birthday girl

Well another year older, another year wiser right? I will say the 10 day span of Christmas to my birthday feels like I get all the partying out in less than two weeks each year. I use to loath when my birthday fell, particularly as a kid when people would always do a combination gift. I am sorry but that’s just lame, because even if you tell yourself your making that gift extra special, as a little kid you want to feel like each day is unique and special, not a great way to only have to put thought together once. Now as an adult, I am embracing the holiday hangover and just keeping the party going a few more days.

This year I hosted a cocktail party with appetizers to snack on. It was great to get everyone together and have a good reason to really make sure the apartment was in tiptop shape for company. Anyone have that problem? Sometimes the best motivation to clean and organize is to have people over, because nothing embarrasses me more than having people discover how messy I like to be on a regular basis. I also got to leave up the Christmas decorations up a bit longer because I love how homey that makes my apartment feel, plus it’s always a bit sad to take down all that holiday feeling.

I spend the day prepping food after a good workout session (I woke up Sunday morning with some seriously sore triceps) and doing some last minute cleaning. I was lucky to wrap up early enough to get a pretty birthday manicure, complete with the accent nail, before having people come over. I made my famous seven layer dip, turkey meatballs, the family holiday staple- cheese, pepperoni and crackers, veggies, frozen grapes with cinnamon and sugar, and gluten free cupcakes. I also was able to stock up on all that sale Christmas candy so put a lot of that out too. One of my friends make deviled eggs, which are one of my favorite foods. It was a delightful little feast.

It was my ideal birthday, with friends dropping in, enjoying lots of champagne (I’ve taught you all so well) and celebrating another year. Thank you to everyone who celebrated with me, and everyone who sent along well wishes. I look forward to next year.