What a Party!

I think the older I get the more fun I have celebrating my birthday. When I was younger, it followed a set routine. Family dinner, cake and presents & party with friends that also included cake & presents. Sleepovers were big once I got a bit older but we never did anything too extravagant. My parent's never rented a place or had party entertainers or "themes" other than matching hats/plates/napkins/silverware in our chosen obsession of the moment. Barbie was quite the popular choice as I recall! :)

This year, I really didn't want one of those crazy run around birthday's that leave you more exhausted. Not to mention, my birthday was on a Monday & I was undecided if I should take the day off. In the end I chose to go into work since I expected a low key day.

Party celebrations kicked off Friday afternoon at work when the office took me out to lunch. They continued all day Saturday when my husband took me apple picking at our local favorite orchard. We also picked up a bunch of mums, more gourds and mini pumpkins for the house and Chick-fil-a for lunch!

Saturday afternoon he was reffing a hockey game so I went along and relaxed at the rink catching up on some magazines until he was done. Afterwords he took me out to Hobby Lobby & Michaels to do some more shopping and so I could grab some supplies for some crafts I was working on.

We met friends for dinner at Bertuccis and then when out bowling late into the night with a whole bunch of friends from our small group. We wrapped up around 11:30pm and then went out for "dessert" which turned into drinks and hot pretzels and sour cream chive potato wedges at Buffalo Wild Wings. We didn't get home until after 1:30! Way too late for this old couple.

Sunday we slept in until close to noon and then drove out with my family to spend time with my grandparents. My grandfather cooked about 8 pounds of spaghetti and his famous home-made meatballs & garlic bread and we brought the salad and our family traditional decadent cherry chocolate cake.

My grandfather and I share a birthday so we always make a point to going out and celebrating together with him. Ravens played that day so the afternoon consisted of gorging on pasta, watching football and working on crafts. It was sort of like nursing a hangover. :)

Sunday night was a birthday celebration at home with my family. Homemade pizza and more cake totally hit the spot. I think I put on like 5 pounds over the weekend from all the eating but it was all so good!

Monday morning Husband woke me up with a little blue box...it was pretty much the best way to wake up on a Monday. And Tiffany & Co retweeted my tweet that morning which made it even more fun as birthday congratulations started pouring in from random strangers! :)


Husband had a hockey game that night but is still recovering from his knee injury so we went out and watched the team play after he surprised me with the rest of my birthday presents. All in all, it was a pretty fabulous way to celebrate a milestone birthday!