my birthday: a photo essay

My birthday month week has been absolutely amazing - even better than last year, the year of 7 cakes. I am not sure what I do to deserve such lavish celebrations (perhaps it is my incessant reminders that start 3 months out) but hell, I am not complaining! Its great.

I am spoiled. This, I know.

It started last weekend with Kevin presenting me with my brand new Wii... which I'd be lying if I said was a complete surprise. Poor Kevin had to deal with Wii-begging for months so, needless to say, I was overjoyed... almost in tears. Kevin never disappoints!!

During the week, I celebrated with various friends and had many wishes sent to me via snail mail, Hallmark.com, MySpace, email, singing telegram, etc. Flattery at its finest.

On Friday, my actual birthday (as if you didn't know), I was woken with a card and yet another gift from Kevin - a brand new Ellsbury tee shirt. (If you don't know what that means, frankly, I don't care.) YAY!!! Queen Jean (my mother, who is staying with us while visiting from Florida) treated me to breakfast... in my kitchen... where she presented me with some fabulous birthday goods - workout clothes, a hair wrap thingy, MONEY, and a super sweet card. Humbling, as usual.

After an endless day of work (broken up by lunch with Kevin), I clocked out at 4pm to get the weekend underway.

With Mom in town, we decided that Friday night, we'd go out to dinner with her and 2 of (3) my siblings at Waterplace Restaurant. One Tanqueray deep and the Queen was the life of the party, hamming it up with the staff and our intimate crew... and planning the presentation of my dessert... with the birthday song, and all. We had a great table, a great server, and a great time.


(Um no, I do not know what I am doing with my hand.)

After dinner, Mom, Kevin, and I continued the party and ventured out to hear some live music - one of Mom's favorite pasttimes. We enjoyed the ambiance, the music, and the heartbreak ending to the 12-inning Red Sox/Devil Rays game. A great time, nonetheless. I love any opportunity to hang with my Mom.



Saturday night was designated as friends and shenanigans night and I planned it would be the night that I cut loose - forget about my 2-month sobriety, my impending half marathon, and my overall healthy mission. I needed to get a little crazy (no, we're never gonna survive, unless), if you will.

I was told to be ready by 6:30pm.

So... I was ready by 6:45pm (fashionably late, naturally) when my first batch of friends arrived at my house... and then kicked me out so they could prepare whatever was in store. B-daddy kindnapped me... to the bar... which involved vodka. My favorite kind of hijacking.

Back at the ranch... we arrived to a slew of "Fiest-ivities". A sombrero and quasi "corsage" attached to me before I could even say Hola mis amigos. A taco station. Wall hangings (muchachos and muchachas). Banners. Dos Equis. Pinatas. Nachos. Pin the tail on the freaking Donkey. Mexican Music. Presents (yay!). Margaritas (don't they know what tequila does to me?... or maybe that was the point). And friends.

They did such an amazing job decorating, planning, cooking, orchestrating... amazing, I tell ya.

Present time was quite a tear jerker. Of course, I was given a Grab Bag (for a Girl) from the Dollar Tree. It was filled with some delectable treats... such as hair elastics, "bling", a stencil, a pencil (unsharpened... score!), bubbles, hair clips, PUFF PAINT. Awesome. It never gets old.


Then, there was this ginormous present and I had absolutely NO idea what to expect. I jokingly asked if it was a new Hoover because it is dog-shedding season and I desperately need a new vacuum. But, you'll never guess what was behind the wrapping...

"You've got to be freakin' kidding me!?" I was shocked. "You guys got me ROCKBAND!?!" I still wasn't convinced that it was actually Rockband... thought maybe they used the box to wrap something else. But no. It was REALLY Rockband.

Holy moly.

I wanted to run downstairs to our newly designated game room, hook it up, and ignore the fact that there is a fiesta happening upstairs... but I resisted. And then I almost cried. My friends are too generous. (Again, not complaining... just sayin!)

But, the night continued...

Pin the tail on the donkey was certainly a highlight (as were white shirts)... especially after a few drinks.





We tried to find a spot for the pinata but after some dog-poop scares... and witnessing Nala do "number 1", the desire to traipse through our lawn dwindled so we just bashed the crap out of it in my basement. CANDY!!!!!!!


A few drinks later, the warriors (aka non-preggos) ventured out to the bar to indulge in some more debauchery, dancing, and nonsense, of course. We had a great time...

posing...


loving...


smiling...


and watching some classic PDA!

(Notice the arrows. 2 seconds before this, they were making out... 3 seconds before this he was grabbing her... and 5 seconds before that, he was hitting on Mel. It could've been you, Mel... it could've been you.)

We really missed the folks that couldn't make it out to the bar but... to be honest, I was thankful we did not continue the party at my house as my Mom is staying with us and I did not want to expose her to the real havoc we tend to wreak. ;) Also, it made for a tremendously relaxing day yesterday. It was a day I spent ignoring all of my challenges. I did not run, I watched TV, I ate all sorts of crap, and in total gluttonous fashion, I lounged on the couch ALL day... without any guilt whatsoever. And to cap it off, my in-laws paid us a late afternoon visit for pizza and a round of Wii Bowling!

A fabulous end to a fabulous weekend.

(p.s. Is it Friday yet?)