Birthday fun

Another year has passed and I am officially 26...or is it 27? I am embarrassed to admit that this entire year I couldn't figure out how old I was turning.  Someone even wished me a, "Happy 27th Birthday" and I went along with it as if they were right.  Then, I began questioning it and confusing myself and having to count from the date I was born.  This wasn't the first time this happened this year.  UH OH. :) We were planning on leaving town for my birthday but once the neighbors got wind that it was my birthday they immediately began planning a block party with everyone so we of course, stayed in town instead.  It was so much fun! Tons of great food and friends, drinks (MOONSHINE, yes, I never thought I'd ever get to taste REAL moonshine) made staying in town worth it.  Speaking of moonshine, ever tried it? Well, this stuff isn't just plain moonshine, it's apple pie moonshine.  It's from Louisiana and it's the real deal.  It has apple slices, spices, and well, moonshine.  It's not made with Everclear like a lot of the "moonshine" you will find being sold up here, it's the real deal.  It is delicious!

One of the wives made my day extra special by making PB and chocolate cake pops because she knew I loved anything PB and chocolate because the prior weekend we had been hanging out and I made a simple comment about how it was my favorite and she remembered.  I love when people do that and pay attention to the small details, it's what I do for others.

If there is one thing this town has going for it, it's the abundance of homemade fudge and ice cream shops! We all know how much I love good ice cream! We hit up one of my favorites on the night of my birthday :) 

To new friends...

I will admit, it was a bit hard being away from family for my birthday.  It was the first birthday in 26 years that I wasn't there with them to celebrate and have our traditional family birthday dinner.  It almost feels like my birthday hasn't even arrived yet.  However, even from afar my parents and friends showered me with gifts and cards through the mail and texts and FaceTime calls.  One of my favorite calls of the day was from my toddlers at La Rue.  They all sang happy birthday to me and passed the phone around.

From my parents (they also bought me my winter jacket which I'll probably need here soon!) and the J'adore is from a great friend.  Chanel, J'adore, and house decor...perfect! Did I mention I bought 2 new perfumes before leaving Cali(the new Dolce perfume and Daisy by Marc Jacobs)? A girl can never smell too good right?

The absolute WORST thing about my birthday was the 50+ mosquito bites I got on my lower body.  Yes, 50+ from the waist down and that was with pants on and those pants were covered in bug spray.  As the day progressed the mosquitos began swarming, literally swarming, so I went home and put on pants and a sweatshirt and sprayed down (I hate bug spray, we tried to use the all natural stuff and these mosquitos didn't care, they bit right through it, they're relentless).  I went back out and kept getting bit and swarmed by these mosquitos.  The next day I woke up with welts and bruises and just awful bites all over my lower half.  I counted them and I had over 50 bites! My legs were swollen and bruised from scratching in my sleep and neither one of us slept for 2 days because I was up all night scratching and non of the creams were helping with the itch.  AWFUL.  Not sure what the deal is with these mosquitos but they don't care much about bug spray and I've been bit multiple times since then, just as the itching stops more attack me.  I went for a run last night and didn't get bit once but must have carried some into my house with me and killed 4 mosquitos and got bit a few more times.  I'll spare you the pictures of my legs because well, who really wants to see that?

I am so excited to be coming home in 10 days, I am already looking into the NEXT trip home after this one and when I will be planning that! :)

A birthday month, Trip to Minneapolis, and Trader Joe's/Whole Foodsvisit

Many people that know me know I like to celebrate my birthday ALL MONTH.  Yep.  Every year I have multiple celebrations.  This year is no different even if we are all the way in Michigan.  We have a lot of fun things planned for this month.  I love that we share a birthday month because it's a second excuse to add more fun things to it.  D isn't a big "birthday" person but I am, therefore, he doesn't have a choice but to celebrate his.  This year is his big one, 30! I'll be 26.  I had initially wanted to throw a huge party for him, but that was before we had to move here.  That party is postponed for a few years :)  My 23rd birthday may have been by far the most memorable and pretty hard to beat...a quick recap on that was a trip to a week in SD, a trip to Mexico, a week in Vegas, and ended it with 2 weeks in Florida.  So it lasted a little longer than a month... :) This year we started with a trip to Minneapolis, MN to see Matt play.  We also have a trip to Chicago planned and we are tossing around the option of one more. I LOVE August!

This past weekend we made the long 10 hour haul across the upper peninsula, down through Wisconsin, and into good ol' Minnesota to Minneapolis.  D's brother was in town playing the Twins and it was a long drive but still close enough to do on a weekend.  We left early Friday made it just in time for his first at bat then hit the road home Sunday after the afternoon game and got home at 3:30a.m..

Minneapolis was neat! We truly enjoyed being there.  It was a happening town.  Kind of a mix between Davis and San Francisco, two of my favorite places.  Target field was very nice and the best part about the whole trip was seeing a familiar face! Matt is doing great with the Astros and really enjoys playing and we were able to spend Saturday afternoon and Night with him.  D had this brilliant idea that we should camp while we are there since the weather was going to be so nice, so since this was his birthday trip, we camped.  Camping, baseball, beer...I think that makes for a great birthday.

The view from the ball park was beautiful.  It was a perfect shot of downtown Minneapolis.

After lunch on Saturday we decided to check out the Mall of America to waste some time.  HOLY COW.  It was huge.  Overwhelming! There's an aquarium and theme park there, 400 stores, tons of restaurants, and a water park across the street.  It's just too much!

Sunday was the most anticipated day of the weekend for me.  It was Trader Joe's day! To my surprise when I found Trader Joe's, Whole Foods was right next door. Pleasant surprise! Whole Foods has one of my favorite salad bars.  It's loaded with SO MUCH GOOD STUFF! I pack my huge box full of deliciousness. I stocked up on my favorites and "necessities" from TJ's and was one happy camper :).  I have enough to last until we head down to Chicago at the end of the month where I'll hit it up again.

Oh and did I mention we also got spoiled with  having Starbucks so easily accessible to us? Hello Americano <3

Needless to say, it was a fun and successful weekend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONTH TO US!!!! :)

Celebrating 30 and 26!

Mom's not so "surprise" party

This year my dad decided that he wanted to throw a party for my mom (WHOA!)...and try to keep it a surprise (YEA RIGHT...a surprise? For my mom? good luck!)...WELL, haha, I think we were unsuccesful...He had a great idea, and planned it very well, but my mom is just too much! haha. She decided that on the same day as her surprise birthday party she wanted to throw a Christmas get together!!!! LOL so she started inviting pretty much all the same exact people that we had already invited over for her party. Ay yi yi! She is such a pain in the butt. I swear she knew about the party and did this on purpose. Either way, it turned out lovely! Everyone came and  brought a dish, my dad did all the meat, and we all had a wonderful time with good food, good drinks, and great friends! Next year is the  big one...the big 6-0! So we have a year to plan a surprise...we can do it!

I really can't believe a week from today is Christmas...I have done absolutely ZERO Christmas shopping...ok well, maybe I've gotten ONE thing haha...ONE item for Danny's stocking...but that's it...YIKES!!!! I work all week so I'm hoping to find the motivation to go after work one day...and to top it off, I don't even know what I'm getting people! That could potentially make it easier because then I won't be going on wild hunts for particular items! ahhhhh! Nothing like last minute! Next year, I swear I'm going to start early...uh huh...just like I said I would this year...