twenty.five

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. 

I had so much fun and was reminded just how blessed I am to have wonderful friends and family.  I found something so special about people remembering me and expressing their love and happiness toward me.  Thank you everyone who made my day so meaningful!  Here is a little recap of how it went down...

It all started Monday night, Greg and I went out for a nice dinner at Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse.  I had the prime rib and Greg got lobster.  It was the first time he'd eaten a whole lobster, so we had to GOOGLE 'how to eat a lobster' and we found a website with step by step instructions and pictures.  We had a great time and lots of laughs as he ate 'lobby lobster', as i called him the whole night...

 

Tuesday morning (birthday morning) Greg woke up with the pups and let me stay in bed.  That was a great surprise and was very thoughtful of him.  I woke up and made cinnamon rolls (from a can) and we watched a movie and just hung around the house until Greg had to leave for work.  Greg absolutely spoiled me this year with birthday gifts.  I wasn't expecting much and (even though I found out about all of the gifts beforehand) I was overwhelmed with some wonderful things!  He got me a new Nikon digital camera (to enhance your blogging experience), a flexpod tri pod for the camera, a digital picture frame, a watch (ALDO, like his) and an adorable custom messenger bag from Timbuk2.  I love everything he gave me, especially love and attention and making sure I was happy and smiling the whole day!

Soon came part 2 of the birthday spectacular.  The lovely ladies here in delaware decided to throw me a pool party.  We ate pizza, played in the pool, and had so much fun.  I loved every second of it and am so grateful for such amazing friends!!  Also, thanks Katie and Kindra for earrings and GLEE!!!

Part 3 of the day came quickly (a little too quick, I wish my birthday could last forever)... Greg and I went to the mall and bought a few clothes and went for some dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  I stuffed myself with my favorite salad (the bbq ranch chicken salad) and brought home some yummy cheesecake.  After I got home, I hopped on facebook to find 77 (yes seventy seven) birthday comments from friends and family!!  This was such a surprise and made me feel very special.  Being away from home, it was just what I needed.  So thank you so much fb friends!!

and finally, I got some cash from my family (thanks mom and nana and jim) and have some fun plans for the money.  Let me just say, I LOVE the store Anthropologie, but I rarely shop there because it is expensive, and lets face it, I love a good bargain.  So I've found some shirts I'm in love with, and am trying to decide which one to get.  Trust me, this will be a fantastic purchase, I'm super excited!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

to everybody!  I loved my birthday and couldn't have asked for anything more!

olly wolly

Little Olive is getting so SO big.  Well, she is a little dog, so "big" is just in perspective.  Here are some pictures of her as a pup and now as she is growing up.  She is about 6 weeks and under 5 pounds in the puppy pictures and 6 months old and 10 pounds now.

then...

now...

then...

now...

and a couple extras i thought were cute...

headband

I made this today!

because my hair is looking pretty sickly and I couldn't figure out what to do with it...

remember when...

I was transferring some pictures from my old phone and found a few I would like to remember.  I want to look back and say "When we lived in Philly, remember when..."

...we went to a Phillies MLB game

...we picked delicious fruit at Linvilla Orchards

...it hailed huge marbles

...we had a huge crab feast (and I didn't eat any)

...we ate at bdubs (Buffalo Wild Wings) all the time

...we went to Hershey World

Yep, I remember :)

what makes me cool (sarcasm fully intended)

an iphone!!

Yes, its only a 3G and only 8gigs, but it is still an iphone.  I have been told (by my loving husband who thinks I am the COOLEST) that I am a cool kid now because I have an iphone. 

I wish I would have known what it REALLY takes to be cool, a little earlier in life.  It would have been so much more interesting up to this point had I gotten an iphone sooner.  Now, I really can't wait to meet other iphone users, talk about apps and gigs and 3Gs and 4Gs.  I can use my itunes and use those white headphones so EVERYONE will know I have an iphone... because I'm now a cool kid, and I'm cool like that. 

antsy pants

Its official!  Greg needs to be a last minute shopper.  He bought my birthday presents (my birthday is still 2 weeks away) and I already know what they all are, or have seen my presents.  Its so funny, he gets super excited to give them to me.  He had one present in the car for a couple of days, and I'd told him to hide it because I wanted to be surprised.  Last night we went out for a drive and SOMEHOW he convinced me to let him show me the gift... to find out, I LOVE IT!!!

What is it you ask?  You'll have to find out when my birthday gets  here... someone has to be surprised :) 

Even though it wasn't on my birthday, I still had a great surprise and now I have to wait until the 27th, until it is in my posession.  Thanks babe!

my apx girlies

Being a summer sales wife has its ups and downs, but some major ups for me are the amazing wives I am with basically every second of my life!  I am happy to say we have no drama and we all love the guts out of each other.  I feel blessed to be surrounded by girls who are such good examples and who support me everyday.  I will be sad to see this summer fade away.  Good thing we have many more memories to make!

scavenger hunt

me & katie at the phillies game for mothers day!

tiedye.  best ever!

orchard fun

and of course, the most important thing we could do all summer...

see ECLIPSE!!

keep it clean

While recently blog hopping, I ran across a fantastic post about keeping a tidy house.  It is not one of my strong points.  However, what the author said definitely makes sense and provided me with a strong sense of motivation.  It has made a difference as I've kept these things in mind, so I thought it would be useful for others as well!!

revamped

nothing like a new look to give some needed motivation!  I just realized I haven't blogged about anything since we've been in Philly.  I will definitely be doing some catch up so I won't forget these fun times!

Frrrozen Hot Chocolate

My husband thinks this is an oxymoron. How can it be frozen AND hot chocolate? Well, just taste it! So it was my turn to plan the APX wednesday wives activity (I lost a grueling round of rock-paper-scissors) and I had no idea what to do for the activity. Somehow, making frozen hot chocolate came into my head and am I ever glad it did! Here is the recipe ladies!! (with my adjustments)

This is the Serendipity 3 recipe, straight from Oprah...

Frrrozen Hot Chocolate

•6 pieces (1/2-ounce) chocolate (I used milk chocolate symphony)
•2 teaspoons store-bought hot chocolate mix
•1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
•1 1/2 cups milk
•3 cups ice
•Whipped cream
•Chocolate shavings

Directions:

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place it in the top of a double boiler over simmering water (I used the microwave). Stir occasionally until melted. Add the hot chocolate mix and sugar. Stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and slowly add ½ cup of milk until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In a blender, place the remaining cup of milk, the room-temperature chocolate mixture and the ice (at this point, I added 2 more spoonfuls of hot cocoa powder and some extra ice). Blend on high speed until smooth and the consistency of a frozen daiquiri. Pour into a giant goblet and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Enjoy! This turned out to be DELICIOUS!

(oh, and fyi, Greg and I have agreed to call this frozen cocoa in our household)