Birthday Party.

This weekend is shaping up to be an extended birthday celebration.

Last night a few friends gathered together at the Parkallen for some merriment with yours truly.

You're going to notice a little disconnect with the photos. They jump back and forth between samples from Raffaella's camera and mine. Her complete set of photos from the evening look amazing.

I was at the dollar store earlier this week and decided it would be very ridiculous and hilarious to have party hats. I have never had a party with party hats before. So I got the hats. A pack of pom poms. And with the power of a glue gun I was able to create these... uh... masterpieces.

I told people that they were inspired by tribbles.

Dexter and Dougal were very happy to model for me at home, but my good friends were likewise amenable to humiliation and silliness.

Like Chrissy.

And Leanne.

Adam.

And Lisa. We had the hats on rotation and it looked fabulous on many other guests, but my camera wasn't cooperating with the light so you won't get to see the glorious pom poms on everybody.

I love Raffaella's diptics.

I made little seating tags on bars of music.

This morning when I went to open my presents I discovered that I am the luckiest miss sarah ever!

So many treats for me!

Like a special top with lots of lace, cute note cards (I am a fan of written correspondence, I guess I'm old school that way), and a crazy super amazing hair band that Sable got me while she was in San Francisco.

And coffee (also from San Francisco, but from Justin), luxurious soap, and off-the-hook anchor earrings.

And a wine I like, a feathery hair ornament, silicone cupcake cups, and knit-by-Marilyn coffee sleeves.

And letterpress birthday cards!

There were also other wonderfully thoughtful gifts such as homemade biscotti and banana bread, mixed CD, and fresh raspberries.

In some ways convention dictates that we should chill out as we get older, and that our birthdays aren't a big deal. Maybe I've just seen people not want to talk about their birthdays because they get sensitive about getting older? I know some people genuinely don't care all that much about their birthday and never have.

I really like birthday parties. I don't feel the need to go overboard, like having a 5 course meal with elephant rides afterwards and celebrity appearances, but I do like sharing good stories and food with my friends.

The gifts are so humbling. They are all very thoughtful in their own way and show such care on the part of the giver of the gift. I am so happy to have good people in my life.

Thank you.

And that includes you readers too. Particularly those of you who keep coming back. I'm glad you could come to my party here, in spirit!

And yes, I did ride the Pashley.