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!!