Happy 34th Birthday To Me!

Tuesday, September 22nd--I had an AMAZING birthday week! WOW! The Saturday before, Nate and I dropped the kids off with my sister, Alishia, and went to Gardner Village for some shopping and lunch at Archibalds. It was delish and the Halloween decorations were out and looking fantastic. Then we went to see the new Harry Potter film. It was so awesome, much better than the 5th one. After that we met up with Alishia, the kids and her family to eat at Texas Roadhouse. I ordered a pumpkin cake from my favorite bakery of all time, Dippidee, and brought it along. The food was incredible and the cake was so amazingly delicious--our waiter was so happy to get a piece too! It's a little costly but I think I'll be ordering my birthday cake from Dippidee every year! A few months ago I told Nate I wanted a Miche bag/purse for my birthday so I went to a friend, who sells them, and was able to pick out the one I wanted with 4 "skins". I got to use it this day and absolutely love it!!!

Tuesday, my actual birthday, Nate had to work so I ended up cooking my own birthday and getting an ice cream cake (we had planned on having enough of the pumpkin cake left over but I shared with some neighbor friends and we snacked on it through the weekend, just couldn't resist!). I cooked a roast and made mashed taters. We invited my cousin, Carly, and her hubby, Nate, over. And because she probably "sensed" my sadness that the pumpkin cake was all gone, she got me a gift certificate to Dippidee. Awesome! Dinner was great and so was the company!
Thursday night my dear "goddesses" (Kerri, Dawn and Heather) took me out on a night on the town. WOW! They took my to Paradise Bakery for dinner and awesome gifts then off to Hollywood Connection where we would channel our past roller-skating abilities (it's hard to believe, but I totally rocked at roller skating way back when!) at the Xanadu skating rink. They even brought headbands and leg warmers! Much to our disappointment, the rink was closed to the public as it was hockey night. So cruel! We stayed outside the rink taking pictures and making our own fun--perhaps, a little too much fun! he he he From there we drove around looking for a place to hang out while we blasted the Xanadu soundtrack. Our final destination was Cheesecake Factory where we all chose a different type of cheesecake to enjoy. Yum! On our way out I ordered a Vanilla Bean Cheesecake for the next evening. While we waited for it to be ready we flirted with the very cute waiter, Chad. It was so silly but so incredibly fun! I never wanted the night to end, it was SO MUCH fun!

Friday night we went out with our neighbor friends to eat at Braza Grill. Earlier, Alishia and Samantha came out to Brady's soccer game then took both of our kids for a sleep over. Suh-weet! The various meats were so good and the company was excellent--we laughed so much and had a great time filling our bellies. Everyone came back to our house to indulge in the cheesecake. It was so yummy! Nate and I got to sleep in, which was wonderful!

Saturday we picked up the kids and met Nate's family at one of our favorite restaurants, Sweet Tomato's, for lunch. I was amazed almost everyone showed up and I got some really touching gifts and cards. Nate and I were still "processing" the meal before so we didn't eat much but we had a great time.

So, needless to say, I had a FULL week of celebrating and every minute of it was wonderful. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. I'm so thankful for amazing friends and family, especially my wonderful husband and kids. They mean the world to me. I look forward to many more birthdays and I'm all for this week-long stuff again! ha ha ha

**On a sidenote: Sounds like a lot of eating but I was a good girl, no weight gain. Phew!