Birthday!

Today's my birthday, which I am really excited about.  NOT because I am turning older (Grrr) but because my Mom (who lives about 10 minutes from me) is cooking me her awesome roast recipe, with carrots and potatoes and gravy.  YUM!  I actually had my party over the weekend, which is what I'm going to write about today.

I knew nobody would be available on a Tuesday, so I had my little party on the Saturday before.  Now, last year was a big age milestone for me, but this year not so much, so I didn't really plan on a big blow-out.  I invited some friends over, and we all went out to Celebration Restaurant down the street for some tasty, home-style food.  I had my favourite, chicken fried steak, and my pal next to me had the day's special of venison with cream gravy.  Yum!  For whatever reason, there were a lot of rather elderly people there that night and I'm sure we stood out in contrast to them, but we had an awesome time and stuffed ourselves silly.

After we were done, we went back to my place.  I actually made my own cake this year, because I didn't want to spend a lot of money and wanted one I knew would be yummy.  I made the sour cream chocolate cake (recipe on my blog a few weeks back) that I love so much, and it was a big hit.  We drank beer, wine, and cocktails and then went out as a group to see the huge Super Moon that had risen.  Two of my friends are really cute and work out, so we made them show off their abs to see who had the best tummy and arms (booze will do that to you) though it made the rest of us feel naughty to sit there and stuff our faces with cake.  Finally, I opened presents and got some amazing stuff.  My friend Matty got me a book called "Country Wisdom and Know-How" which tells you how to do everything from make jam, to dig a root cellar, to bake squirrel casserole.  My pal Chris gave me a Half Price Books gift card (he knows me so well) and some funny little odds and ends.  I also got a bottle of vodka (!) and a Bible (joke gift) and card from Kevin.  Also that day, I got my custom besom I'm ordered from Henson Broom Company.  It's got an Ash handle, and I absolutely LOVE it.

Anyway, it was a really fun time, much more so than I'd expected.  I didn't plan much, but there was a nice turnout and, perhaps because I wasn't as stressed as usual about making it "fun" it actually was MORE fun.  Here's some pics of my party, my guests, and my cake.  Hope you enjoy! Sorry for the wonky pic placement; the "improved" blogger pic adder ( by "improved" I mean "sucks and is impossible to use") rearranges them in an annoying way that you can do nothing about.

Wine and workout

Hey Hey hey

New Besom

Vodka?

Hanging Out

Yum cake!

Someone in this pic won the abs prize

Kevin's new glasses are CUTE