 😉 I was shown so much love today but lots of folks – I got a ton of birthday wishes from friends and family – both direct messages & Facebook messages as well as emails. Thank you all so much for taking the time to think of me. I also was given a bunch of really lovely birthday gifts – the gorgeous roses in the photo, a dress and really lovely blouse, a really cool steam punk bag, a book I wanted, lots of Harney’s tea, some amazing boutique granola from the Flatbush Granola Company, several Amazon gift cards, and a really large cash donation towards an AMAZING Thai food feast that I got to share with my wonderful husband Brett, Myke and my favorite teenager. Thai is my favorite food of all and I hardly ever have it sadly. (Birthday resolution – Eat more Thai food)

One of my other birthday resolutions – hmm maybe more of a stress reducing promise to myself – has been to embrace my greying hair and begin to let it grow out instead of having to cover the freaking roots Every ….. Damn … Month!! I am sick of it I tell you – just sick of it! Now don’t laugh but this one is freaking scary gang. You see, as a woman of a certain age you become painfully aware that you are not getting any damn younger (even if I do FEEL more vibrant than I have in years) – and grey hair is a visible reminder that I ain’t a spring chicken – and yet – I love the idea of playing with other colors – maybe a splash of magenta or some purple streaks and to be honest – the color does not show up the way I would like over brown hair dye … so – I decided it was time to let the roots start coming in naturally and as they do – when I have a lighter base color to play with – I am going to play with some color pops. 😀 I much prefer the idea of playing with streaks or splashes of color when I want to than being a slave to covering roots for another year. The color expert gal at the salon said I am way better off letting it come in naturally then trying to strip the brown out and ending up with orange. (I don’t think orange is in my color palette – lol) Luckily the dungeon lighting is a bit kinder but I am good with this – for now anyway. 🙂 We’ll see how long I can bear to let it grow in before I start playing with it.

Side note on that – my dearly departed friend Lady Lori was the first person to color my hair back in my mid 30s. I think I had enough stray grays that she said they were driving her crazy even though I wasn’t very concerned about them at at the time, but once she got me started on it – it felt like I was on that freaking treadmill forever – (well over 25 years so far) … she’d probably be giving me that disapproving look right now – lol but I am ready to make a change. I just hope the transition isn’t ridiculously awkward.

So yeah – it was an amazing freaking day today – now the ehh not so great part. Sadly I got a call from Master R at La Domain and get is experiencing a medical crisis that meant he needed to cancel this weekend’s party. I am of course very disappointed but mostly concerned for him and hope he will be on the mend really soon so that we can reschedule. 🙂

Ok – heading to bed – thanks for reading – sending you all loads of love and appreciation. ~ Mz Suzanne

Thank you to everyone that wished me a happy birthday, showered me in love and gifts and just made my birthday AMAZING! I LOVE YOU ALL!! 🙂