Celebrated

I gave myself a break from the partying during the week. There may have been a time in my younger days that I could work all day and still stand to head out on the town late into the evening. To be honest, just thinking about doing that now makes me so tired that I can’t remember ever having had the energy to do it in the first place. So the week was fairly routine except for the afore-mentioned snowy road conditions and my inability to get home for my alone/blogging time on Thursday evening.

However mundane the week was, Saturday sure made up for it!

I had laid down the gauntlet for Mark early this year. I said that since I was turning The Big Three Oh, that I’d really like to have a party. A good party. The kind of party that would last me the next ten years until I had another significant birthday. No pressure though. Just the most awesome party ever.

Man oh man did my man deliver! He knew that there was no way he’d be able to keep it a secret, so he didn’t try. He let me know when it would be and that he was hosting it at our house. I knew of a few people who were coming because they asked me to let Mark know they’d be there, but I didn’t even have a clear picture of the guest list. Aside from that, I was left completely out of the planning and preparation.

Mark planned for potluck finger foods, telling all the guests that since I couldn’t eat much at one time, we would all be “eating preggo” and munching away all evening long. He enlisted my amazingly talented friend Ashley to help with the decorations. He got my favorite cake, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, from the best bakery in town. Finally, Jan brought the headwear. You’ll see what I mean when you get to the pictures.

I couldn’t have planned a better way to spend my last evening in my twenties. I was surrounded by dear friends and sparkling conversation. Mark’s attention to detail made me feel cherished and loved. After we all finished our cake, Mark said a few words about how grateful he was that my heart defect was found and healed so many years ago. The surgeon told me that he was certain that I would not have lived past my early twenties if the hole had not been repaired.

Thirty is a tough birthday for a lot of people, especially women. I have to admit, it’s still a little surreal to think of myself as having moved on from the decade that saw me graduate college, marry, move to our dream location and become a mom. But given the alternative, I’ll gladly, gratefully take thirty any day.

Here are a few highlights:

Gorgeous decor as provided by my amazingly talented friend Ashley.

Biggest. Cake. Ever.

Mark trying to keep the candles from burning off his eyebrows. And yes, they put A-L-L 30 candles on there!

Me desperately hoping that I'd actually blow out all 30 candles. I did, thanks to the lack of oxygen at 9,000 feet!

Me, Tiffany (left) and Jan (right). Jan, of course, supplied the festive headgear. Who else has headgear for 20 people readily available in her prop closet?

The decorations in the daylight. One of the best presents I got that night was that Mark made sure the house was immaculate after the party. That guy really knows me.

And last but not least, the best photo of the night. Possibly the best photo my husband has ever taken...

Yep. That would be our good friend Mark, the music minister at our church, super stoked that he managed to score the Tinkerbell mug for his spiced cider.

Needless to say I had an awesome birthday. :-)