although i’m definitely at the age where i’m starting to dread getting any older, i swear this was my best birthday ever! there were a few initial bumps in the road regarding how i would celebrate, but the weekend turned out perfectly [well, perfect minus a killer hangover on my actual birthday. oops. but it’s reallyyyyy hard to avoid this when you go out the night before your 25th birthday, apparently]. it was such a fun weekend from beginning to end.
friday was actually my last day of work at my old company, which was bittersweet. my team was so nice to me – they had a happy hour for me on thursday night, gave me sweet gifts, and made me feel so loved. i love those people and miss them all! i took a half day on friday and then drove to mansfield to meet up with my mom and mimi, and then the three of us plus the lucky dog headed down to austin [a.k.a. my soul city].
{does this look like a weekend in austin or what??}
my dad runs our church fish fry during lent, so he couldn’t come with us that night, but he flew into austin early the next morning. it’s weird, but i love the drive down to south texas [whether it’s to austin or college station or san antonio or houston] – it’s so pretty to me and it resurfaces lots of great memories.
{that texas sky}
we even stopped at the czech bakery on the way [remember this post from ages ago?? that was back when i was still in college and would stop in west on practically every trip to and from my parents’ house. i miss those kolaches, that’s for sure! there’s nothing like them].
{lucky and me, the backseaters! there on the left, that’s lucky’s faaaaaavorite seat in the car. but he’s squirmy and loves to position is rear end right on either my boobs or my bladder, so i always put a halt to that real quick. as long as he’s in his bed, he’s really good in the car.}
when we got to austin, we got settled in at our hotel, had a glass of wine, and then met mike for dinner at hanabi. we had some delicious sushi…
…along with some mochi and the tastiest lemon creme brûlée for dessert.
…while lucky waited patiently for us in the car! [it was 60 degrees out and we cracked the windows so no puppy abuse going on here. also, these photos were actually taken while he and i waited in the car while mom and mimi checked into the hotel… when we left him alone in the car at dinner he was sleeping soundly from the time we went in to the time we came out.]
{i was so happy to see this one}
we were all pretty exhausted from a busy friday so we went to bed pretty early on this night.
on saturday, we woke up bright and early [i ate kolaches for breakfast… winning already], picked up dad from the airport, and then picked up mike and priscilla from his house and headed to the magnolia cafe for brunch. it was YUM.
{we’re the three best friends that anyone could have…} :)
{cute cyclones}
after brunch, mom, dad, mimi, and mike all went to the UT vs. iowa state basketball game [if you didn’t already know, my parents and mimi and papa all went to iowa state], while priscilla and i hung out on south congress ave. i love b-ball, but let’s be honest… i love exploring austin even more. ;) [except when it comes to my aggies playing, of course. but that goes without saying.] the weather was amazing, and priscilla and i had the best day – we walked around and checked out lots of different shops – from uncommon objects and big top candy shop to the impeccable pig and lucy in disguise with diamonds. all the goodies. [AND we bought chocolate-covered bacon and chocolate-covered gummy bears at big top!] we took pictures by the “i love you so much” sign [on my nikon so they’ll be coming soon!] and this one…
{i may or may not have sent this to my main man} ;)
… andddddddd we got coffee at jo’s…
…then later got ice cream at amy’s… i had apple pie and priscilla had a mint chocolate stout. they were both so good! it really was a fantastic day and i loved every minute of it.
{stolen from priscilla… i love this picture!}
by that time, the game was over and the family came to pick us up. we went home, got dressed up for dinner, sipped on a glass of vino, and then met priscilla and mike at siena ristorante toscana for the most lovely meal. siena is in a gorgeous tuscan-style villa nestled in the rolling hills of austin amongst the trees. it really is a beautiful setting.
and the food! i had something so simple but so good, with the freshest ingredients – the pappardelle con salsicce, hand cut fresh pasta with grilled sausage, extra virgin olive oil, cracked red chili, pomodoro sauce, and goat cheese. i was OBSESSED. plus we had some fantastic wine and shared tiramisu, torta di cioccolata [flourless chocolate cake], and spuma di due cioccolata [dark chocolate mousse and blonde mousse with chocolate hazelnut wafers and white chocolate spheres] for dessert. i was in heaven.
{the fam}
{fun fact: i wore this same dress on my 21st birthday in austin. i decided it was time to bring it back!}
{the lovebirds}
{glad he’s my dad}
{i adore these people. they made my birthday weekend so fun.}
…and after dinner, it was time to part ways with the parents and grandparents and head to rainey street for a “low-key” night out! i love love love the bars on rainey, and mike’s friends were meeting us out along with my friend thomas, so i really planned on just having a chill night with friends [HA!]. we went home and changed and then took uber out. well, as you probably guessed, it wasn’t quite as tame as i had in mind! we started the night with a birthday tradition for mike and me – an irish car bomb. in fact, mike was nice enough to buy one for the whole group…
{i love this tradition of ours!}
we had such a fun night!
{i always have a blast with mike’s friends [and consider them my friends too!]}
{this is SO NOT TRUE but we just had to get a picture by it since we’d just taken one by the “i love you so much” sign earlier in the day! we really love each other.} :)
{…and it was wonderful to see this college bestie of mine! i loved getting to catch up with him!}
it wasn’t that the night was totally wild [like my 21st birthday in austin], but i learned that even when you’re 25, people still buy you lots of drinks on your birthday… which leads to mixing of a lot of different kinds of alcohol… which leads to a pretty nasty hangover the next morning. especially because you’re 25, not 21. i swear it wasn’t even about how much i drank, because i didn’t go way overboard, but what i drank.
either way, the next day [my actual birthday] was rough. but i pushed through! we started with brunch at blue dahlia bistro…
{blueberry blintzes with sweet ricotta}
…and then we went back to mike’s place and everyone showered me with gifts! they are too generous. so many gorgeous things from anthropologie – i was completely in my glory!
{they know me waaaaaaaay good.}
and then we had a chocolate coconut cake! and i made a wish and blew out candles…
and after my little birthday celebration, it was time to head back to dallas, because i had a hot date that night! we made it back in the late afternoon, and i had just a little bit of time before sandro came over [the icing on the cake to my already fantastic birthday weekend!]. thankfully, i was feeling a lot better by this time. sandro slaved away in the kitchen cooking me a delicious italian meal, complete with a fabulous bottle of chianti, and surprised me with the cutest apron and this really cool book [from none other than… drumroll… anthro! he is TOO GOOD. seriously though]. it was the sweetest and best night.
{the most thoughtful gifts}
{our lovely italian meal! [the salad is in the fridge, because apparently italians eat their salad after the meal.] and italian chocolates for dessert!}
{he spoils me so good}
alsooooooooo, he asked me to be his girlfriend that night, which i was pretty thrilled about. so. we’re official?! :) :)
but the sprinkles on the icing on the cake was that the next day [monday] was a SNOW DAY!
{birthday cake and coffee for breakfast, for the win}
i already had the day off because i was starting my new job on tuesday, but sandro got a snow day too, so we hung out at my house and watched a movie by the fire with hot cocoa and then he outdid himself by cooking an amazing italian meal for us for the second night in a row. he made his family’s red sauce which has been passed down for many generations. it was soooo good!
and the following day, i started my new job [at noon, due to the snow/ice]. pretty exciting!
so that right there, my friends, was a birthday that couldn’t be beat. maybe ever. i’m so blessed to have these wonderful people in my life. thank you all for making it such a special/perfect day! xoxo