Posts Tagged "birthdays"
A very merry unbirthday!
I have to admit that I am still in love with my 30th birthday party. Of all the parties I’ve thrown the past few years, this has got to be my best and most favorite [yes, narrowly beating out last year's Ice Cream Social and my 28th Mini Golf Invitational] party to date.
This was a real labor of love. I spent an embarrassing amount of time trolling the Internet looking for the perfect invitations. Since it was my 30th birthday, I figured I mail actual invitations instead of the usual Evite. Originally I had planned on making the invitations myself [see: glutton for punishment] but after searching through countless templates and inspiration pictures, I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do. Enter: Etsy. After a quick search, I came across this invitation suite from Aidensmom37 that made my heart stop.
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I had a torrid love affair with these invites, which I had printed through CatPrint [who, by the way was awesome to work with and I HIGHLY recommend using them. I plan on using them for all my future fancy invitation printing needs]. I think they set the mood perfectly for the party.
The vision I had in mind was one of a mismatched tea sets, much like in the animated movie, so I spent several months stalking a few different Goodwill stores looking through their collection of housewares for the perfect teacups and saucers. It took a while to gather all of the settings I would need [and then a backup when I found out my Mom had accidentally broken one of the tea cups...and I was already short at this point with a week to go!] but I actually had fun hunting for them. The original plan was to buy them [I paid no more than $2 for a full set of a cup and saucer] and then donate them back to Goodwill but now that I have them, I plan on keeping them. You never know when you’ll need 20 tea sets again!
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The menu wasn’t typical of an actual tea party, with heavier items since it was a “high tea” and I invited boys. Knowing that tea sandwiches never satisfy MY hunger, I decided to serve something more substantial to appease everyone, especially them. I ended up serving steak & provolone cheese sandwiches, thai turkey sliders, meat pies, and mini quiche along with sweet iced tea.
My dessert table was highlighted with my awesome topsy turvy three-tiered cake [the flavors: the top was s'mores, the second tier was chocolate and the bottom tier was funfetti] and flanked by purple velvet mini cupcakes, banana tartlets and my go-to favorite vanilla bean sugar cookies. With a cake like that, how can you NOT be excited about turning 30? I’ll tell you how: it’s impossible. I was so excited to finally get a professional cake like all those Food Network Challenges I overdosed on for years.
Even though I always get a little nuts for the details, the main point of celebrating my birthday with these crazy parties is too celebrate with friends and family that I love dearly. I always have a good time with my friends and I strive to make sure everyone who attends does so as well. When it comes down to it, even if I had managed to stage a party with the precision of a magazine spread, it wouldn’t matter if my friends didn’t enjoy themselves. But from the looks of these pictures, I’d say this party was a huge success:
I had so much fun with this birthday that I haven’t even thought about what I want to do next year. I’m still enjoying this year [and we all know how quickly I start looking for ideas for the next party]! Thank you to everyone for making this an awesomely amazing birthday.
Note: The really awesome photos are by Abe Arriola. The other not so awesome ones are mine.
Read MoreMaking 30 look good
I turned 30 years old on Friday.
Apparently I’m supposed to be wringing my hands and flopping upon couches, alternately bemoaning my descent into “MIDDLE AGE” and desperately trying to resurrect my newly dead 20s as if it were supposed to save my life, because we all know life is [allegedly] over once you hit the big three-oh. In all fairness, I will admit that I was once briefly worried about turning 30 back when I was in my teens but that was so long ago [ha!] that it was obviously because I hadn’t lived long enough to realize just how tame turning 30 actually is.
And you know what? Turning 30 is a kind of a big non-event event. Let me explain: 30 is always a big deal because it’s a milestone birthday [like 1, 10 [first year in double digits!], 16, 18, 21, 40, 50 and so forth] but it’s also so not a big deal because it’s just another year. I will say, in my expert opinion, now that I’ve been 30 for all of four days, I’ve come to this conclusion: 30 is awesome! It really isn’t this horrid thing that some people make it out to be. Let’s face it, you spend the first third of your life figuring out who you are and what you want. You struggle and flail about. You wear all black one day and then pastel colors the next. You live in a constant state of confusion. This is what your teens and 20s are filled with: turbulence. We’ve all been there and know what I’m talking about. It’s exhausting. But by the time you’re 30, all the experimenting is done. You’ve got the hard stuff figured out and are now securely in cruise control. And you know what? It feels so good to not worry about stuff like that. Now I can focus on more important things. Thinks like, how many food items can I pair with bacon [so far: a lot].
What’s left to do at this point is taking some time to reassess my personal vision and goals, because it’s always a good idea to take some time every few years to reevaluate your life’s goals and their relevancy to what you want and where you are. This I learned in my 20s. See! Another great thing about turning 30: finally being able to use all those little life lessons you picked up earlier. They all suddenly make sense now!
But seriously, I’m looking forward to seeing what the next 30 years will bring me. There are some really big things on the horizon for me: marriage, kids, a career defining moment of awesomeness, some more random fun. Maybe I’ll even make one of those “30 things to do while 30″ lists [I love lists].
But for now, I’m going to enjoy the first few weeks of being a newly minted 30-year old.
And so far, one of the best things about turning 30? Getting an awesome cake like this:
I’ll turn any age if it means I get cake.
Read MoreBirthdaying it up all around town
Now that I’ve officially been 29 for two days now [as of the fifth], I decided it was time to start doing things that 29 year olds do. Mainly things like curling my hair.
I know what you’re thinking: curling my hair isn’t something specific to 29 year olds. Especially now when my 20 year old sister curls her hair all the time. But I don’t always curl my hair and really, it never really became a MUST DO for me. Some days I feel the need to fancy up my hair and my birthday was one of those days, and it turned out fabulously. And I’m honestly thinking of doing it more often. Partly because my hair actually looks pretty good curled and because my new flat iron is the shiz.
But back to my birthday. I had a lot of fun. I met up with a high school friend for dinner [the other one bailed because he had pink eye. I scoffed] and we had a fabulous time talking and eating our way through the special tasting menu. We both ordered it and shared so we got to try everything. Quite the delicious approach. Our dinner probably would have been better had the mother at the other end of the banquette was better able to manage her kids. It looked like she was overmatched: one kid was running around up and down the bench and nearly ran into me several times and the other was just wandering around the area. I tried really hard not to give her the stink eye but seriously? Teach your kids how to properly behave in public and maybe you won’t be so stressed out when you do take them out. Plus, the rest of us would really, really appreciate it.
My favorite part of the day was the first half that I spent with my mom in Yountville and Napa. We stopped at Bouchon Bakery for birthday macarons and a brioche roll [butterilicious]. We hadn’t planned on doing anything else but since the weather was beautiful and we didn’t have to be anywhere just then, we ended up having an impromptu picnic at the Vintage Estate Marketplace across the street. The Pavilion is gorgeous area that actually is a dedicated wedding venue that we both fell in love with. I would totally have our wedding here if it wouldn’t have eaten up just about our entire wedding budget.
Anywho, while we were snacking and chatting, we spotted celebrity chef Michael Chiarello meandering by; makes sense because his restaurant, Bottega, is located there, along with his store, NapaStyle. My mom spotted him first and we both kind of sat there and tried really hard not to stare at him. And then on our way out of the plaza, we walked by him. He said hello and nodded and I totally chickened out on asking for a picture even though my mom was ready to run him down for me and totally would have if I let her [what can I say, she loves her daughters]. She totally geeked out that he looked at her and nodded. It was the cutest thing ever; she was so excited. For a moment I slightly regretted not asking for a picture [and yes, I was prepared to play the birthday card] but sometimes I wonder if celebrities are relieved when they don’t have to make idle chit chat with fans and pose for pictures and can just go about their merry little ways. So really, I was doing HIM a favor.
You hear that Michael Chiarello? You’re welcome.
Read MoreOh mulligans, jukeboxes and s’mores
I can’t believe the weekend is over. Sigh, I guess I was just having way too much fun.
So the birthday weekend can be classified as a success. Good times all around. Sure I was a little late getting to my own party [by like 5 minutes] but that’s just because I took a little bit longer than I had originally anticipated shopping at Old Navy.
I had a 30% coupon that was begging to be used. And used it was.
Anywho, the group met up at Scandia for my 28th Birthday Mini Golf Invitational and after joking about wagering a buck a hole, everyone got down to business once it was revealed that there would be a prize for the first place winner. There were was some good-matured jawing going on and even though I had removed myself from contention for the prize I was still getting accused of sneaking in before the party to practice, especially once everyone got a look at my newly gifted putter I was carting around. Oh the jokes. The jokes.
I started off really hot and then had a really bad hole and I just couldn’t recover from there. But no worries, I ended up about 6th out of 15 people so hey, not too bad. Though there were some hilariously errant hit golf balls and plenty of laughs. We ended up having a tie for first place so we trekked across the street to the batting cages where Mike and Pat had at it for the win.
And Mike emerged the victor:
Playing the cards
Six days and a wake up until I can kiss 27 goodbye. Forever.
Wow, I make it seem like my 27th year sucked. It actually didn’t. Lots of things happened. Like my promotion, failing the GMAT, starting grad school and all of that other stuff.
Whoa, did I really fail and GMAT last year? It seems like it was longer ago. Hum. Funny how that happens.
Yesterday I attended my first funeral ever. It was for the grandmother of a friend who lived to the ripe old age of 71. The service itself was actually kind of entertaining. They had sung a couple of her favorite songs and let’s just say it kind of turned into a concert. My mom and I couldn’t stop giggling. Though I will say that I was kind of annoyed at some of the little kids that were present. I’m just saying, unless its immediate family, maybe smaller children shouldn’t attend. They were noisy and one of them started complaining about getting in trouble during the prayer! I mean, really? It was so distracting.
One thing I’m glad about though: that my church does not have wooden pews. Yeow my butt hurt after a while. I kept fidgeting just so I could try to keep my bottom from falling asleep.
To be honest, when I wasn’t staring at the unruly kids [and wondering how the other Pastor that was supposed to be leading a prayer could be late. I’m serious! He was 30 minutes late!] I was trying not to stare at her body. I was kind of fascinated yet scared. So much so that I declined the chance to have my final viewing. I really didn’t feel comfortable being any closer than I already was. Being in the same room already gave me the heebie-jeebies.
I am super mature, I know. Though I did handle that decision a lot better than a certain someone who will remain nameless.
Afterwards, I went to the family’s house for the repast later that afternoon and it was great spending time with them. You could hear the laughter and love that filled the house and can I say that I had the pleasure of watching the most epic game of Spades ever.
So I decided that maybe I should finally really learn how to play Spades. I was watching two very animated games and while I did pick up on the nuance and general rules of the game, I’m still a little hesitant to play with the good players. Players like my aunts and grandmother. They are cutthroat. Especially my grandmom. Seriously, sometimes I think she’d reach across and cut her partner if they had mistakenly cut her card again [my Aunt Nita is notorious for that].
I think I may be one of the few women on that side of the family who DOESN’T play Spades. I actually had my relation doubted because of that. It’s that serious.
I know Spades are the highest, and then is the order hearts, clubs and diamonds? Or does it not really matter? I know you can’t use another card unless you’re completely out of the played card, less you renege, which was the source of controversy during last night’s epic take down of the dominant team. Oh the howling and yelling that started. Of course the offending player was adamant that they didn’t renege or cheat and it wasn’t until after the losing team “accepted” the loss that the other player’s partner finally admit that the teammate had in fact reneged. I mean, we ALL knew what happened. Hilarious. Completely hilarious.
Since I come from a family of cutthroat Spades players, I tend to bow out and just watch from the safety of the sidelines. Maybe at the next function I’ll get enough guts to actually sit down and play.
Apparently according to my future cousin-in-law, I’ll have to do so in order to join her family.
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