Birthday Dinner

Good morning, Crushers!

Today is my birthday. I don't know about you, but I love birthdays. I love everything about them. I love the warm wishes. I love the cake and ice cream. I love trying to remember how old you are now. I love presents. I also love getting a special meal and sharing it with people I love and enjoy.

Growing up, my mom would throw us amazing birthday parties. That woman knows how to stick to a theme! We would always get to eat fun food and have friends over. One of my favorite birthdays of all time was on my golden birthday when a bunch of my friends came over for a sleepover. This was a big deal in elementary school. We all got to dress up in fun dress-up clothes and have a pretend fashion show. My mom narrated it describing our outfits (many of which were her old bridesmaid dresses and other costumes), and my dad video taped us so that we could watch it later. We felt like celebrities!

Lately, my friends and family would either go to a hockey game and eat Chinese food and have pie for dessert or just have the same dinner at home. I love pie, especially birthday pie! Sometimes we'd be stuck at home because there would be a blizzard.

Last year, I didn't have any big plans, but Steve decided to let my inner celebrity chef run wild. He took me to this amazing Italian deli/grocery in Milwaukee and let me pick out whatever foods I wanted for dinner that night. After being momentarily stunned, I formulated a game plan, ahem, I mean menu, and got to work. We got fresh mozzarella and tomatoes for a capri salad, spicy Italian sausage and marinara sauce, portabella mushroom ravioli, wine and then a very decadent slice of cake. My stomach is happy just thinking of it. It was delicious.

Today, I'm going to go out to dinner with my husband (so neither of us has to do the dishes), enjoy an unusually warm day for January and maybe even walk to lunch with my friends. Sounds pretty great, huh?

Whatever way you enjoy (safely and legally) celebrating, I hope you do it with gusto! I fully intend on enjoying this whole day!