Mom's Birthday Celebration

I realized last year that in my lifetime, I had never really planned anything for my mom's birthday before. But looking back on all the amazing parties she's thrown for me during the years, including the planning and help surrounding my wedding last year, my sister and I felt it was due time to pay her back and do something for her. Not to mention, my mom needed a pick-me up after a difficult year of changing schools where she worked, and taking care of my grandma in her finals days. (This is not to diminish my dad's contributions and stress he's been under too! He deserves a huge thank you just as much as my mom.)

So with my mom's impending birthday, a few weeks ago my dad, sister, and I sent her this:

After a really tough year
a new one's begun
And we want to make sure
you have lots of fun

Your birthday is near
and we want to you know
you shouldn't plan a thing
we'll run the show

So kick back and relax
we've taken care of it all
Reserve September 15th
we hope you'll have a ball!

And so, that was all my mom knew.  She was told to be ready by 2:00 and we'd take care of it from there. We had a "light" (is it light if you overeat?) lunch of bread, grapes, cheese, and shrimp cocktail at my sister's place and then began our day by heading out to Pinnacle Ridge Winery for some wine tasting!

We bought three bottles of wine here! I made sure to bring plenty of (personalized) water bottles along so we wouldn't get too loopy or dehydrated at the wineries:

With her actual birthdate instead of the 15th

After that, we headed over to Clover Hill Winery for some more tasting! We liked this place much better. It was prettier, larger, and had a better selection of wine.

 

The Family :)

We knew that two wineries would be enough wine tasting for my mom...she's a lightweight. We had a little time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we headed over to Grim's Greenhouse Farm Market which was right across the street. I just love places like this in the Fall!

We had dinner reservations at The Grille at the Bear Creek Mountain Resort and Conference Center. My mom was super surprised when her good friends started to arrive with gifts in hand! Below, Beth (in blue), is showing off her "Bear Creek Mountain" t-shirt, compliments of the restaurant. What I didn't catch on camera was the waitress spilling an entire tray of drinks at our table, and onto Beth (who was wearing a white blouse no less) when we arrived. It was a bit of a scene, but the waitress and restaurant handled it really well and will reimburse Beth for any cleaning or replacement of her white blouse.

 

After our amazing dinner...

My sister, Melissa, enjoying her burger

My mom made an impromptu speech thanking everyone for being there and surprising her

And then the gift opening began...

The restaurant manager and hostess even brought these flowers to my mom because she mentioned she liked them when we arrived! The restaurant was a fantastic place, I couldn't have been happier with the service and the food, even despite the little drink mishap!

To close out the night, we headed back to my sister's house for cake and ice cream!

Mom showing off her new apron

My husband is very helpful :)
Carrying all her gifts to the car!

We ordered a Chocolate with Peanut Butter Cream cake from Emmaus Bakery, and it was delicious. I had always heard that this bakery was amazing, and now I can say that I agree!

All in all it was a successful day, and everything went mostly how we hoped it would go! Most importantly, my mom had an awesome time, and that's all we could have hoped for.

Happy Birthday to a loving and deserving Mom, we love you very much!

Flowers from her friends, Christine and Jim's, garden

Seasons 52: Chris's Birthday Dinner

*Have you entered for your chance to win $100 gift card to Green Bride Guide?! Hurry, enter today! *

Before we left for Disney World, Chris and I had a really great night out for his birthday. We decided to try a new place near us called Seasons 52. This restaurant changes their menu seasonally, and also has a small menu that changes weekly. They are all fresh, organic food and nothing is over 475 calories, this is my kind of place!

To start, I had their signature Strawberry-Coconut Skinny Martini: Strawberry-infused Prairie Organic Vodka with pineapple-coconut water and organic agave nectar. I may or may not have had 2 of these...

As an appetizer, we ordered the Ripe Plum Tomato Flatbread. No joke, I could have eaten three of these entirely by myself and been happy. They were extremely light, and had a very thin crust, it was truly amazing.

Our meals

Top left: Organic Baby Spinach Salad, Top right: Grilled Chipotle Chicken Skewers
Bottom left: Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon, Bottom right: Ripe Plum Tomato flatbread

For dessert, we were offered individual "Mini Indulgences." We got the Belgian Chocolate Rocky Road and Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse with coffees/cappuccinos.

Seasons 52 is a chain, see if they have a place near you! I will definitely be going back here again and again!

Happy Birthday to the Hubster!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HUBBY!! I'm happy we can be the same age for the next few months before I, the older and wiser one, turn another year older in 4 months. (ahhhhhh!!)

Chris and I are off to Disney World with some friends for the next week! I look forward to celebrating the Hubby's birthday this whole weekend and then kicking off our week in Disney on Sunday! I leave with you today a hilarious video from The Onion (warning: this video contains foul language)

Horrible Couple Really Wants Wedding To Reflect Their Personalities

Have a great week, see ya on the flip side!

Top 10 of '10!

I don't wanna brag...or draw attention to myself...or gloat...buuuuttt...

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!

Source

My birthday tends to get lost in the shuffle between Christmas and New Years, which is why I'm feeling ok with this shameless birthday endorsement. Plus, this time last year I was busy packing up my entire life in Astoria, Queens, moving to Chris' house to UN-pack it, and spent the week sleeping on an air mattress in my bare apartment watching Chelsea Lately until far to early in the morning. My life was quite hectic at that time, so my birthday sadly came and went before I even knew it.

But now, here I am...26 years young, and 2011 has finally arrived! Usually I enter a new year/age with wonderment and anticipation of what the upcoming year has in store for me. But this year, I'm entering into it with a pretty clear-cut view of what I'll remember most about 2011. Obviously, life throws you a wrench every once in awhile, and I'm sure this year will throw me lots of curve-balls. But THIS is the year we've been waiting for. THIS is the year that back in 2009 seemed like so far away. When I think about the fact that our wedding is less than 5 months away I initially think "Holy cow! There is lots to do, a very short amount of time to do it, and that makes me anxious." But mostly, my general feeling is "Ok, I'm ready for this to happen now." I've loved the planning so far, but I'm now at the point that I'm ready to settle into a comfortable married life and not constantly feel like I should be planning, researching, booking, etc.

My friends and I used to get together over winter breaks throughout college and make a list of the top ten things we loved about our past year, and the top 10 things we hated about our past year. Then we'd go around and share our lists with each other. It actually was awesome, and we'd sit there for hours just talking, reflecting, and sharing. So I invite you to join in this year and do the same thing! Only, let's focus on the good stuff!

Top 10 of '10

1. All the weddings! Chris and I watched so many of our closest friends get married this year. Starting with Mandy and Billy in May where we had an amazing weekend in Philadelphia. We both had so much fun being a part of their wedding. Then in the Fall, we celebrated with Christina and Kenny in New Jersey, and then Ashley and Jeff's wedding near Philadelphia. Finally, we rounded it out in October with Christina and Adrian's wedding on Long Island.

2. Diva Half Marathon on Long Island with Mandy and Kate. I am so proud of Mandy and Kate who both did awesome in their very first half marathon. I got an ever better time than I was expecting, and I really hope this race can become a tradition! In addition, I ran a total of 662 miles for 2010!!

3. I Got a new job!!! (Extra points for liking it!) Without elaborating too much, it's amazing how much your work can affect your entire life. After all, it's where you spend 40 hours of your week. I was pretty miserable last year at my old job, and unfortunately that unhappiness manifested itself into many aspects of my life.  Now, really settling into my new job as a personal assistant, I can feel how much calmer and happier I am this year, and I'm very grateful for that.

4. Cape Cod and 3rd Annual Ski trip weekends: These were both short weekend trips but it was with 4 people we love very much and have a really great time with. Chris and I didn't take a vacation this year, so these little weekend trips were priceless to us.

5. TWO engagement parties! (Party 1, Party 2). Both sets of parents did STELLAR jobs putting together engagement parties for us. These parties got us super excited and charged for our wedding, and it was just another reminder of what fabulous families and friends we have.

6. I moved in with Chris and we're still in love! Haha, I never honestly thought that this would be a make-it or break-it situation, but I had heard a lot of stories about couples who move in together and have a hard time adjusting. I think we were just so excited to finally live together after 2 years of living apart after college, that we were able to settle into living together pretty quickly and easily.

7. I went to my first Rodeo ever with Sister! This is random I know, but I had so much fun going to a rodeo with Melissa and her friend Karen in Pennsylvania. It was QUITE the country experience, but I'm surprised that I had never been to one before. I definitely want to take Chris to one at some point this summer!

8. Bachelorette parties and Bridal Showers, oh my! Lots of fun..but what happens in Atlantic city, stays in Atlantic City.  ;)

9. Kerry asked me to be in her wedding! I love this girl and I love this couple: 'nough said!

And a last minute addition: Recently engaged Molly asked me to be in her wedding summer 2012!

10. I got my Web-Design Certification! Ok, so I'm certified in Web-Design and I have yet to create a full web-site on my own. I'm on information overload, and have a LOT to sort out and learn. BUT, at least I have the basic tools I need to go out and experiment with how to create a web-site. In general, the things I learned in my class were extremely beneficial in making me a better blogger, and understanding how the whole blogosphere works. I have a LOT more to learn, but the good news is...that excites me!


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