Holy Cow, I'm 40! (A birthday review)

I've have a few days to recover from the shock and fun of turning FORTY YEARS OLD! I cannot even believe it. I had a few moments of hesitation and 'holy heck', but in the end spent so much time preparing for a party that I couldn't dwell much on getting my zero. I wanted to celebrate the milestone with a bang, so Pat and I decided to have some friends out to the new house for games, drinks, food, and possibly a fire. That's where Pat started.

He built me a fire pit. I'll go into the details of it in another post.

While he was involved in the process of making the firepit, I began to work on making some beanbags. (Please note that while I am indeed crafty, I have issues with sewing machines. At some point I will learn to sew property with my adult-size sewing machine, but since I was just sewing straight lines, this mini one worked just fine.)

After the fire pit came together, Pat started on building cornhole boards. This is basically a beanbag toss game. It took him almost no time to pull these together for me to paint before the big day.

On Wednesday, I went to Mobile to visit with my family. My mom made the fried pork chops and gravy I requested. Please let me say that I'm not really a big fried food or gravy eater, but my mom's homemade pork chops and gravy are to die for. And, eating them only once a year can't be tooooooo bad for me, even at my age.

Oh, and she made me a German Chocolate cake!

We did lots more prepping for the party including ordering other games, frantically cleaning the house and yard, and buying some folding tables (we needed some anyway.)

On the morning of my birthday, I started right off by treating myself to doughnuts and pre-football shows.

Restless before the party, I made me a pair of earrings that are both my style and team colors (Roll Tide!)


Before I knew it, it was party time! Friends and family began showing up. I had invited all of my favorite people. Many of them didn't know each other, so there was some awkwardness, and I felt stretched trying to show off the house/property, introduce everyone, and jump from one group of people to the next. But, I also felt so very blessed to have all those amazing individuals come out to celebrate with me. Unfortunately, once people started arriving I really didn't get any pictures. I was too busy to worry with my phone or camera. (Pat says that was a good thing. It meant I was having a good time. I think he's right!)

My sister-in-law somehow got tasked with getting the cakes. I was picky and asked for two: a tiramisu and a chocolate cake. She rocked this and got some devilishly delicious ones! And, Pat's brother and mom came over early to make homemade ice cream. Yes, I'm so very spoiled!

The party was over before I knew it. Alabama had won, the fire pit had been lit, games had been played, the kids enjoyed the wardrobe boxes I left out for them, and lots of food had been consumed.

The clean-up was fairly painless. And, the amount of fun that was had encourages me to have more parties. I have to note that this was the first party Pat and I have ever thrown. How crazy is that!?

Sunday was dreary and rainy, perfect recovery-day weather as I sat and felt thankful for all my many blessings.

Thank you to all of you who wished me happy birthday on Twitter, Facebook, and in person. Y'all really helped me feel loved and added to the awesomeness of my day. And, a very special thank you to my amazing husband, Pat, who took on the task of throwing me a party, prepping the house/property, and dealing with me. He really is THE BEST! Now to face forty and beyond!