Birthday Moments…

Hey there, peeps! :)

Thank you SO very, very much for the birthday wishes! It was so much fun getting to read about your favorite gifts… and it was especially fun when you said the question brought back memories that had long been forgotten or came out of nowhere. I love moments that come flooding back… and love even more that I got to share in them with you!

I had a lovely birthday. It was rainy here and I didn’t start off feeling the greatest [funny how a disease won’t give you the day off for special occasions], but it got better as the day went on, and it turned into an eventful evening!

I’m trying to write this post quickly and fill it with photos because during my birthday celebration with friends we had a power outage… nothing like a birthday by candlelight! Well, it was actually a birthday by flashlight, and I was later relieved to discover I had little votive candles. I think my friends were surprised I had anything on hand… I’m not very good for stocking up in case of an emergency. We’ll just say that Susie had extra bottled water for me during the Millennium New Year in case the world went to hell in a hand basket. :)

Anyway, the power is back on and I want to get something written and posted quick in case the electricity decides to go out again!

We celebrated in good old-fashioned birthday style, as my friend Heidi had mailed me out a box of birthday decorations this week. How fun is that?!? She said she wished she could be here to decorate my condo, but sent the supplies along… complete with a Happy Birthday banner and everything. It made it so fun to feel like she was right there celebrating with us.

And the decorations even included a little cake decoration filled with chocolate goodies, which pretty much tells you the theme of my day… FOOD. Good God, people, trust me when I tell you my friends will never let me go hungry. The ironic part is that I literally spent the 90s avoiding food as much as possible, and now it seems that all the food I passed up is finding its way back to my door! Literally.

I started the day off by opening my door to find THIS cake waiting for me in the hallway. My friend Kelly had made me a Better Than Sex Cake… think German chocolate cake with holes poked in it, and then drizzled with sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping. Put some cool whip on top of that and then garnish it with some crushed Heath bar… and you have a party in your mouth.

Did I mention that no food has calories on your birthday? No? Well, it’s a rule. Somewhere.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, I dove in with a fork before the thought of taking a photo crossed my mind. :)

Next to the cake was a box that came in the mail from my friend Wente, who must have been afraid I would be cake-less since she sent me a few little treasures as well.

Good thing my neighbor Laura and her husband Dave stopped by with some liquid refreshments or I wouldn’t have had anything to wash that cake down with… and we’d hate for a girl to be parched on her birthday.

Oh… and did I mention my friends that came over for supper? Did I mention the Chinese take out and the Jell-O cake that they brought with them? The cake that, during the great black-out of 2009, Riley managed to jump up on a chair and get a few bites out of before Susie realized he was in a room all by himself? Yep. That cake. It was pretty darn tasty as well. [Just ask the dog.]

And while I LOVED all the Facebook well wishes, and the special blog post that my friend Jessica put up telling people to come check out my giveaway, and the fact that my friend Matthew told all of his Twitter followers to send me birthday wishes… the absolute, hands-down, best part of my day came from my sweet class of first and second graders.

My friend Deb took video of them singing Happy Birthday to me, and then they each recorded a special birthday greeting as well. My heart exploded like you wouldn’t believe. I LOVE these kids. I wish I could put the video up for you all to see… they are so sweet and funny, and they absolutely made my day.

All in all, I’d say 36 is off to a good start.

***** ***** *****

What’s that? I forgot something?

Oh, right! Must be the old age setting in…. the winner of yesterday’s canvas is:

Mandy Thompson!!!

Congrats, girlie! :) Send me an email with your mailing address to gitzengirl@gmail.com and I’ll get it sent off to you!!!