I've been 27 now for a whole three days and have concluded that 27 is grand. Really grand. The kind of grand that even breaking the "H" candle in your now "Happy Birtday" cake that you baked for yourself can't turn sour! In fact, 27 is grand enough to get me through the severe stomachache caused by eating a large piece of that cake in 90 seconds or less. Chris stepped out of the living room while I began cutting that cake and by the time he reappeared, I had cut each of us a piece, put them on two plates, and ate mine. It was delicious; I wasn't sorry.

And, for not feeling that old, I scored big on old gifts! Each is so unique, I thought I would share some photos.

My Nona purchased these antique West German plates for me while she was visiting:

The compartments look like teeth, don't they? Which is fitting, after all, because its a plate.

For my birtday celebration, Chris woke me up early in the morning with three neatly wrapped gifts. The first was a book called The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City, by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. The second, a video camera:

A FILM video camera! I have no clue how to work it or how I'll use it yet. I do know, however, that there is an entire Vimeo group devoted to the super 8 film for this Sankyo ES-25XL so that makes it legit.

Last, and certainly not least, is something that I had been wanting for a very, very long time:

Its a fully functioning, 1961 Underwood Touch-Master Five typewriter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris purchased this typewriter from Office Peeps, which is an office supply company in Watertown, SD.  When Chris asked his grandfather, Merlin, for typewriter model recommendations, Merlin in turn talked to Office Peeps owner Joel Vockrodt, who in turn was able to locate this machine in his warehouse. Joel's father, Maury Vockrodt, is a friend and former business partner of Chris's grandfather (here is a short history of the company). Long story short, the typewritter arrived in Seattle in mint condition!!

Thank you, Chris (even if I have learned that I am terrible at typing and can't spell without spell check)!!!

Seriously, look at a scan of the page I typed in the image above (click to enlarge).

Speaking of typewriters and missing letters on birtday cakes, the night Nona arrived in Seattle she busted out the following birtday gift from her suitcase:

I have to confess that the giant, gold letter R confused me initially.

Nona presented  it so proudly to myself, my mother, and Chris only to be met with silent stares from myself and my mother.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"Roby, silly!" Nona scolded. (A little background: my fiancé's name is Chris Roby).

There was an immediate resounding "OH!!!" from my mother and I.

"I thought R was for Randy!" I said, laughing (that's my Dad's name).

"I was thinking it was for Reynolds!" my Mom chimed in (that's my sister's married name).

Then I glanced at Chris who was giving me with this "you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me" face.

I shrugged.

You can do that when you're 27.