yep, i’m alive.

and a year older, as it turns out!

the past month has been a whirlwind, and amidst the whirlwind was my 23rd birthday.  it was on a friday, and weekend birthdays always feel like miracles, in my opinion.  my thursday-sunday was filled with family, friends, and lots of sweets, as birthdays should be.

here are some bits and pieces from that weekend:

{dinner in uptown on thursday night with ashley and angelica}

{it was my first time at the common table and i fell in love}

{we started off with a pitcher of skittles sangria!}

{i had avocado on the “half shell” with sauteed lobster meat and chive oil.  it. was. awesome.}

{i may be old now, but i still think birthdays are magical}

{carrot cake cup with stout anglaise}

{and on top of all the wonderful food, drinks, and company, there were birthday cards..}

{…and presents!}

{i’m so happy to have these beautiful women in my life!}

on friday, my actual birthday, i took a half day at work so that i could drive home and spend that afternoon with my parents and my brother who had come in for the weekend.  all day long, i got showered with happy birthday emails from my work people, which was so sweet.

{ruthie brought me cake pops!}

then, a little while before i left work, i got a call from one of the receptionists saying that she had received a delivery for me.  confused, i went down to the first floor, thinking, i don’t remember ordering any samples from suppliers to be delivered today... and when i got to the front desk, the receptionist handed me a huge brown paper bag.  it was a dozen sprinkles cupcakes from thomas!!  isn’t he just the greatest person ever?!

{chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet}

{i just love him.}

i drove home that afternoon, stopped by my church to say hi to my dad who was working our men’s club fish fry, then spent the afternoon catching up with my mom and brother.  then the three of us went to the fish fry and ate dinner together, and it was SO tasty.  my dad runs it, and they are known for their awesome fish.  they make their own breading – it’s a secret recipe!  if you’re ever in arlington, tx on friday during lent, you should stop by st. joe’s fish fry!  :)

{me and my pretty mother}

{a blurry pic, but we’re so proud of our dad, the fish fry king!  they raised the most money ever in the history of their fish fry on my birthday evening.}

{two peas in a pod}

{me and brother bear}

after dinner, we went over to celebrate at mimi and papa’s!

{i’m so lucky to have these two in my life}

{there were lots of lovely gifts…}

{…and a present-opening machine named lucky!}

{mom made a carrot cake, my favorite, with cream cheese frosting of course!}

{the two best parents i could ever ask for}

{getting ready to make a wish!}

{this is my dramatic “i’m pretending to blow out the candles because they didn’t get a picture when i actually blew them out” face}

{meanwhile, this little guy is completely exhausted from the adventures of the evening!}

i’m quite excited about my new ipad, which i’ll probably get at the end of march [i'm kind of waiting to see if there's a new one coming out...], and i got so many other wonderful gifts.  the most important gift of all, though, was having our family together, especially since papa isn’t well.

late that evening, i was serenaded by angela and all my other favorite houston folks, and then they sent me this gem of a video:

Happy Birthday Video

i laugh every single time i watch it!  makes me happy.

the next day, i went for a walk with mom and mike [dad had to leave for a trip], said goodbye to mike [he was headed back to austin], and then went shopping with mom and mimi.  i went back to dallas that evening, and spent the rest of the weekend chilling out, enjoying some “me time,” and getting ready for the week.

{mom sent me home with this huge hunk of carrot cake that gave me dessert for 3 days!  best cake ever!}

{i was way too excited for my new pair of house shoes from anthropologie.  they were my gift to myself, although anthro pitched in 15% for my birthday.  oh yeah, and they were already on sale – a steal!}

{i had sunday brunch with the girls at mama’s daughters’ diner}

oh, and random sidenote: my bday week was like the week of cinnamon rolls!  i literally eat cinnamon rolls once or twice a year, and it just so happened that i had three opportunities to eat them on this week.  [hello, gym!]

{i had one for breakfast at my parents’ house – my mom had gotten some for a school fundraiser.  they were actually really tasty}

{this one hardly counts because it was angelica’s, but i had a bite!}

{then on monday, we made them in baking class!  they unfortunately didn’t rise as much as we would have liked, but they still looked pretty.}

if one week out of the year has to be a cinnamon roll week, it might as well be your birthday week – that’s my philosophy! ;)

i appreciate all of the nice notes and birthday wishes from friends and family.

i’d say it was a pretty fabulous birthday!  if only my papa was better and all of my dear friends were here to celebrate with me, it would have been perfect. <3  what a lovely time it was!

xoxo