Birthday Fun

My amazing husband surprised me for my birthday and flew in two of my dearest friends--both of them the maids of honor in our wedding--and my mother. Mom, Larisa, Cherice, and Cherice's boyfriend, Rob, all arrived late Friday night, knocking on my door as I was getting ready to turn in for the night. There was a lot of excitement as they arrived at different times between 9:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m., and Gavin alternated between laughing because he wanted to get up and see the people and screaming and crying when he heard my surprised exclamations upon answering the door. All in all, it was great fun and I was truly shocked! Little did I think I would celebrate my birthday with a houseparty of six adults and one baby.

On Saturday evening, we had a little pre-birthday party at our place where Joe brought out his mega magnum of Krug that he has been saving for years. It was so yummy and it's a good thing we had a bunch of houseguests and parents to enjoy a toast with us since it would have spoiled sitting in the fridge after the fact. And Larisa displayed her culinary talents as a chef and put together a beautiful array of antipasta. It was so nice I didn't want to eat it, but I have included photos.

After our little pre-party, we walked over to a local restaurant called Campagnola and enjoyed a birthday dinner with a group of friends. Yummy food, good conversation, candlelight, fun music...it was the perfect birthday celebration. We even had a bit of excitement at the end when we decided to pop the entire box of birthday "poppers." A bunch of us girls spent about ten minutes popping every last one. Nicky even popped one on her hand. Ouch! Of course, that was nothing compared to my friend Cherice accidentally stepping on my foot with her Manolo Blanik stiletto. Even though it was painful, the pictures are so funny (yes, Joe caught this on film!) that I have included them. Ahhh...girls being girls!

I had so much fun over the weekend, and enjoyed the surprises. My husband rocks!!