A birthday party

Last week, my friend Marla's little girl turned seven years old. It seems like she was just born and here she is finishing up first grade. Crazy! I was invited to the family birthday party for her on Sunday afternoon. I had fun picking out gifts from me and her "uncle" Gregg. After a lot of looking around, here's what I settled on:

Star Projector Galaxy Night Light - Astronaut Space Projector, Starry Nebula Ceiling LED Lamp with Timer and Remote, Kids Room Decor Aesthetic

The next evening Marla sent me two photos of Carsen's bedroom after they got the projector set up and running. They were lying on her bed together watching it. It seems the gift was a hit! 

And I also got her one this, because I almost always give books to children for special occasions:

I adored Shel Silverstein's poetry as a child. Reading some of it 

prior to wrapping reminded me why! So. Good.

 A "family" gathering at Marla and Toyo's house involves a lot of people. Toyo has the kind of large Asian family where cousins and second cousins show up with their spouses and kids along with grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  Then on Marla's side there are grandparents, a great grandma (Marla's dear grandma Mildred, well into her 90s now and increasingly frail), a brother and his wife and kids...then there are several longtime friends, like me, who are counted as family. As an only child from a very small family, half of whom I was partially estranged from while growing up, it's almost overwhelming. I found a quiet corner in the kitchen to sit and take it all in. There was a taco bar (which was huge, and delicious), two homemade birthday cakes (chocolate and strawberry), and a big pile of gifts.

 Carsen is a lucky girl. She was showered with love for her birthday.

Her grandma took her shopping before the party 

and this is the dress she chose for herself. :)

Birthday weekend

The Saturday morning before my birthday, while I was in the midst of finally finishing my cake, I got texts from two of the three friends who were invited over that night. Both had last minute emergencies and weren't going to be able to make it to the party.

At this point I'd already made and purchased a lot of food and drinks and alcohol and I knew I was going to have way, way too much. Marla was the only friend I'd invited in advance who was able to come, and the neighbors I'd planned to text that afternoon weren't home. 

I was disappointed, but of course I understood. Martina and her husband had a friend in crisis and needed help finding temporary housing for his dogs, and Meisha had a family issue come up. And since I hadn't mentioned anything to the neighbors ahead of time, they had no way of knowing I was going to text them to walk over for cake that night. 

It was still a nice time anyway, even though it was just me and Marla. I set out small dishes of the food I'd prepared, made a small pitcher of champagne punch, plugged in the string lights on the porch, and we spent a few hours eating and drinking and talking. 

The next morning, Martina texted me and asked if she could stop by that afternoon. She felt about about missing the night before and wanted to bring a gift she'd gotten me. Of course, I said yes, and that afternoon we had another small "party" with more small plates of food and plenty of cake. I didn't make punch this time, but we did have a selection of hard apple ciders. 

That afternoon, my phone rang and I saw it was my nephew, which seemed odd. When I answered, he said, "Hold on a second!" and then him, his mom (my sister in law) and his wife Jessica all sang "Happy Birthday"! Even one of their dogs joined in by barking while they sang! It was so sweet! 

I got serenaded again later that day. Two of my favorite little kids (siblings) at the school have a sweet mom who saw on Facebook that it was my birthday, so she recorded them singing Happy Birthday to me and telling me that they love me, and posted it on my Facebook page! (Those of you that I'm FB friends with can go check it out if you're interested). That made me so happy!

Then on Wednesday, not-so-little P. and his mom met me at our favorite Mexican place for dinner to celebrate our birthdays...since P. and I are birthday twins. He's 12 years old now and growing up fast. It was really good to spend some time with them and they gave me a card in which they had written, "Friendship is a treasure, but you're more than a friend. You're family." That made me cry. 

All in all, it was a good birthday, even though it was nothing like I'd planned!

Back later today when I show you my gift from Gregg. :)

Half century

I have a big birthday coming up on Sunday...one of those years that end in an "0". It seems too crazy to possibly be true, but I'll be 50 years old! 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset about it, I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it. I've barely adjusted to thinking of myself as a forty-something and all of a sudden, I'm about to leave my 40s behind. Crazy, crazy, crazy. I'm sure it's like this for everyone, but whew!

I'd originally thought I'd have a big get-together to celebrate such a milestone, but it hasn't worked out. When I talked to Gregg about it, he asked if I'd mind keeping the party small because he's not feeling up to having a lot of people over and having to help host. He's got an oncology appointment looming next Monday where he'll get the results of a CT scan he had last week. This will determine how successful the radiation has been and whether he'll need further treatment or not. With this hanging over his head, he doesn't feel like any major entertaining, and truthfully, I don't either. 

So instead, I'm having a small party on the back porch Saturday night with just two or three close friends. Marla and Martina, of course, and a new friend I've made at work, Meisha. Later in the evening I might text a couple of friendly neighbors and invite them to walk over and have a drink or a piece of cake. I plan to have some good food, good desserts, and a few different drink choices (alcoholic and non). I bought some pretty string lights for the porch, too. It should be fun, and not too stressful to pull off like a big party would be. 

 

I do feel kind of sad that Gregg is the only family I'll have celebrating my birthday with me. My dad died just over a year ago, and I haven't been in contact with my mom since last summer. * I don't have siblings, although I love Gregg's. In fact, I invited his sister to come down on Saturday to spend the night and attend the party. I would love to have her (so would Gregg), but she thanked me for asking and then changed the subject. It kind of hurt my feelings, to be honest. Not because she's not coming, but because she didn't even seem to really consider it. 

Of course, Marla and Martina are like sisters to me, and I have an abundance of friends. I have a really good marriage. I'm grateful for every bit of it, and I don't have any right to complain. I try not to. I don't always succeed.

These are just things I'm thinking about as I prepare to turn fifty.

* It's better that we're not in contact. It's been really hard coming to terms with that, but it's true. It's sad and hard and I wish things were different, but I've started to prioritize my own needs and my own well-being. It's past time that I did.

Easter egg birthday party!

This has been a great weekend. In addition to having four days off work, last night a couple of friends came over and we had a little party in which we ate too much, drank too much, and dyed Easter eggs. We had so much fun!

Party table!

Gettin' fancy shmancy with the radish roses!!!

Mini brownie bites with peanut butter cups baked inside!

 

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

Local wine.

 

Prepping for whiskey sours.....

...the glasses are ready....

Delicious!

 

Getting crafty in the garage. We were banned from the house.
I can't imagine why!

 

Messy! Colorful! And a creepy floating egg!



M. and her dyed fingers! Also, see how happy she looks? That's
the result of two glasses of wine and two whiskey sours!

 

T. and her "goth" egg! She has the same birthday
as me so it was a double celebration! 



My eggs, so pretty!

The lovely flowers my husband surprised me with.

We didn't get photos of all of the food, mainly the hot dogs we grilled (yum!) or the delicious dip my friend M. brought. But rest assured, we had a small feast!

It was a very happy birthday. And now I'm thirty-eight years old. Eeek!