Picture thanks to RichardArmitageNet.com

I know many of you are thinking about Richard Armitage’s birthday coming up on August 22. In my household, however, we are celebrating two other birthday’s this week! My husband’s birthday was this weekend and, at his request, I cooked chili for dinner and we finished off with his favourite dessert, vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries. My younger son turns 16 this week — and his milestone birthday is August 22! We are going out for dinner tonight to celebrate, as he leaves for a 10-night leadership camp tomorrow

…. leaving me free thereafter to think about a certain celebrity birthday!

Treats for me:

My Armitage-related spending might be getting a little out of control right now. (Not sorry.)

• Not too long ago, I bought myself a discreet fangirling case for my cell phone through Redbubble. It’s one of Guylty’s RA designs and goes well with the Guylty-made pillow that I won in the Valentine’s Day Raffle. (Thanks Guylty!)

• After reading all the raves about the RA character John Standring, I ordered Sparkhouse from Amazon. It’s a region 2 DVD, but I can play it on my laptop. It arrives tomorrow! Maybe I’ll watch it on August 22!

• Over on Guylty’s blog, she was mentioning how she was doing her crafting while listening to the RA-narrated Lords of the North. I’ve read really good things about this, but as far as I knew, it hasn’t been available anywhere. But when I commented on this, “snowyjo” shared that there was one MP3 copy on eBay coming out of Australia. I can play MP3s in my car (which is where I usually listen to audiobooks), so I went ahead and ordered it! The shipping was free and it should arrive by mid-September.

Now… should I also do some bidding in the RA birthday auction? (See below.) (Absolutely no spending on ANYTHING come the fall.)

Fundraising Auction:

CelebRAtionWithPurpose is the tag for Guylty Pleasure’s charity auction in honour of RA’s birthday. There are hand-made and autographed items, as well as other pieces that an RA fan would value. Her post describes how to bid on the 15 items/sets over the next couple of days (watch the deadlines!), with all proceeds going to British charity Young Minds. This is one of the charities Richard Armitage supports through Just Giving, and it focuses on “the wellbeing and mental health of young people, helping young people have the strongest possible voice in improving their mental health.” What an opportunity to buy a RAPS, a plushie, or other goodies, while supporting a worthy cause!

Other Charitable Opportunities:

Some fans like to contribute to one of the charities supported by RA on his Just Giving page. Servetus at Me+Richard Armitage has thoughtfully provided a list here. Gratiana Lovelace at Something About Love (A) suggested collecting loose change to send to one of those charities as a birthday tribute and even designed a graphic for the change jar! All the small amounts can add up to something big!

Other Birthday Frivolities:

Planning for a fantasy RA birthday bash has been going on over at Something About Love (A). Grati suggested a beautiful (fantasy) venue in Osoyoos, British Columbia, which is the Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort and Spa. My family and I go to Osoyoos every year (see my most recent trip here), and I’ve had dinner at Spirit Ridge and done a tasting at the winery. The Nk’Mip Cellars has some good wine and has an interesting history, being North America’s first Aboriginal owned-and-operated winery. We decided that a nice Pinot Noir would go well with the fantasy dinner.

Have a great week everyone!