Birthday Weekend

For pretty much the entire month of August I was dreading my birthday.  40.  Ugh.  That's just so old!!  In general, I like my birthday.  I like cake.  I like presents.  I like going out to dinner.  But this year I was just not looking forward to any of it.  At.  All.  But then I had the best weekend ever!

Tom showed up around 11am on Friday with a cake from Cakes on Board.  They did our wedding cake and, seriously, they make the best cakes!  I ate cake all weekend and my mouth still waters thinking about that cake!  I was so happy and surprised that I didn't even (hardly) notice that the cake has my age right there on it for everyone to see.

But then I got the best surprise ever!  My bff, Lori, surprised me by flying in for the weekend!  My mom picked her up at the airport on Friday and brought her to my house just in time to go out to lunch.  I like to think that I'm pretty tough to surprise.  Mostly because I'm sneaky and nosy.  Yes, I'm the one who goes searching for presents in closets.  Always have, and probably always will.  But this time I think that nearly everyone around me was in on it and no one told!  Not a single solitary person!

On Friday, my mom took me and Lori to lunch at Ted's Montana Grill (love their chopped salad).   My mom also gave me a quilt that has been in our family since 1890 that I've always loved.  Wowza!  Friday night was book club, which is always fun.  I tried out a new fall sangria recipe (fabulous) and we had a great time talking about everything but books (as usual).

Tom had to work on Saturday (drill weekend), so Lori and I had the day to ourselves.  I received some gorgeous flowers in the morning, then Lori and I spent the afternoon shopping and lunching.  (Two of our favorite things to do!) 

Isn't my husband awesome?  We went to dinner at Blue Ginger Saturday night.  We sat outside and ate sushi.  Yum.

On Sunday, I dropped Lori off at the airport after lunch and a little more shopping.  It's always so sad when I have to say goodbye to her, but we'll be seeing the entire Potter family in 10 days when we go on vacation, so it wasn't so bad this time.   My parents took us to dinner Sunday night at Columbus Fish Market.  It was awesome!

By now, I think I've recovered from my weekend of eating too much sugar and drinking too much wine!  I had a full 3 days of celebration.  Reminds me of the time that I went to Disney w/ the above-mentioned BFF and her family a few years ago.  We happned to go during Emma's birthday week.  She spent the entire week pointing at her birthday button whenever she met a character and having cake at every meal.  Spending time w/ my best friends and family is my version of Disney.  It was a truly magical birthday.  :)

I Know What I Did This Summer

Lately I've been lamenting everything that we DIDN'T do this summer.  It seems like the summer went by so quickly.  But when I really think about it, we do have some sweet summer memories. 

- Tom & I went camping with our friends, the Langers, in Hocking Hills.  (That's not a peace sign I'm holding up - it's to signify that we were on day 2.  Note that I'm still smiling....)

- We ate lots of fresh fruits and veggies, courtesy of our weekly CSA deliveries.  I made delicious vegetable soup with kohlrabi, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onions & peas.  Honestly, it was better than it looks in the picture!

- I went on a girls weekend trip to Washington DC with my BFF and her middle daughter.  Because there's no better place to celebrate your 8th birthday than at the American Girl Doll store in DC with your mom and Auntie. 

- We went fishing.  Yeah, that's right.  I have a license and everything.  I don't enjoy fishing.  Never have and probably never will.  But my husband digs it, and it's not always all about me. 
- We discovered (thank you, Groupon) a local dairy that makes fabulous cheese!  Blue Jacket Dairy in Bellefontaine.  It's a really small company, but they are so nice and have a million samples!
- I had dinner with the sweetest boy in the world.  Just me and Jacob, who proclaimed, "Auntie, that was an excellent dinner"!  (Seriously - how could you not love that?)    You may be thinking, "What's so special about dinner with a four year old?"  Well, let me explain.  Jacob is the youngest of 4.  And the older girls usually occupy my time, so I have never (ever) done anything with just me and Jacob.  He was so cute and well behaved the whole time.  I loved every second of it!

- Tom rode 30 miles in the Tour de Cure.  Like a boss.

- We had a visit from my BFF's oldest and youngest girls during the Fourth of July week.  (5 and 9 years old.)  I love it when I get the kids all to myself for a week!  Festivities included seeing "Brave", lots of shopping (of course) and fireworks with friends.

- We spent at least several weekends at the lake.  With family.  With girlfriends.  My sister makes killer margaritas.

- We had a patio put in, so we enjoyed eating dinners outside without the table and chairs sinking into the grass.
- We turned up the radio and sang like crazy fools any time we heard our summer theme song, "Summer Breeze". 
- We went to a Cincinnati Reds game with the parents, and saw the Reds retire Barry Larkin's number.  Amazing day.
- Tom & I went camping again.  This time with my sis and BIL (again at Hocking Hills).
- I did lots of reading.  When we were younger, we were always allowed to buy books before our family vacation.  Our parents took us to B Dalton at Eastland Mall, where we loaded up on books.  It was awesome.  And probably the reason why I will always associate summer with big time reading.

- We gave the office a mini makeover by recovering a chair (thanks, mom) and backing the bookcase with fabric. 

Now that's a fun summer, right?  With that being said - I'm soooo ready for Fall.  Bring on the football, mums, sweaters, pumpkins, apples, and all things Fall!  Happy Fall, ya'll!