As with each birthday over the past several years, my birthday was once again an extended, multi-week celebration of life and all the joys of living it. I'm beyond pleased with how my twenties have been going, and why not send my gratitude to the universe by celebrating being alive and being healthy, and by spending excellent time with friends and family??
One of the first pre-birthday adventures was an excursion with my good friend Christy to see The Lion King musical in downtown Denver. What a fabulous show! The opening scene was pure magic, and the costumes were gorgeous and fantastical. We loved it! I would absolutely go see that show again and highly recommend it! Julie Taymore (the director/costume designer) is a genius. Thanks for the great idea and invitation, Christy!
The weekend before my birthday, three of my bestest, oldest friends from high school flew from Portland to Denver to spend the weekend with me! It was great to see them, catch up, laugh, and see how our personalities still fit together between us and as a group just as well as they did back in the day.
The five of us (four of us from high school + one friend's significant other) and my roommate and her boyfriend headed into the mountains to spend the weekend in Glenwood Springs. We spent two days enjoying the hot springs, relaxing, staying up late, eating delicious food, and drinking delicious drink. It was a blast! I hadn't been to Glenwood Springs before and we all loved it. The hot springs are gorgeous, and I think we had really good timing going in a less-busy shoulder season. It was cold during the day (low 40s) and freezing at night (low 20s), but the sun was out and the springs felt fantastic.
The visit was all too brief and the weekend all too short, but I'm so glad they came down for a visit (and I hope they'll come back again soon!). My crew's always welcome in Colorful Colorado!
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| The crew!! |
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| Love y'all! Thanks for a great visit and 10 great years of friendship. Here's to all the super fun times to come! |
The last major celebration as part of my birthday was going to the 2015 Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Festival here in Denver. My roommate and I went together and had a great time. So much incredibly delicious food and drink! I had foie gras, a beef tagine, smoked trout, poires belle Hélène, and lots of cheese, among other lovely options. We came out of the evening with lots of laughs, a free bottle of wine apéro, and a purse full of wine corks for my collection. Great success!
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| Photobooth photos of our roommate shenanigans! She's the best! |
On my actual birthday, a small group of friends joined me for dinner at the Melting Pot fondue restaurant in Littleton (and treated me to my meal! Those sweethearts...). The food was absolutely delicious, and we tried the cheese, meat, and chocolate fondue courses. While Switzerland still takes the top marks for the best cheese fondue ever, the meat fondue at the Melting Pot was mouth-wateringly good. Thanks for a great birthday evening, for a delicious meal, and for fantastic company!! Twenty-seven already looks to be an excellent year. Cheers!
Thanksgiving and big sis' baby shower
I had the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week off of work, so I took advantage of the long weekend to fly home and spend the holiday with my family. This was a whirlwind, wonderful trip! I arrived late on Wednesday night, and then on Thursday morning, my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and I drove across the state to spend the holiday with my 94-year old grandmother and several aunts, uncles, and cousins who live in the area. The meal was run by the younger generation and we did a bang-up job (if I do say so myself).
On Friday, my cute, pregnant sister had a baby shower with the family! It was a heck of a successful and fun party, and she and my brother-in-law revealed to the family that they're going to have a baby girl! She'll be warmly welcomed into an incredibly tight, loving, open family. We can't wait to meet her!! Congrats, big sis and bro-in-law!!
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| Guessing game for the mystery baby object |
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| Family baby photo trivia |
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| Everyone was really digging the games! |
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| The reveal! |
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| Congrats!! |
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| Amazing angel food cupcakes, homemade by one of my cousins! They were so tasty. |
And, of course, two of my favorite traditions when we visit the family in Walla Walla is 1) purchasing a half case of wine from my aunt and uncle's vineyards (
Morrison Lane - Award-winning, check it out! They have a wine club
and they ship!!) and 2) making a visit to the Colville Street Patisserie. Their hot chocolate is THE BEST EVER. And their pastries are amazing and French-inspired. The whole Tyler clan met up with our closest aunt, uncle, two of their four children (my cousins), and their children (second cousins). It was great to catch up with them after the baby shower and see their cute kiddos. I feasted on an herb goat cheese croissant and then bought a buttery Kouign-amann for the road. Oh, so good...
Here's to family, new additions to the clan, love, snow on the ground, warm holidays, good food, good drink, and celebrating LIFE everyday!
That was the most fun I have ever had at a baby shower! Seeing your family was great!
ReplyDeleteThat was a fun baby shower, eh? So glad you and Todd joined us! It was great to see you and the girls and get in on some delicious Patisserie times, too! XOXO
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