Birthdays of the Past
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| 23 - Pregnant. Hubbs hosted a surprise dinner at our apartment. It was for me and my close friends. It was a beautiful night! |
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| 24 - A Girls Night Out. |
24 - Fondue dinner with my boo.
25 - Surprise party.
25 - He is always in on the surprise.
26 - Surprise party.
26 - Bday trip to Atlantic City.
27 - Surprise bday lunch
28 - Surprise bday dinner.
29 - Surprise trip to Jamaica from my parents.
30 - Cruise to the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and Virgin Islands with my parents and friends.
31 - Family dinner with my birthday twin, Olivia.
...
As you can probably imagine from the pics, my birthdays are always pretty awesome. It's weird, though. I've never asked or expected to have a major birthday *thing* each year. Since my 21st surprise birthday party and, as long as I've been with Hubbs, he (and my fab friends) has gone out of his way to MAKE my birthdays awesome.
As a matter of fact, I'd come to the point that when people would ask for my birthday plans, I would say I wanted to do NOTHING.
No party. No get-together. No stress on the people I love.
This year, for the first time in my adult life, I decided to get my own birthday ball rolling. I'm 30 - 1 and I can make my own stress-free birthday plans.
Step 1 - reach out to Mom and put in my requests.
Growing up, we didn't have a lot. Don't get me wrong - it was always more than enough but, thinking back, we didn't have a lot by any means.
When it was your birthday, you had two options - a party or money ($10/year). After my tenth party extravaganza, I chose the money every year and my greedy copycat little brothers followed suit.
In addition to the birthday funds, we got a family birthday dinner where the birthday guest of honor chose the menu. My birthday menu every year?
Lasagna. Egg rolls. Mom's cake (any cake because my mommy can bake her buns off - get it? BUNS? hee hee).
For my birthday this year, I called my mom and put in my request for lasagna and egg rolls. I also added my favorite childhood desserts - orange truffles (or orange balls) and cornflake chews (or corn flake balls).
I sent out a text to my nearest and dearest.
I purchased a simple but fab little dress.
I threw on my Christmas 2013 Louboutins.
I made my hair appointment and BOOM! Party.
Dad made his famous egg rolls:
Homemade pizzas:
Italian Wedding Soup:
My brudder, Mike, made lasagna. I was skeptical but it was really good:
Mom made grown-up s'mores (graham crackers with homemade toffee/caramel spread and various yummy toppings) and orange truffles:
She put them in her pretty serveware I purchased from the Goodwill still in the BRAND NEW IZAAC MIZRAHI box for $2.99! Thrifting Pros, toldya.
Corn Flake chews:
And my parents set it all up for a great casual eat-n-chat atmosphere:
While we're on the subject of food, can we talk about my birthday cake?
Misty came to my home to deliver Olivia's birthday cake (more on that coming next week) and asked for some ideas for my birthday cake design. I told her whatever she came up with would be fab and to send me the invoice (Hubbs was responsible for the cake).
I called Misty before the lunch and reminded her to send the invoice with Sheena (who was picking up the cake). She said she would. Imagine my surprise when Sheena walks in with a beautiful cake and tells me my invoice is HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
I just love Misty. Great vendors make great friends.
I know what you're thinking and, while I love them, my favorite part isn't the fabulous boobies that Misty put on the sunbathing cake topper me:
My favorite part of her design is near and dear to my heart; it's based upon MY BLOG LOGO/DESIGN!!!
The flowers, the colors, the anchor, the -- EVERYTHING.
I just love it.
I shared my birthday with Olivia and we had a photo-op to show our ONE-ness:
Whenever someone would ask, "Olivia, how old are you?" This would be her response:
I remember practicing ones with Z...
From Munchface's first birthday party. More to come in a throwback post soon.
It was an awesome birthday surrounded by awesome people :)
The little ones had mini fashion shows and giggled all over the house. The men enjoyed drinks by the fire. The women were chatting and hanging out in the kitchen. Man, after the birthday song, everyone came up to the main level and the sounds of birthday hit me.
There was noise and laughter, food and fun, first-time meetings and cake... It was officially a birthday party. Mike pulled out his video camera, Mom turned on the Beyoncé and the wiggling commenced.
The Dance Contest
They both won $3
As folks packed up, my mom washed dishes while my dad flirted and wiggled around the kitchen; it was like birthdays of my past... Our family may have grown but its quintessence still remains - food, fun and LOVE are what makes my birthdays complete!
...
We headed home and, almost immediately upon our arrival, I got a text that Munch's school was closed. I was officially snowed in with the Hubbs and the Munchface.
While chilling in the birthday aftermath with the snow coming down, my doorbell rang.
Two little people holding two little cupcakes arrived.
It was 'Queda and her little sweeties, Junie and Gilly. She came to uphold our running tradition to take a shot of tequila on my birthday. The grumpy 31 year old within me was shocked and busy and slightly annoyed and trying to clean and on a teleconference and working on a serious deadline but... After a moment, I was good. I relaxed and realized I needed to enjoy this thoughtful surprise :)
Shots - done. Breakfast?
Done.
A fabulous birthday spent with the people who matter most in my life?
Done. Done. DONE!
