Party Week!

By last Thursday, I was almost at the point of "Too Much Birthday"... which has never happened before. But then, I've never had seven parties in one week! How lucky am I to have family, friends and co-workers who want to celebrate my birthday?? Very blessed I'd say.

Sunday Party 1: After wrapping up the conference, I headed back to the airport- and didn't get lost! I promptly had my $12, brand new face lotion 'surrendered' to security because it was 1 oz. too large- that's dangerous stuff. Then, after spending too long in the airport wandering back and forth looking at Texas-inspired whimsy at every kiosk and a long flight home, I was saved by Patricia who came to rescue me from the airport. We headed to Kenmore for a family party- pizza, cake, gifts, laughs- fantastic! I missed having Mark, Sarah and the kiddos there, as a family party isn't a party without them, but we had an opportunity to party later in the week (See Tuesday). It was the perfect ending to a LONG day.

Monday Party 2: My birthday! Since I worked over the weekend, I was able to take off Monday and Tuesday. So this day started with sleeping-in and a trip to Cafe Ladro for chai and coffee cake with Mom. We headed up to Bellingham to have lunch with Grandpa Earl and Nancy, at Grandpa's favorite eatery, the Shrimp Shack. Grandpa isn't much of a muncher, but he loved the shrimp! We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Grandpa's house, my favorite place ever.

Tuesday Party 3: I awoke super excited for this day too- a visit to the Woodland Park zoo with Sarah, Ashenafi and Torin- the first visit to the zoo for the boys. I loved seeing Ashen's reaction to the animals. He especially liked the elephants and the ducks. The ducks were just pretending they were of a unique species, and really moved right into any exhibit they wanted. I noticed that the best viewing for almost every exhibit was at an eye-level of about 5-6 feet tall. Isn't the zoo for kids? How are they supposed to see anything sitting in their strollers when there are bars, slats, fences etc. right in their sight-line? Doesn't seem fair to the little ones. We took A out of the stroller each time we got to a new exhibit, and I will admit that my arms were sore for two days from holding him! When Mark got home we went for a family walk and then had delicious homemade BBQ chicken sandwiches and watched while Ashen shredded the tissue paper from my birthday gift box. Perfect!

Ashen's favorite- an elephant kicking a ball

Feeding time at the zoo- goldfish crackers and juice- delicious!

Wednesday: My one party-less day this week, though I arrived at work after my five-days off to a desk covered with Easter grass and pastel-colored taffy, I mean covered! That's a dangerous thing to have that much sugar within easy reach.

Thursday Party 4 and 5: Today after snacking on taffy all morning, we celebrated two birthdays: my manager Jon Warren and me. We got out of the office for a nature walk around the Weyerhaeuser trails and some parking lot tailgating with chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate (G-rated menu, of course.) In the evening, my small group and I headed to Wallingford for cupcakes. I'd already had more sugar than I could handle for the day, but how could I refuse a cute little cupcake? Thus began the sugar-coma dark side. I've never gotten to the point of not wanting to eat a stitch of sugar before, ever. I was recently reminded by my Aunt Helen that when I was small, I used to sneak spoonfuls of sugar for a light snack. What was that about? I couldn't dwell as I had more parties to tackle!

Friday Party 6: This was a fun evening, as I'd never been to the my pastor's, the Notkins, house before unless it was a church sanctioned event. Their daughter, Becca (who was also celebrating her birthday) invited me, Mark and Sarah and the kiddos over for dinner. The have a big black dog, which I think made Ashen's day! He just kept running after it saying "doggie, doggie." We ate awesome flank steak and orzo (Ashen actually clapped in approval of the orzo), followed by a lemon tart. I had gone sugar free for the day, so I was able to enjoy the tart. The Notkins are great hosts and it was fun spending time with Mark, Sarah and the boys again. James B Notkin married them in 2001, and look at them now!

Saturday Party 7: Today I went for a 6 mile morning run, not only to try to burn off some sugar, but I also have a race coming up in a month which I've been neglectful in training for. It felt really good to run! After a delightful afternoon of laundry and puttering at my Mom and Dad's house, I headed back to Seattle for dinner with some friends from church- Erin, Thuy, Colleen and Steph. We were supposed to go to Kingfish, an awesome, Southern-style cafe- but the wait was an hour for a table, and I wasn't about to wait an hour just to sit down. So we headed over to another favorite cafe- B&O Espresso. They serve fabulous Greek dishes, as well as the best dessert in Seattle, in my humble opinion. So after an evening of good friends, good dinner and good tiramisu- I headed home to sleep off the sugar... if only it wasn't daylight savings.

Thank you to all my friends and family for making it a special week and making me feel special- I love you lots!