My Birthday Was Last Tuesday

Beautiful Balloons


So now I have had 48 trips around the sun as of August 19th.

I had a very nice, quiet and relaxed birthday this year. I spent the daytime alone just putzing around the house doing whatever I felt like doing. I received calls and emails wishing me a happy birthday. I heard from friends, a few relatives and of course from my partners.

Traditionally in our family, we take the birthday person out to dinner at a nice restaurant for their birthday, but this year I chose to stay home and have dinner in. I was not in the mood for driving, parking, crowds etc. So on the evening of my birthday, Jack, Bob and I gathered at Jack's home to celebrate. Jack baked me a homemade chocolate birthday cake with cream cheese frosting, and Bob provided us with his famous home cooked fried chicken and mashed potatoes dinner. I made a light garden salad to go with the comfort food dinner. Oh, and there was ice cream to go with the cake too.

I don't usually post a bunch of photos of myself on my blog, but since it was my birthday, the other two had their cameras ready and snapped photos of me right and left. I had my eyes closed in most of them, but there were a few that turned out pretty well.

This is my photo log of my most recent birthday celebration:

First thing I saw when I entered the house was the beautiful helium balloons floating on the ceiling above the dining room table. See them in the photo above. The guys know that the little kid inside of me loves helium balloons, and loves all the pretty colors, so they surprised me with a half dozen assorted pearlized pastel colored balloons. They were so pretty and fun! I still have them, but sadly, they no longer float.

Then the next thing I saw was the dining room table covered in a pile of birthday presents of all shapes and sizes wrapped in brightly colored birthday paper.


Pile 'o Presents

Again, the guys know that I like all the assorted fun colors and shapes. My Mom used to go overboard with presents on each birthday and at Christmas time. Not necessarily expensive or big gifts, mind you, just a lot of them. She dearly loved to shop for and give gifts to those that she loved. So the tradition continues.

So I was handed a glass of my favorite Merlot and sat down at the dining room table while Jack got the cake ready for the "cake ceremony".

Here is Jack walking carefully towards us with the cake on fire with all the many candles:


Fire Walk ~ trying not to set off any smoke alarms

The "cake ceremony" involves, 1) cake, 2) flaming candles, 3) singing, 4) making a wish, and 5) blowing out the candles. The fellas sang Happy Birthday to me while Jack was walking the flaming cake over to the dining room table.

Here's the beautiful cake that was set before me:


Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting & beeswax candles


So I had to think of a good wish before I blew out the candles:


Thinking of Wishes

I took my time and thought carefully, and then all at once I blew really hard...


It was a good wish

I had two cameras pointed at me and neither one of them caught me in the act of blowing out the flames. (Also notice that my eyes are closed in both photos.)

Then it was time open the gifts. I started with the birthday cards:


A very nice card

My birthday cards held heartfelt wishes that made me smile.

Then on to opening those beautifully wrapped presents. Here's a sampling:


My new bio-dynamic gardening calendar book


Season One of my favorite TV show addiction ~ "Heroes"

I paused before opening this package to show off the fantastic attention to detail that Jack puts into wrapping his gifts. He takes special care to make sure the ribbons match the paper. Here I am pointing that out in my mock commentary voice to Bob across the table, making Jack laugh as I went on and on:

Look at that attention to detail

Neither guy likes putting the wrapping paper on the package, but both of them do fancy ribbon and bow work, each with their own unique style. Here we are highlighting the curling ribbon bow that Jack used on this gift. Isn't it fancy?


Fancy colorful bows and ribbons

I love their ribbons and bows because they are pretty and make the gifts look so nice, but also because I am a complete klutz when it comes to making bows. I am very good at putting the wrapping paper neatly on the packages, however.

This gift just looked edible and had to be tasted before opening it.


Trying to open it with my teeth!

And did I crack up when I opened it and found that Bob had given me a giant dry deli salami all wrapped in pretty flowered paper!


What a fun gift!

He had remembered me saying that I like those dry salamis that you see hanging in the deli section of the market, but I never buy them for myself because they are not that good for you. I will share it with both of them so I don't eat the whole thing myself.

Now didn't they get me back for wrapping that huge zucchini up for Jack's half birthday a few weeks ago? You bet they did.

Here's my pile of gifts after I had fun unwrapping them all. Jack made me pose for this picture:



They both went overboard on the gifts just like my Mom used to do. They are so sweet and generous.


Books, CDs, DVDs, appliance covers, kitchen ware etc.

After the cake ceremony and the presents, we all were very hungry for dinner. So hungry in fact, that not one of us got a photo of the delicious fried chicken dinner! So you will just have to use your imagination. It was really good.

After dinner it was time for birthday cake and ice cream.


Come on Jack, sit down so we can eat our cake!


Delicious cake with ice cream

I had a wonderful birthday shared with my two favorite gifts of all, Jack and Bob.


Jack



Bob

The gifts of love are the very best!

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