It's my birthday!!!

This year has is going waaay too quick - can I be 31 already? Luckily I have a lovely husband and friends to help me celebrate, if not in person then via the mail box :)
Not much has happened on the sewing front, wore my completed half circle skirt to work a received quite a few compliments on it! Show one of my co-workers the serger rolled hem that I was worried about and he said that maybe my tension was a little uneven in places, but not overly and it still looked OK. Coming from someone who used to teach clothing design/manufacture classes at a college I will take that as a good sign!
I am feeling the urge to start cutting out and preparing something - maybe a nice summery dress? For my birthday I received a gift certificate from my M-I-L , however after hours of treading the tiles at the shops I haven't be able to find anything to buy clothing -wise with it.
I'll be darned if trying to squeeze into those "average" dress sizes doesn't just makes me want to give up on clothes shopping altogether!
Maybe it's time to head back to the sewing machine (and lovely alterable dress patterns) after all?