(Birthday and Holiday) Weekend Recap! :)

This is long. Sorry about that.

First things first, thanks so much for all the wonderful bday wishes-on the blog, on fbook, text, etc! I'm lucky to have amazing friends who made my birthday week/weekend very special. :)

Okay, Thursday, we had a little happy hr at Oscars. It was really impromtu and casual for whoever could make it at the time, so if you couldn't or didn't hear about it, no worries. I didn't want anything huge or super planned b/c it would have stressed me out. lol!

Eric brought Kupcakz!

Dont ask. haha!

Eric, me, Sarah :)
Lee, Ashley, Megan, Kelli

I was really flattered that everyone came-esp these two hot beasts. Both Jenny bug and Sarah have adorablfabulous (new word) baby boys at home waiting on them so it meant a lot that they came and played. :)
Marla, Kristy, Sara, me, Beth
Sarah and Jenny bug in deep discussion. ;)
Sara, Megan, me, Sarah.
Went home very happy from a low key night with some friends!! Friday (my actual bday), chillaxed and ran errands before bday dinner with Eric!

Opened my gift before dinner at his place-HE GOT ME THE BAG I WANTED!!! You remember me mentioning it here? Well, since that time, I couldn't decide whether to get it or not.. When I'd finally decided, they'd stopped.making.it. OMG! Who stops making a pink coral handbag in the spring?! Lordy. I looked at the Plaza, Vegas, Tulsa...and any other work travel locations...and nada. Someone (my awesome boyfriend) has mad skills apparently. :) I lurve it! *I just clapped excitedly all alone. wow*
We ate at Ciao..which I didn't know had a jazz night! Eric kept saying "let's go to the room next door and listen for a minute..." after dinner. I was like "Okay.. whatev..." We listened and I'd been texting Audra who was at the riverwalk. I set up that we'd just come meet them for some quick gelato. We had to leave Ciao to meet them b/c it was getting late (I'm a dumba** and you'll see why in 5...4...3..2...) and I saw Eric talking to the singer as though they were old friends. Apparently they were. He'd talked to her the day before to ask her to sing a song for me and here I had us leaving before she could. Good Gawd, Jackie. *shaking head at self* haha... Anyway, the gesture was super sweet, though! :) (And you should totally do jazz night at Ciao...it's in the attached room so you don't have to order food since it's not in the restaurant part...I want to go back! ) :)

Met Audra and Mike at the riverwalk....
We heart gelato.
The actual bday was chilltastic-just how I wanted. :) Perfect. :) (you're noticing lotsa smiley faces. I'm in a good mood..haha).

Got up and got to running errands for the bbq that day (we're on the 4th now). Eric opted to take some beer leftover from tailgates. One question.. when does Corona expire? Hmm? Yeah, we didnt know either. Sooo.. we poured one bottled in Dec with one bottled very recently and had our own mini taste test. *see two beer glasses and Eric examining bottling dates* Things that make me laugh: smelling and sipping beer at 10am. Gawd.

Ran out to Eric's parents' house to get the grill and some stuff. In case I havent told you before, their dog, Sophie, is awesomesauce. She gets the groceries, people! She gets her toys and puts them back on command, chases her tail on command... that's not even half of it! I'm very impressed. She also throws away trash. See below.
Grillmaster. We were at a friend's apt just off riverside.
This was Eric's "there was a firework explosion" face.
In case you didn't hear on the news, our fireworks display turned into a fire. On the bridge. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the 30-45 min of fireworks turned into like 8-10 min-max. They didn't wanna risk shooting off the other two trailers full. *sigh* (See smoke in low right as it happened)
Sunday, Mike and Sydney (far left in black) were in town driving through on the way from visiting her fam to visit his fam!!! I miss them so much! Along with Andrew (green shirt, his wife Lara is in white), we all went to law school together and were friends from the very first part of our 1L year all the way through. One of my fav Sydney memories is studying over candlelight at the Waterford apts b/c we'd had a final that day and had another the next day. No time during finals for lightning causing power outages, that's for sure. On the list of people who kept me grounded, sane, and laughing in law school, Syd is definitely at the top. They moved to Minnesota after law school-too far away. :( I'm crossing my fingers for their relocation back to the midwest.
Finally, Eric's family got me a new little Canon!! How freaking sweet is that?! I about died. I'm horrible with surprises b/c I get this awkward weirdo face. I got the face. But I absolutely love the camera and can't wait to play around more with it! It's no secret my old one looks a little battered and bruised. And the lens makes a clicking sound when it goes in and out. It's been loved. A lot.

I played a little today. Gracie wasn't being super cooperative but you can still tell a nice difference in quality of photo. :)

Here's Gracie with my old camera on "auto"

...and with the new one -a big difference, right?!

It was prolly one of the best bday celebrations I've had-starting with dinner with Blaze last week, happy hour with some friends, relaxed time with Eric, 4th of July bbq-ing... Just a great time all around to ring in 28. :) Major kudos to Eric....from kupcakz on, he went out of his way to make sure I had a great weekend and b/c of it, I'm still smiling at midnight when I should be sleeping...haha... Anyway, it just feels nice.

Oh and if you're wondering, my mamma is outta town visiting our fam in VA. I couldn't go b/c it was planned after the St. Lucia trip and therefore vacay time is semi limited for a bit... And I may have asked for a vacuum. How do you know you're growing up? When you want a nicer vacuum for your bday. Wow. haha!

Hope you had a great weekend! So many of you have adorable babies experiencing America's bday for the first (or second-xoxo Nate) time! I'm not sure I'd heart exploding things as a baby, but in my fairy tale land, babies love fireworks. haha... :)