Happy Birthday to me!

Saturday was my 30th birthday and I think it may go down as one of the best! My friend Kelly stayed over on the Friday night as her, myself, Shawn and Craig played an aggressive and competitive game of the new e-bank Monopoly (thanks Craig for the early bday gift!) Shawn made us individual omelettes in the morning, served with Mimosa's -or Morning Glory's as they're referred to in some parts- (champagne and oj to the other parts). Yum! We went and took Milo to a friends place who also happens to be a dog trainer as she had agreed to take him overnight so we could have a party at our house without worrying about the dog eating all the food off the table and bugging people, etc. The rest of the day was spent shopping for the nights festivities, and then I had to get home to get ready for dinner with Laura and Julie downtown. We went to Canyon Creek on Front St., and then Laura and I were heading to the Leaf game. Okay, our seats were ridiculous! Laura scored amazing seats (4 rows from ice!) We were so close, check it out!

I had Carlton the bear, who is the Leafs mascott, come over to my seat and wish me a Happy Birthday and give me a big hug as well as a gift, which was awesome although really embarassing as everyone was staring, my name was up on the big screen and another friend of mine, Michelle -the one who designed the 'Kelly's Journey' pendants- had one of her friends who works at the Air Canada Centre bring us over a nice beverage, not gonna say what kind ;) as well as ice cream. I felt like a celebrity by the time the game was done. And no, they didn't win; they were beat by Boston 2-1, blech! But whatever, we had such an amazing time!

Kelly picked us up as she was at Carm's fundraiser (for her climb up Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa with breast cancer survivor's). This is the first year that Carm and I decided to do separate birthday functions in years. The reasoning was that Carm wanted to do a big event for breast cancer as well as to raise funds for the climb she is doing that was inspired by survivors she met. This is now one of her dreams and through this fundraiser, will be a reality in the new year for Carm. I'm really proud of her for wanting to do this climb and I know she'll do it as Carm always does what she sets her mind to if it's in her control and this goal will be no different. Unfortunately, the only day she could get for the venue she wanted fell on my birthday, which is the day after hers. She asked me if this was okay, and at first I said of course it was! I didn't mind that it fell on my bday and I encouraged her to book the venue, which she did. Upon reflection, I realized that I may have a little bit of an issue with it. Not that it would influence anything, but I'll admit that I was kinda a little bit not wanting her birthday event to fall on my birthday. It was something I felt I obviously needed to attend, but now my 30th would be spent at an event for Carm. Would I be inviting my friends to this? As close as Carm and I are, we still have many different circles of friends, so I was starting to stress as I didn't think I'd want to invite my friends to my birthday at Carms function. Not just that, but Carm was having a formal function, so I'd have to wear a dress. Not something I want to do bald and breastless, know what I mean? And I only wear my wig with a hat; how classy would that look? Naturally, I talked to Carm about it and she completely agreed with me and understood entirely. She admitted that she hadn't even expected me to go to it in the first place! First when she said that, I was kind of hurt as of course I'd be at her function, but I understood what she meant, and she thought it would be too much for me and it was my birthday and she didn't want to overshadow it with hers. Besides, her and I did our Vegas trip in the summer and that was really for the two of us to celebrate our 30th year together and that was very memorable for me and I wouldn't have wanted to do that trip with anyone else, so we did already have our time. This event was for her and mine would be for me, so we agreed that this year we'd do our own thing. Anyway, Kelly picked Laura & I up from the game and we headed to my place for the party. I called Shawn and he said there were already a bunch of people at the house and by the time we arrived, the party was in full swing! I had such a good time! Most of my close friends made it and for me, I tend to keep a lot of my circles separate so it was nice to have a lot of my friends in the same room and I really appreciated that most of my friends put in the effort to attend. There ended up being just over 30 people so it was a good sized party for my 30th birthday. I made a rum punch and sipped that most of the night, but I did indulge in a jello shooter as well as a toast with Alize. There was a chocolate fountain with fruit that Kelly brought and she also made the Skor dip at my request. Here's the recipe, grab a pen! The bottom layer is cream cheese mixed with brown sugar, topped with a layer of caramel, topped with a layer of crumbled up skor bar pieces then you use granny smith apples to dip in it. Mmmmm! I made my brie dip, but it never made it out, which worked as Shawn and I enjoyed it the next day. That is really really good too! If you like brie, try this one: a wheel of brie, doesn't matter what size. Get some sundried tomatoes packed in oil, chop them up and put in a bowl and finely chop or mash about 3-5 cloves of garlic, depending on size of wheel and how much garlic you like. I enjoy a lot so that may be too heavy for some. Anyway, you mix tomatoes and garlic in a bowl, then simply scoop on the top of the brie wheel, put in oven for about 10-15 minutes at 300 and you have an amazing appetizer served with fresh bread and/or crisp crackers. Delicious and it looks like it took a long time to prepare when in reality it takes about 4 minutes.

I must also say here how generous my friends were with the Toy Drive! Check out the loot! This is just from mentioning to friends that I'd like to receive toys for kids for my birthday instead of gifts.

This is for the Sick Kid's Toy Drive I'm doing and look at how many kids are going to receive presents just based on my friends generosity! Simply amazing and I'm humbled by the generosity others showed.

Not pictured are the 4 brand new sewing machines my parents bought for Sick Kids. When I asked my contact from the hospital what they really needed, she shared with me a new initiative that I must now share with you. The mothers of the kids at the hospital are always asking and inquiring about ways they can give back to the hospital as these mothers and fathers and families are there hours and days and weeks on end with their children, and needed something to do with their time. So someone came up with the idea to equip every ward with a sewing machine so that the mothers can make personalized pillowcases for all the patients so that these young patients feel at home in their hospital beds and are able to have something personal just for them. How amazingly touching is that? I still can't get that story out without cracking. As soon as I told my mum, she was all over the idea (remember that she was one of the moms with a hospitalized son years ago) and soon informed me that she had picked up 4 sewing machines; 2 from me and 2 from my parents. Now we have 4 new sewing machines for this initiative. The first one will go to the cancer ward, and that's the only request I'm going to make about where the toys, etc., get distributed. Thanks to all of you on behalf of the kids receiving the toys! I even heard others say they were stealing the idea for their own birthdays, which I thought was great and please feel free to steal this idea from me for the charity of your choice too. I had such a great time this weekend and spent it grinning from ear to ear. Thanks to all my friends for making it extra special and especially to Shawn, Carol, Craig and Kelly for all the preparation you put into making my birthday a truly special occasion. Thanks and I love you. To my mum, thanks to you for contributing the sewing machines and Happy Birthday as today I'm writing about my birthday, but it's actually yours! :)