Ticket to A Dream

Birthdays are kind of a big deal.  I am still like a 5-year old when it comes to my birthday.  My parents always made my big day pretty special. Mom would decorate the kitchen table, make a special-request breakfast, and cover the front door with one of those $0.99 plastic "Happy Birthday" cut-away banners sold in most grocery store floral departments (she sill uses the same one to this day to celebrate family birthdays. The corners are saggy and puckered - each pock mark representing another birthday gone by.  I am embarrassed to say that I scoffed at the plastic banner and its pitiful faded, tattered state last time I saw it. Shame on me.)  She once called the local radio station and had the "Light Lunch" segment dedicated to me on my birthday.  Dad would pretty much spoil me with whatever I asked for (thankfully within reason...no ponies or the 3000 GT I lusted over for my 16th birthday.)  Yeah, birthdays were a big deal.  So I'm happy to report, that my husband has picked up the gauntlet and done a pretty good job with keeping the tradition. He endures the weeks (read: months) of my pointing to things in stores and magazines, "this would be a great present for my birthday!"  or after reading a new restaurant review "How about we go to _____, for my birthday?" Somewhere in the back of his mind I know he is chanting, "for better, for worse, for better, or worse..."  I am a bit...eh...enthusiastic about the whole thing. He lets me pick where I want to eat, pretends it is the first he's heard of it when I exclaim, "THAT'S really what I want for my birthday! (secretly knowing it will change 45 times before I actually decide)"   He's a good man.  So this year, has been really no exception.  I have gone from wanting a mirror from IKEA, a gold charm for my bracelet, a food-processor, to a new pair of cowboy boots. But isn't the process part of the fun?  Was I the only kid who eagerly awaited the Toys R' Us ad in the Sunday paper so I could circle the things I wanted?  Or dog-eared pages in the Service Merchandise catalog?  I think not....it just seems like I haven't quite grown out of it yet.  So it is with a slight caveat that I reveal the latest item on the birthday wish list...this house:

"Edwardian-style residence totals over 3000 square feet, comprising a glorious 3 bedroom, 3 bath home with a gourmet chef's kitchen and sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay."  Yes, please.

The view from my future balcony.  You can see Alcatraz there on the right.

Ok, before you start thinking that I may be overshooting slightly (and feeling really sorry for poor Lew), I assure you this birthday wish, may actually come true thanks to The Fourth Annual San Francisco Dream House Raffle. I actually have a shot.  For $150, we are entered to win this dream house (or $1.5 million in cash if we so choose).  There are also four "mini-drawings" leading up to the Grand Prize raffle bringing the grand total of getting-excited potential to FIVE! Five divided by $150...$30 a pop. Not bad for the gift that keeps on giving...
until the July 14th drawing anyway.