Happy 34th Birthday ... again...

What an amazing weekend. I felt very, very loved by my closest friends. Thank you to all who helped me celebrate!

Friday night, a group of us gathered at Go Sushi, my favorite sushi restaurant, for an evening of Happy Sushi! It was great to introduce some of my work buddies to my life friends - and everyone enjoyed each other's company. The owner even gave me free sushi for my birthday. What could possible beat that? We were at dinner for close to 3 hours and really had a blast.
Bad phrases overheard at the table?
"Shut up and put it in your mouth!"
"Pink Taco!"
"If I can put it in my mouth, you can put it in yours."
It was awesome.

Saturday night, a few close friends gathered for cocktails and, eventually, drunken karoke. We invented a new drink, called "The Connie" (Mango Rum mixed with Mountain Dew Live Wire), and enjoyed them in mass quantities... in order to be brave enough to sing karaoke!


The neighbors chillin'


Shane with his Karaoke Headset of Death!

Sunday was family day with a big dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, complete with a beautiful two tiered cake with fresh roses, pasta, laughs, and wonderful, wonderful people. I gathered my family and Lindi's family together and invited a few very close friends to round out our table of 20 - it was amazing.


Christopher and Teinamarrie


My favorite - Browned butter and mizithra cheese...

My beautiful "Twinkie" flavored birthday cake! The roses were amazingly beautiful! The cake was so huge, we served half of the bottom layer, and sent the other half either home with people or to the back room for the servers, who dived into it with reckless abandon. There were about 12 people standing around it with forks trying to get in!

Lindi's brother Bill presents the cake to my mother for inspection. I was so happy my mother was able to come - in her little Jazzy wheelchair! My sister is in the turquoise, my dad is standing behind Bill.

And then, I walk into work to find this:

Yes, they decorated with confetti, crepe paper, a 12 pack of Diet Coke and 10 balloon kitty cats. I kept my little colony of balloon animals - Now they are on my desk, all facing me, watching me work!

Blessed Blessed Blessed! Thank you for all your wonderful well wishes and a fun weekend. I love you!

On the home front, Sarah's knee surgery went very well. The surgeon said her knee looked really good and this surgery should last her a long time, thank goodness.