My Birthday Week!

This past weekend kicked off my Birthday Festivities with a Gemini Birthday Party up in Porter Ranch!  Amy, Jeremy, Kenzo, and I all have Birthday's less than 2 weeks apart from each other so we figured we would have a party with a bunch of our friends at Mike's House because he's got a beautiful view, pool, grill, ping pong table, and more.

Mike, Me, Kenzo, & Amy at Mike's House for our Gemini Birthday Party

The party was certainly a success as there were at least 40 people in and out throughout the day and night, there was so much food, wraps and sandwiches, chips and salsa, vegetables, and I made Funfetti Cupcakes with Lavendar frosting and Espresso Brownies!  At night we grilled out Burgers and had a cake-fight by the pool!  I was so glad I wasn't in my swimsuit anymore because it got crazy and there was blue frosting everywhere.

Everyone just chilled by the pool, got some sun, listened to music, watched Golf, and just hung out.  At one point, Neil and I went into Mike's music room and we started a mini-concert with Mike joining us, and Kenzo harmonizing.  That was probably one of my favorite parts of the night!  It was definitely a great way to kick off my Birthday Week :)

Tuesday the 19th was my actual Birthday.  I was having a little crisis on Monday, worrying about being a year older, if friends would be able to hang out, what I was going to do, etc.  Lucky for me, I got to spend the evening with 6 of my closest girlfriends! 

Birthday Treats

Ashley picked me up around 6 pm and we went to Freddy Small's for Happy Hour!  We ordered the Brussel Sprouts which are incredible in an Apple Cider Glaze served with Goat Cheese and Blue Cheese and Buffalo style Deviled Eggs.  Both were so good!  We started off with a Vodka Cocktail that had Coconut Water in it, and it was the perfect refreshing Summer drink.  Then Ash and I switched it up to a Tequila drink that had jalapeno in it, and boy, was that spicy!  Carolyn had met up with us and ordered this Rocky Road dessert thing with Chocolate Mousse and Toasted Meringue and that was fabulous as well.  It definitely makes me want to try more items on the menu!  Of course, before we left, there were tequila shots!

After Happy Hour, it was on to Game Night!  Bree, Kristina, Jess, Amy, Ashley, and Carolyn, all met at my apartment, and we got started on our night.  The girls all brought wine so we could have a little Tasting while playing some Games.  I threw a Pizza in the over, had Chips & Salsa, and also baked some fresh Chocolate Chip Cookies.  The first game of the night was Scattergories.  I think one of the best things about the night was that no one cared whether they won or lost, it was about catching up and having a good time!  We all just goofed around with our crazy answers and laughed.  The second game of the night was Apples to Apples which is always a good game because it's about personalities and getting to know people and guessing what they would be thinking.  Everyone did really well, but by then it was after 11 and most of the girls had work the next day so everyone parted ways.

I chose Romeo & Juliet :)

But for Carolyn, Ash, and I, we were prepared for a long night, so Carolyn picked up two more players (Matt, her boyfriend, and Travis, who live down the hall) and Ash had to go home to get Ben, her pig because he had been home alone all day and he was a fun little companion to have roaming around the apartment.  The last game of the night was a Movie based game called Pass the Popcorn.  Travis started off with an early lead but from that point on, everyone was in the lead at some point.  It's actually a fun game because even if you're not a movie buff, the clues you get really help so it was a lot of fun too!  Around 2:30 am we were all crashing and my Birthday was over (for now) so everyone went home.

But like the title of this blog, it's my Birthday Week...there's a lot more coming up :)