My birthday is TECHNICALLY March 9. But, I start celebrating around 12:01 a.m. on March 1. This continues until, roughly, 11:59 on March 16. I mean, I don’t want to steal St. Patty’s day’s thunder – that would be tacky.
This year, it was a milestone birthday so my family gathered for a small party on the Saturday before my birthday. We went to my favorite mexican food place, went to my mom and dad’s for cake and ice cream (and presents!). Before the party, my mom and husband were decorating with party favors, etc. I remember watching my mom prepare for my birthday parties. We always had THE BEST birthday parties – each one with a theme, of course. It was incredible watching my husband help my mom with this birthday. My husband ran errands and came back with Birthday Surprise #1:
IT’S A DAVE MATTHEWS BAND THEMED CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Complete with Firedancer and lyrics.
I had shown my husband a picture of a Dave cake probably 5 years ago and told him “when I’m 30, I want this”. He remembered and changed the color scheme to match. He’s awesome and that cake made turning 30 a little sweeter. Get it? Cuz it’s a CAKE and CAKE is sweet??? See what I did there?
It was nice to have the family all together and was just a great start to a wonderful birthday week.
On my actual birthday, we went to dinner and watched a movie and had a nice night in. I heard from a lot of friends through email, facebook, phone, text, etc. In fact, my dear friend Meghan texted me several times that day. That made me feel really special. I know when my friends have birthdays, they are usually on my mind the entire day. It never dawned on me that might be true with other people too. But that’s what great about Meghan – she says what she feels and means what she says. She texted me the last time that night with: “been thinking about you all day. hope your day was great”. It’s simple and it might not seem like a lot, but to me it meant SO MUCH. It still makes me teary thinking about it and realizing what a great friend I have in her.
It was nice to have it low key because on Thursday, we were headed to VEGAS! My husband and I were going up on Thursday and some friends/family were meeting us there on Friday evening and spending the weekend with us. There were a total of 8 of us: the painter’s daughter, the painters-son-in-law (my husband), the painter’s son (my brother), the painter’s daughter-in-law (my sister-in-law), the painter’s brother in law (my uncle) and his wife (my aunt), and a great friend I went to law school with and her husband (they were also in our wedding). It started as an impromptu trip because my uncle was going to be there on business (editor’s note: I know it sounds weird to say I’m going somewhere with my uncle, but I assure you, my uncle is NOT like yours. Mine is pretty much awesome. We’ve gone on a few vacays together and I’m sure we’ll go on several more – we just get along and he’s not that much older than us…in mental age, that is 
. This turned into me telling a few other people and them wanting to go too. I found some decently priced rooms at Paris hotel and soon enough we had a party.
Of course, I had to figure out a way to thank everyone for driving ALL that way and spending ALL that money to celebrate my Second 29th Birthday. So, I decided I would make “welcome baskets”. Ya know, fill ‘em with stuff they’ll need while they’re in Vegas and some other what-nots. I decided to make it 80’s vegas themed! I think it’s safe to say I went a little berserk. The contents of my basket included: silly putty, 80’s sunglasses, rubiks cubes, pixie sticks, pop rocks, fun dip, jolly ranchers, babe ruth (from Goonies, of course), atomic fireballs, fishnet fingerless gloves, neon colored clip in hair, 80’s CD (complete with custom-made label), Hangover Soundtrack, custom made water, wine and champagne (with custom made labels), custom made pink poker chips, and more that I’m forgetting. And I found these huge playing cards to act as a backdrop for the basket! Lucky for you, I took copious amounts of pictures:
Why I felt compelled to go to law school when I could have just opened my own “make baskets for rich people” store is beyond me. I mean, I did this in my jam-jams, no suit required. And you know what cost more than all the contents for this basket? Law school.
So my husband and I got into Vegas early in the evening on Thursday. We went to one of my FAVORITE restaurants for dinner, Mon Ami Gabi. We went there after we got engaged in Vegas and it has a special place in our hearts. And stomachs. And it’s right across the way from the Bellagio Water Show, which is where we actually got engaged.
Isn’t he handsome?
Friday we slept in and had the greatest agenda EVER: we were planning on going to…*dramatic pause*…Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum. Now, I don’t know how you feel about wax museums but, basically, I think they are the GREATEST THING EVER IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. And I’m including the Cheesecake Factory into that. I was so excited and BEGGED my husband to take me. Being my birthday, he couldn’t really say no – he couldn’t say no with his mouth, but trust me, his eyes said it. His eyes were pleading with me. I chose to ignore it. Despite his please, the museum ended up being where the World’s Greatest Pictures were taken. Including, but not limited to:
Babe, are you excited for the wax museum?
Yeah, who is excited for wax museum NOW buddy???!
Please note: his hand up her shirt
I need to know where to send that last one in order to be given my “Greatest Picture in the History of the World” grand prize.
Then, our friends and family strolled in and we met them for dinner. The next day, we walked through Bellagio:
Then, we walked through the Aria hotel – GORGEOUS. Fantastic Fountains and high-end stores, what more could a girl ask for. While we were there, my husband took me inside Tiffany’s and got me ANOTHER birthday surprise:
We went out to dinner and then went to a dueling piano bar and had the BEST time:
All in all, it was just the PERFECT birthday. I can’t begin to express how much I appreciate that they were there celebrating with me. I know it was far and I know it was expensive and I’m just so grateful that I have these people in my life. I had an absolute BLAST.
Thank you, friends for giving me these memories. And for celebrating with me.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready for Leanne’s Third Annual 29th Birthday.
0 Responses to “Time makes you bolder…I’m getting older, too.”