I know I say it a lot, but I really need to do something with myself. I want to be healthy, happy, in shape, and comfortable in my own skin. Not to mention I have a closet full of cute … Continue reading
I was waiting to publish this post until we received confirmation that our group made it on the show. Now that we know we have, here you are! (Warning: This post is a bit lengthy.) On March 11, I got … Continue reading
Has it really been a month since my last post? Yikes!
Just a quick note to say that I haven’t given up on my blog. My month-long hiatus is due to non-stop traveling over the past month. Between work travels and out-of-town wedding adventures, I honestly just haven’t had any extra time to sit down and write. I have, however, started several posts so I don’t forget what I had in mind … and therefore will be blowing up your feed over the next few weeks. Brace yourself 
I’ll just go ahead and sum it up in one word for you: Perfection. I’m talking about the guy that played Christian Grey’s character, of course. Whewwwww … Last night I had the opportunity to see “Spank! The Fifty Shades … Continue reading
Woohoo – It’s Foodie Pen Pal reveal day: March edition! I was excited to learn that my match, Renia, was in Tampa. I love getting matched with people in other parts of the country and getting a taste of their … Continue reading
I know many people don’t like to acknowledge their birthday as they get older, but I’m not one of those people. In fact, I am a huge believer in birthday MONTHS! I think you should be happy that you made it another year and that you have another one to appreciate and live to the fullest. On top of that, it’s the only day (or month) out of the year when you get to celebrate the amazing person YOU are. So I say live it up, pamper yourself and have fun!
I totally get it from my parents. Like all holidays, birthdays were always a big deal growing up. My mom and dad always woke my sister and I up with breakfast in bed, flowers and a gift on our birthday, and followed it with a fabulous birthday party, dinner at our favorite restaurant, our favorite home cooked dinner, homemade cake, or whatever we decided we wanted to do to celebrate. On top of that, we were treated like princesses that entire day, from sun up to sun down. I’m not exactly sure when I decided we should all have a birthday month, but all I know is it’s been that way for many years …. and I think we’ll keep it that way .
I thought birthdays were supposed to get boring and celebrating it became obsolete as you get older, because … well, how could they ever compare to spending the afternoon jumping in bounce houses and ball pits, playing laser tag with 12 of your coolest friends, a surprise dance party in your parents’ garage, or riding around in a horse-drawn carriage wearing tiaras and princess dresses looking for Prince Charming? (Yes, these were a few of my actual birthday parties. Now do you understand why birthdays rocked?!) But I was happily mistaken. I turned 26 on Tuesday, March 5 and didn’t have any plans for the day. I was prepared to have just another ordinary day with a few birthday wishes here and there. Wrong! My fabulous boyfriend was sure to make it another one to remember.
It actually all started on Friday when I invited a few friends to join us for dinner and cocktails. And by a few I mean 19. I didn’t even know I knew that many people in Jacksonville! We all enjoyed dinner at Black Finn, one of my favorite restaurants.
Most of the crew, but still missing a few.
One of my old college roommates was able to come down for the weekend, so it was even more special getting to see her and having her here to celebrate with me! (Hooray for having my dancing buddy back!)
After dinner we all headed to a neighboring bar, SUITE, for a fashion show, cocktails and dancing.
After a while, we decided to walk next door to 90′s Throwback Night at Whiskey River. It’s a good thing I wore my hot pink shirt!
Yes, 90′s Throwback night rocks. But what could make it better? How about having our picture taken with Screech??!
The night ended with non-stop dancing and a few throwbacks of our own. Like the Fishy and Fishing Pole…
To keep the party rolling, Saturday night consisted of a bachelorette party for my best friend, which also happened to be her birthday. She and I celebrated our birthdays together every year growing up, so it was very nice being back together this time of year.
Tuesday rolls around and I am woken up with nine text messages and Facebook notifications galore! My mom sang “Happy Birthday” to me every time we talked on the phone (she was singing “Happy Birthday Eve to you” and now it’s “Happy Birthday Month to you…”), and then she posted this on my Facebook wall …
Oh. My. GOSH! Do you get more emotional the older you get? This started the birthday tears … then they were triggered by calls from my family, posts from friends, and two of my nieces singing to me. I guess it just made me realize how lucky I am to have so many great people in my life.
My only birthday wish was to not have to make any plans for the day. I plan events non-stop, so this one day I didn’t want to have to think about planning anything for myself. And the best part of not having plans is that you don’t have any expectations to live up to! Besides, spur-of-the-moment times are always more fun. Jimmy and I headed out to the beach for happy hour and he’d arranged for a few of our friends to meet up with us, so we enjoyed margaritas and Mexican dinner at The Pier.
After dinner we all decided to head down the road to a new bar, The Shim Sham Room, for one more drink. Which turned into two more hours and karaoke! Oh yeah … and several photo shoots with Shimmy the Bear.
The next morning wasn’t too great, but it was well worth it. It was honestly one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a while! It really sucks not having my family here to celebrate, but all of my incredible friends really know how to make a gal feel special. Thank you all for helping me kick off #26 the best way possible, and for proving that birthdays don’t get boring as you get older!
I don’t have my own blog, so my niece Blakeley (who owns this blog) suggested I write a guest post so that I can share everything I received in my package. I learned about Foodie Penpals from reading her blog, … Continue reading
Yay – It’s back! I joined Food Penpals back in November and had an awesome first Foodie Penpal. Instead of sending packages to one another in December, we all donated to a cause instead, and my January penpal didn’t get … Continue reading
Get ready ladies … I might be your new best friend, and this might be your new favorite shop. Okay wait, let me rephrase. If you love jewelery, cute clothes and accessories, great deals and shipping to your mailbox, I … Continue reading
I know it’s been a week since the Big Game, but we had so much fun at our viewing party and had so many delicious foods that I just had to share. What started out as inviting a few friends over to watch the game on our new 60″ TV turned into 15 people, too much food and whiskey pickle-back shots. Oops. I never would have guessed that we could fit that many people in our apartment! Needless to say, we had a blast.
I spent much of the morning preparing treats and finger foods … after having planned my Super Bowl menu weeks in advance. My buffalo dip was the only real request, but I took advantage of the day and made all sorts of favorites and firsts, buffalo dip included.
A few firsts included buffalo chicken pinwheels and cream cheese and asparagus pinwheels. My mom makes the asparagus pinwheels at all family get-togethers and they are the first to go. Cream cheese spread on a flour tortilla, canned asparagus and shaved ham, rolled into a tight wrap and sliced. So simple and so delicious.
I pulled the buffalo chicken pinwheels from a recipe I found on Pinterest and they were just as wonderful and I’d hope they would be.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I was very much looking forward to catered sandwiches from Firehouse Subs.
Ham/provolone and turkey/provolone sandwiches, 5 chocolate chip cookies, 5 bags of chips, Captain Sorenen’s Datil Pepper Hot Sauce and a gallon of their delicious sweet tea. Yum-mo!
However, Jimmy was majorly craving their Italian, so I picked up a cold large Italian when I picked up my tray, sliced it into four pieces, and made Jimmy’s day.
And of course, I couldn’t leave out the desserts! Lemon bars, mini blueberry white chocolate cheesecakes …
… and a Ravens/Niners-colored Red Velvet cake. Yum!
We had a great time, blackout and all!
