Birthday Weekend.

I had a pretty great weekend. It was my birthday weekend, and we celebrated ALL WEEKEND LONG.

(Since weather is pretty much everyone's favorite topic this year, i will share. It was a GORGEOUS 70-something day on Saturday & Sunday for my birthday! Absolutely perfect weather. But today it is in the 30's! I will never understand this year's weather! And it seems to be insane no matter where you live!)

On Thursday I found an ALMOST expired FREE date night coupon thingie my mother-in-law gave us. I'm all about free dinner, so we used it as a date night Friday night after work. I consider this Birthday Dinner #1. I didn't take a picture, but dinner was at Isabella's Pizzeria, which is a semi-new pizza place here in Baton Rouge. It was REALLY good. Delicious. Yay!

On Saturday morning, I met up with two of my besties for breakfast at La Madeline's. I really didn't consider this part of my birthday until they insisted on paying for my meal. They wouldn't take no for an answer exclaiming, "it's your birthday tomorrow!!!". So, there you have it. Birthday Meal #2.

I finally got to meet Becca's little man. Isn't he precious?

 He liked me, i promise. ;)

Love the dimples.

I took Judah, Amanda's son, for a little ride on my shoulders. 

And then you have my favorite picture of the entire weekend. Judah is actually pulling my hair but it didn't hurt (years of your mother untangling your long thick hair will make you hard-headed!) Anyway... this is my favorite picture in a long time. :)

After breakfast, we went to a few stores together, and then went our separate ways. I went home & cleaned a little, surfed the net a little, took a nap, i think... & then headed out again for Birthday #3 of my weekend! Dinner with two other besties, Sarah & Shana.

We went to Bistro Byronz. Which is my favorite. Had a good time. These girls were both in my wedding & I was in theirs. I've been friends with them forEVER! There is always great conversation with these two!

And then, Sunday. It was pretty great having a birthday on a Sunday. I had to lead worship since our worship leader was on a cruise... it went really well. I honestly love leading worship. Even though i get so stinking nervous!

After service, we headed downtown for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in Baton Rouge. Capital City Grill. Birthday #4!

I recognized this guy walking around... he ended up stopping to chat, reminding me that he used to work at their other location & i came in all the time. He remembered my NAME & my ORDER!!! This is from when i worked at Aveda, which was 2012 (I left there in early 2013). How crazy is that! He knew it was my birthday & sent a free appetizer to my table. So nice!

Our waiter was AMAZING. How he handled our table of 8, as crazy as we may be, with all our requests & such. He was really the best waiter i may have EVER had. I'm only going on & on about this, because, well, sometimes service SUCKS. And usually i do have good service in restaurants. But he went above & beyond.

My mom had asked what kind of cake i wanted & I said, "The chocolate cake from Zoe's." I don't know if you have a ZOE's in your area, but they sell chocolate cake by the slice & it's really the BEST chocolate cake. My mom brought it & it was DIVINE! We offered our waiter a piece & he was like, "Well, i'm not going to say no!" Haha. He took his piece to the back & came back thanking us over & over again for giving him a piece! Haha! Oh, and then when we were leaving & thanking him for being so awesome, he said "Oh, and happy 21st birthday!" to me. :)

(You know you are TRULY getting old when people start saying stuff like that to you. He was a college kid who recognizes that i am old enough to need jokes like that! Still... he is my favorite just for saying it.)

I was showered with gift cards & money... i'm okay with that!! I got 2 gift cards to Macy's, one to Starbucks, & one to Coyote Blues (my favorite mexican restaurant). Got money from my parents & Brad. Yes!  

It was my parents, Brad's parents and his sister, and her friend, Donna. I actually requested Donna's presence. Remember the "hot mama" story? This is that Donna. I love her. So i told Jaimie to bring her to my birthday dinner. Ha! She doesn't love being in pictures, so she took this one for us.

 
After lunch, we went home & just hung out the rest of the day. I watched about half of the Oscars but got bored with it & went to bed. It was a wonderful birthday weekend, though!

And usually i have one birthday dinner with ALL the people i love. Or one with friends & one with family. But i liked having several small birthday dates this year. :) Really enjoyed my time with family & friends.

Happy 36 to me. Hoping this year has good things ahead. :)