My 41st Birthday: Part 1!

I turned 41 on Saturday! And I had a fantastic birthday weekend! I'm breaking this into two posts because there are just so many fun things to share. My celebration started on Friday (which I took off work) with a visit to my parents' new house in Cherokee Village, Arkansas. 

I got to my parents' house just in time for dinner. Cherokee Village is a lot smaller than Jonesboro, the town I grew up in, so they don't have many restaurants. But there are a few restaurants in nearby Ash Flat, including a Mexican place and a Thai place. We decided on a Mexican restaurant called El Palenque because they had a vegetarian menu with a Veggie Fajita dish. We assumed we'd be ordering margaritas, but to our surprise, they don't serve alcohol! But that was okay. The fajitas were awesome (SO MANY VEGGIES!), and they served us the largest-ever bowl of guac.

After dinner, we went back to my parents' house for presents and cake. But first, my dad made us some margaritas. They have a "bar room" in their new house, so we sat at the bar for a pic. My mom made the Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake pictured above, and my parents got me a new Garmin Forerunner 745 running watch!

I went to bed around 10 pm, because I wanted to get up early for a birthday run to test my new watch. I got up around 6 am and had this No Cow Birthday Cake protein bar and coffee before heading out in their new neighborhood.

I'm not used to hills because Memphis is very, very flat. But they have lots of hills in Northern Arkansas! This was a very tough 8-miler!

After my run, I did a little birthday Yoga with Adriene video outside by the lake behind their house. What a perfect view for my yoga practice!

While I did yoga, my mom made a Vegan Breakfast Casserole with biscuits, Just Egg, vegan cheese, and gravy, which we enjoyed with hash browns and mimosas.

We took a quick family selfie, and then it was time for me to head back to Memphis to meet up with friends for my birthday party. More on that tomorrow! What a perfect birthday! My parents the best!