The Birthday Queen Makes a Scene

At least one day out of the year each of us is entitled to be a Princess or Prince.  Some people call it a coronation, a celebration, or a Birthday.  These are, of course, interchangeable terms.

Last weekend will go down as one of THE BUSIEST in history.  Allow me to give you a glimpse of the madness.  I could have been found in any of the following places (and quite frankly I may have been in more than one place at a time at one point):

• The recording studio
• Frantically scouring each room at my parents' house for one of the following items: a hairbrush, my hair dyer (which I later found out had been left home alone in Columbia), my pocketbook, my left Rainbow flip flop (what do you call it if you're missing one?  A flip, or a flop?) vitamins, an earring, etc.
• Having an awesomely fun picture session with Brandy (and all that is entailed with getting ready for such an occasion)
• Witnessing a fight at McDonald's on Irby street over a guy jumping ahead of someone in line ( Dude- be happy!  There are enough Big Macs to go around!)
• Visiting both sets of Ryan's grandparents'
• Having Birthday cake with Meagan and 30+ family members
• At church at the piano, organ, or somewhere in-between
• Speeding carefully paying attention to the speed limit while going back to Columbia to start the week all over again!

Not to mention that work has also been non-stop with various events.  Guess whose seat this was at the sales meeting...

My job entails an exorbitant amount of pressure on a daily basis.  Some days I literally feel eaten alive.

Most people live for the weekends, but in my case, even they are far from relaxing.  On our ride back from the fields of gold last Saturday, Brandy and I discovered an adorable shop in Dillon that sells holiday things.  Yes, I said HOLIDAY THINGS!!!  I was SUPER pumped.  I've always said that when someone enters my house I want them to immediately know what season it is- whether it's santa soap, festive kitchen towels, Valentine candy dishes, an Easter bunny salt shaker, or a bowl full of Halloween ornaments (yes, I found some of these in Target!).

We were most excited to find this little shop.

Even if the sign still says 'open' when it's actually closed...   ???

Either Ryan secretly called and asked them to close early so I would avoid temptation, or I can say with honesty that I went to a holiday shop and resisted the decorations.

My Sunday schedule resembled a Nascar race, as usual.  After praise band practice that morning Katie kindly accompanied me to the drug store to get some water and cough drops, since my throat was bothering me.  

Forget tap water.  Nothing is as stylishly refreshing as this:

After church was over social hour ensued, and I got to congratulate Bennett and Hilary on their recent engagement.  SO exciting!!!  And I'm thrilled for them!!! : D

For lunch that day my parents took Ryan and me to the Charcoal Grill.  I filled my plate with fried goodness and had just sat down to eat when I proclaimed, "Did any of you get some fried pickles???  These are going to be delicious!"  I then took a large bite of the biggest pickle I could find on my plate.

"Katharine, that's squash..."

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   EWWWWWW!!!! Oh well, more for everyone else at the table, I guess.

The evil twins...

Eenny meeny miny mo, if you get squash, just say no.

After lunch I went straight out to Shirley Coleman's for some cake and a multi Birthday celebration!!!

Meagan, Katharine, Katelyn, Austin, and Mrs. Christie all have Birthdays within a few weeks of each other.  You should have heard the line of the song that says, "Happy Birthday dear _____."  There was a mix of everyone's names in no particular order.

For Meagan and me there are four days out of the year when we're the same age.  This was one of those days!

Then came the cake smashing...

Noah standing = cute
Noah standing in a bag = even cuter!!

Sunday night was another "Ever-Loving Truth" study session.  Kate and her mom went above and beyond with homemade funfetti cupcakes (LOVE!!!), princess balloons (still proudly soaring in my kitchen), a crown, feather boa, and many other goodies.

They are SO SPECIAL to me, and I was beyond thankful and appreciative for my Birthday treats!!!

After the study that night I flew back to Columbia (by car), because Joy was coming to town.  Monday night was Birthday celebration #1. 

Did someone say gift time? : D

I LOVED all of my gifts!  Knowing my obsession with Christmas items, Jamie gave me a couple of goodies early so that I could actually use them this year.  Smart!

And for clarification, the elephant is a knick knack for my jungle themed bathroom;  I initially thought it was Republican memorabilia.  Either way, it will be proudly displayed.

And here we are at California Dreaming- home of the world's greatest croissants!  I do love this restaurant, but why do they insist on such dim lighting???

The waiter's view of the table as he gets ready to take orders...

On the morning of my Birthday Jeannie surprised me with a LILLY PULITZER calculator!!! One thing's for certain; there is no more fashionable way to calculate sales.

Jeannie, I love you.  You ROCK!

After work that day Ryan surprised me with several goodies, among them a cute Halloween basket of candy (oddly enough, it favored Ryan- ha!)

In the envelope was a card (a handwritten letter is a must for every occasion- Ryan knows this), a receipt for a bracelet I've been eyeing for months at Handpicked (it's being monogrammed), ITunes gift cards, and a certificate for a massage at Envy.  It is DESPERATELY needed!!!

For lunch our sales team had a delicious lunch at Yesterday's, and they brought me a massive Sundae.  For dinner, Ryan took me to one of my all-time favorite restaurants- Outback.  I always order the chicken tenders, but this particular night I decided to get steak.  Ryan used to give me a hard time about asking for mine well done, because I was "sacrificing flavor."

I caved in and asked the waitress for "medium well."  It was medium alright- if you cooked it with a candle.  I cut into that steak, and I swear it said, "ouch."  It was the rarest piece of meat I'd ever seen in my life, and because I didn't want to be late to the movies, I lived with it.

Somewhere in the kitchen the employees could be heard chanting:

"Happy, happy Birthday, here's your Outback steak!  You better hold it down before it runs right off your plate!"

All in all it was a wonderful Birthday, and everyone around me made it so special.  The sad thing about Birthdays is that they only last 24 hours.

***12:00 midnight alert***

Actual Birthday...

Day after Birthday reality check...

This weekend has been action packed as well.  We had a house full of hooligans family for the big USC game.  Friday night was spent preparing for the tailgate (of which I didn't participate because I spent Saturday in a sound booth).

Ryan and Aaron made some very impressive skewers.  Watch out, Olive Garden.

All was well until Katharine got in the way decided to help.  Within a span of fifteen minutes utter calamity ensued.  Crisis number one:  we were baking cookies, and I went on a five minute sales pitch about how air insulated baking pans are an absolute must for the perfect cookies.  The air helps them cook perfectly through yet not get burned on the bottom and still be soft.

When the timer went off I ran to that oven like a pet dog who hears a bag of chips opening.  I wanted a nice, warm cookie.  I grabbed the oven mitt and lifted the tray out of the oven.  That's when it happened.  EXPLODE!!!!!!!!!

What percentage of the population can say that their bakeware spontaneously combusted in their hands?  I guess this makes me one of the .0000001%.  Pieces of smashed cookies were scattered about like land mines, and sweet Maggie helped me clean it up.  "NOBODY MOVE UNTIL THIS IS CLEANED!!!"


I later learned that water got caught inside of the pan while in the dishwasher, thus causing this tragedy. The positive of this situation was the mound of "unusable" peanut butter cookies, because they weren't pretty enough to serve.  This means they were free game to eat.  May I say that those were the best exploded cookies ever.  I should note that this method of cooking was NOT included in the instructional notes on the Pillsbury package.

Crisis number two: while scooting around Aaron to wash the potatoes off he sliced his finger on a knife.  You may remember my last post about my most unenjoyable encounter with those same knives.  Pampered Chef is now 2-0 in this household.

I soon decided (no surprise here) that the kitchen was no place for me, so I thought I'd make myself useful in other areas, like changing a lightbulb in the living room.  No sooner could I say "God help honey Boo Boo" when I dropped the bulb, sending it shattering into 1000 tiny pieces in the kitchen.  Here we go again- "NOBODY MOVE UNTIL THIS IS CLEANED!"

"But wait, I thought you already swep-?"

"No, that was the cookies.  They were the last mess; this is a new one.  Get with it!"

And to top it off I burned up the motor on the air mattress.  The intention for our guests was a comfortable extra bed.

The resulting surface was not quite what we had in mind.

I've come to the conclusion that despite my track record, the fact that I'm 28 years old with all of my limbs in tact is nothing short of a miracle.  I am so grateful for this and all of the blessings that have come with this past year.  I am unworthy yet incredibly grateful to Him.

Here's hoping your week is crash, crush, and crisis free!!!