Another year of fabulous!

Here I am, another year old - and just a little wiser.

No doubt - I am fabulous - but there were definitely some hard blows today, and I think I handled them with the greatest of ease.

I spent a great deal of last night preparing all of the food and other goodies for my birthday party today. I realized, as I was hanging my little gold stars and placing my little gold napkins on the table that it is probably not the norm to decorate for your own birthday party. But - I figured (and this has been my philosophy all day) "If you don't celebrate yourself, who will?"

And that's the question of the day - "WHO WILL?"

I got to work and found one birthday card laying on my desk. It was from our SVP, Bruce down in Tampa - and I was so grateful. It even had a cupcake on it! That forced me to change my mood calendar from deprived to chipper. Thanks Bruce. **still no call from the egyptian yet...

My sweet intern came in with one cupcake for me (Devil's food cake) and she made home made Banana Pudding (Paula Dean's recipe.) I was so grateful!

I blew out my candle on my little cupcake (but saved it for later!)

Then the office presented me with a batch of home made snicker doodles. (My favorite cookie!)

Here I am - feeling the love!

Thanks team!

For lunch, Jamie hosted a birthday lunch for me. She made a spinach salad, shepard's pie and yorkshire pudding.

Laura took the pics. We had a great lunch!

Then topped it off with Strawberry cake with strawberry icing. This is the first time I actually ate any of the sweets!

I came home - and as I was putting the finishing touches on my items - I got a text message from my friend from home. She was not coming - which meant our trip to New Orleans was off..

Did I mention my famous cake I have telling you guys about all week?

These were the glasses I bought for our Thelma & Louise trip. Don't worry - I still used them.

Some of the goodies!

Hee hee - I hand wrote the items with a black sharpie. That was the napkin theme!

Sooo.. then I found out my other closest friend could not come.. (Crystal.) The one who lost her step father..

I was bound and determined to not lose my fabulousness...

***ps - still no call from the egyptian

My friends came and I cut that cake with a smile...

I am not bitter...

My friends Jamie and Laura

Patricia and Jamie

Cristina and Julie

Stephanie and I

See - Julie and I used the glasses!

Woot!

My friend Teresa sent me the sweetest package - a book and two notebooks (cocktail napkins) and a fabulous Wonder Woman bag!! I actually had these on my Amazon Wish List!

Julie gave me some yummy goodies

Cristina bought me a gift certificate to Ross Bridge!!

Over all it was great. Sure I was disappointed my friend did not come. She told me by text message that her daughter was diagnosed with mono. What do you say? Or with my friend who had to attend her stepfather's funeral? You don't get the luxury of saying - 'hey - it's my birthday.'

That's the beauty of living with family nearby or having children. You are on your own. My husband never wished me a happy birthday, two of my closest friends canceled.. BUT - I held my head high. I am not selfish enough to freak out over it. Hurt? Nah.. well.. maybe a little. A little disappointed- sure. But again - life happens. Their family is their priority. As it should be.

Me? I will still go to Pensacola tomorrow for work. And I will still go to Mobile for work. But instead of driving to New Orleans - I will come home.

I loss the use of the gift certificate. That's what makes me more mad than anything. It's too late to cancel. I only wish my friend would have told me her daughter was sick yesterday instead.. it could have bought me some time... to either find a replacement, or get the certificate back. Instead - my free night (valued at $250) is down the drain. That's the worse part.

C'est la vie.

I think between my two friends with their "big life" things, that they could not control and my husband not calling - I was almost a basket case. But - my co workers, my friend and my zumba instructor came over and I had a blast. I have to get to sleep now... I have a loooong lonely drive. I am sure I will be doing a lot of thinking... reprioritizing...

Time to make some BIG decisions.