Dad's Birthday!

Last night we celebrated my dad's birthday at my house.  I grilled steaks and had corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and salads.  And for dessert, Dad's favorite....BANANA PUDDING!

It seems I remembered everything except the picture taking....I remembered after all the dinner and presents were done and got a shot in as he was blowing out the candles on his puddin'

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

Weekend Review

Well it is rare that I have a fun weekend and feel rested, but that is exactly what happened when the four of us got together this weekend.  We maxxed out daytime fun and we were all in bed by 11pm.  It is always great when I see my hokie ladies, and this was no exception.  We all got in town by 7pm on Friday night and went to dinner at this yummy restaurant called Sweatwater Tavern, where they had these AMAZING rolls....

Delicious Roll

Friday night we went back to Erica's where they had a birthday celebration for me:

Matching PJs with my Birthday celebration subway art!

Homemade cake!

Then we all just hung out and caught up a bit in our PJs, really what is more relaxing than that?

Sara also thought it would be fun to try on my bra:

It just about fits!

 Then it was off to bed for a full day of Saturday shopping!

This store was filled with beads, it was fabulous and all the girls were patient so I could look!

There was lots of hat trying on...

More hats...

and more Hat pictures! 

At some point the shopping and weekend had to end.  But we had a great time and now need to get on planning our next weekend together!  

 Needless to say this one was happy when I got home:

Brutus

The wait is almost over!

So, it has been months in planning, weeks of waiting, and days of impatience for this week to finally end so I can spend a fabulous weekend with these ladies:

I can barely contain my excitement as I type this!  With the four of us spread up and down the East Coast is not often we get together, but when we do, it is always a fun time!

So the countdown is on...34 hours to go!

Birthday Flowers

I know I know what people think...why buy flowers, they just die?   Well I am here to tell you that flowers, in their short life, can provide a world of happiness.  Every time I get a whiff of them, I just instantly smile and the colors are so vibrant and fun...what is not to love?  So when I got a birthday surprise yesterday from my friend, Emily, I was exciting to have something new adoring my desk for the next week or so!

And it just keeps going and going and going...

So here is what's up?  Hands down, I have the BEST friends in the whole wide world!  After work yesterday, I met up with two of them for dinner at one of my favorite Richmond restaurants: Cafe Caturra, where I was showered with more fabulous gifts and surprises!  

A card so sweet, you could eat it!

Hokie Buddies

Then it was onto small group where I was lucky enough to have not one, but two YUMMY birthday desserts for me:

YUMMM!  Jessica got me a cookie cake, my fav!

Charlotte made these for me--so cute!

RAINBOW SPRINKLES!!!!

They sang happy birthday, not once but twice!

I AM SO FREAKIN' LUCKY TO HAVE AWESOME FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!

P.S. In other not as fun news, but exciting for me, is that my stitches came out last night.  My dear friend Aubrey, who is a P.A. said she would remove them at Bible study, so I finally was able to sleep on my left side again last night :)  It's the simple things, y'all!

Birthdays Galore

So I know most people hate the end of August; it signals the end of summer, the start of school, and the beginning of fall/winter (AKA cold weather).  But I have always been Pro-August and that might just be because my birthday is August 21st!  In true Laura fashion, I try to spread out the birthday festivities and celebration as long as humanly possible (yes I realize I am turning 29 and not 12, but love it or leave me).  So we started with the Legwarmers birthday fun evening with 10 of my closest friends (okay maybe not really all of them) on August 10th and will conclude with a visit from my sister and nephew sometime next week (August 27th).  So I will have made it a 17 day celebration....I'd say that is pretty good!

Well surprise surprise, it can't be about me ALL the time (can it?), so this weekend, my friend CJ and I also go to celebration our friend, Elizabeth's birthday.  We cooked in and got her these yummy mini cupcakes to celebrate her big day!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

The candles spell out her name!

Then on Sunday, Emily, Anna, CJ and myself went out to celebrate Emily's and my August birthdays at everyone's favorite restaurant, CiCi's Pizza!

CJ and Anna

Me and Emily: Birthday Girls!

YUP that just happened!

Then since it was a rainy Sunday, I came home and watched some TV and enjoyed a couple of LAZY hours before my birthday dinner with the family at Brio!

Mom and Dad

Andy and Me

All in all, a great weekend, too bad I had to go back to work today!  But I get a fun weekend to look forward to!  YAY for Birthday Fun!

Crazy Friday Nights!

So my friend Anna and I had big plans to go dancing last night, but as the weeks wear on and work and life get busy by last night we were both only so happy to have an early dance party in her living room (sorry no pictures there) and go to bed early.  But not before we visited our favorite area ice cream place...SWEET FROG!!!!!!  YUMMY...I like these Friday night plans :)

Anna with our EMPTY cups!