Birthday Celebrations!

It's true. I turned 30 a couple weeks ago. It was good times! As usual, I like to stretch my birthdays out as long as possible. It all started with Tara's Eve. I got my first bouquet of flowers from my good friend, Stacy. My second bouquet was from my brother, Josh. They were sitting on my kitchen island when I got home from work. For my birthday, he had broke into my house and cleaned it while I was at work. How fantastic was that???? Thanks Josh!!!

Our friend Owens came over later on Tara's Eve bearing a gift of a toy shot gun that made shooting sounds and emitted smoke. It was so fun!

Then Owens, Brandon and I went and bought ice cream and ate it out of the cartons down by the river. I know that sounds bizarre, but we did the same thing 3 Tara's Eves ago so I wanted to keep up the tradition. It was kind of lame though so we didn't stay at the river very long. I think Brandon and Owens were glad I got it out of my system.

The women at work do birthdays up really good. They decorated my office like a crazy child's birthday party. Everyone in our office dressed up as a character from one of the top 5 movies from the year of my birth - 1978. They were Halloween, Superman, Jaws, Grease, and Animal House. We had a couple of toga wearers from Animal House, a few Grease girls, and I was Superman. They also got me flowers (bouquet #3) and a fantastic gift card to Home Depot. They contributed greatly to the dog house I just built and the slate planter box I'm about to build along my back fence. We went to lunch at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and then had cupcakes at Sprinkles. As a side note, I was terribly disappointed with Sprinkles, but I'll write about that later.

When I got home from work, there were 2 more bouquets of flowers from my husband. That makes FIVE bouquets of flowers total!!!! I also found 3 or 4 cards sprinkled throughout the house from hubby. How sweet is he? He also knows how much I like presents and he did good this year! He bought me 3 chick flick DVD's and said he'd watch them with me one time each. This is a big step for him since he HATES chick flicks. He also gave me a thing to let me listen to my iPod in my car. It didn't really work, but I loved the thought of it and he promised to return it for a working one. My favorite gift by far was two software programs for home design and landscape design. They are so much fun and now I don't have to sketch my home improvement plans on spare envelopes. I can create them in 3-D. Loved it all! We finished off my birthday at Oregano's for dinner. I could only eat there and be happy!

The day after my birthday, Brandon invited a few of my friends over for a barbecue. It ended up being 10 kids and 11 adults in my little house. It was complete madness, but so much fun.

It was so good to see everyone and spend time with my friends. The kids were adorable too! The girls spent most of the evening making up dance routines. Oh, to be a kid again...

One of the best parts about the barbecue is that my mom brought a birthday cake over. It was amazing. I think at first she thought I didn't like it, but I was just speechless. She designed this thing on her computer and sent it to this company that makes sugar pictures for cakes. She is so incredible and it meant a lot to me that she worked so hard on it. Take a look.

Sunday, was family dinner at my parents house. I got to pick out everything we ate. It was so yummy. I just love spreading birthdays out as far as I can. I wish I was a princess! :)

Thank you to everyone, especially Brandon, who made my 30th birthday perfect!