IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Which is the phrase that I'm almost completely, 110% sure the girls at work will be glad to not have to hear for another year. Not that I was the least bit obnoxious with it. Well, maybe I was a little. But, still, we did have lots of fun last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights at work where we partied heartily (I'm not too sure if that was the word I'm looking for...maybe it's "hardily," but I'm not sure if that's even a word....I never could understand if people were saying "Party Hardy" or "Party Hearty"...oh well.)

Y'all, I'm not kidding. I think I was really the most annoying birthday girl ever at NFRMC LDRP. Seriously, we had 3 cakes over the course of the 3 days. And 2 of those cakes were in one night!! Let's start at the beginning...(and this is a long post, because, and you can ask all my beloved friends, it was a LONG week!!)

About a month ago (not really that long, but we all know by now that I have a slight tendency to exaggerate) I started planning my birthday festivities. Sad, right?!? Not really. We use any and all excuse at work for a party, so I just figured since I was the guest of honor, who better to plan it than myself? And as my good buddy Lori put it, "It's hard to be disappointed when you plan your own party!" (Those may or may not have been her exact words, but since it was a few days ago, my imagination just fills in the blanks where my memory leaves off) (I just realized I use parentheses A LOT)

My original plan was for everyone to bring a party food, snack, whatever on Tuesday night since the majority of my birthday was going to be after midnight and if we waited until Wednesday, my actual birthday, we'd only have about 5 hours of birthday, and well, 5 hours was just not enough time to celebrate my big "2-8."

Being the bratty girl that I am, I changed my plans and decided that I wanted to start off the big shebang (or "Wang-Bang" as Carole calls it, not sure what a 'wang-bang" is exactly...must be a Canada thing) by going to Yamato's Japanese Steakhouse before work on Tuesday. I mean, nothing starts your work week off right but going for MSG laced, stomach cramping, have to run to the potty, but oh so yummy hibachi, right?!? Not to mention the fact that when you walk in your patient's room she gets a sudden urge for fried rice due to the unmistakable smell emanating from your clothing (kind of like how I DO NOT like to go to Subway when I just washed my hair...that funky smell just sticks to you! You know what I'm talking about.)

Seeing this picture of deliciousness makes me want to go back....now.

Anyway, we had a great turnout, and cake #1.

Going clockwise around the table: Linda, Lori, Caitlin, Andrea, Monica, Me, Emily, Teri, Amy, Sonia & Carole

This gathering was also the source of public embarrassment since my good friend Monica thought it was necessary to have the staff come out and sing Happy Birthday. Although getting to beat that big ol gong was quite fun. I may go back when it's not my b-day and lie & say it is just to get a chance to beat that gong again.

After that, it was off to work where cake #2 awaited....a very sinful Snickers cake...wish I would've gotten a picture, but my fat behind was so anxious to cut into it that I didn't have time to grab my camera. Actually, I just forgot to get my camera out of my bag before we cut the cake, but I figured that was a boring excuse.

When I left work Wednesday morning, I called home to check on the boys, they both got on the phone & told me Happy Birthday. (They both did so well, like they'd been practicing the entire week before or something, I don't know who would've thought it so important that they could say "Happy Birthday Momma") Wyatt also told me, "I make you sumpin Momma!" When I got home I found these:

Wyatt's

Waylon's

Wyatt later told me "Momma, my toes messed up. My toes missin." Which is not entirely untrue, but kudos to Daddy for braving the paint!! With Waylon, of course, it apparently took an act of congress to even get his hands and feet traced, as he was having NO part of the paint. Surprise.

Wednesday night the festivities continued at work with cake #3 which did not say "Happy Birthday Crystal" but instead it said, "It's Still My Birthday!!!!" My friend Teri thinks she's hilarious. Maybe she is, because I did laugh, and technically, it WAS still my birthday, since she brought the cake in at 11pm. Once again, camera remained in my bag. For this post, feel free to use your imagination.

Thursday night we had fruit & marshmallows, and Oreos and anything else dippable (I think I'm making up words all over the place. My spellcheck is gonna have a field day) with chocolate & caramel fruit dip.

We finished up the birthday week with breakfast at Cracker Barrel Friday morning where some sweet little old man thought me, Regina, Emily & Erin where the sweetest nurses ever & since we worked at NFRMC, to which he was forever indebted for saving his life, he thought it necessary to buy our breakfast, which we didn't know about until the waitress told us after he left. What a sweetie!! We didn't have the heart to tell him that we probably didn't have anything to do with saving his life unless he hemorrhaged after he gave birth, but we were very touched that he was so nice.

Friday night, I was exhausted, and even the birthday girl must get her beauty rest.

Saturday night Jesse took me out to dinner. I have a picture of us looking like quite the handsome couple, but Jesse thought I was being silly asking Mom to take our picture. It's hard to explain to a man that you must take a picture when you have hair that good, and it would've been even sillier if I'd asked Mom to take a picture of just me & my good hair. He rolls his eyes and says, "You're just doing this for the blog." To which I assured him it would not end up on here, so even though it's such a great picture of us both and I do have REALLY good hair in it, I can't post it. :( Is it so bad of me to want a picture of just the two of us since we haven't taken on since we were about 17?!? Especially when it's my birthday!!! ;) (I was really wanting to use parentheses again, but felt a little gulity, so I tried to disguise them as frowny & smiley faces...did you catch that?!?) We also stayed out a little later than intended because, as I explained to Jesse, we couldn't let my good hair go to waste. So after dinner, a trip to Best Buy & the Christian Book Store, we finally made it home at 9 pm. I know, gasp, we really, seriously know how to party and have a great time. Which we did. We ate in peace & ordered exactly what we wanted (you know how usually you have to order the sides of applesauce & fries for the kiddos since they don't eat enough to keep a gnat alive & you don't want to pay for a whole meal that they're just going to waste....wait, that could be another post in itself....I'll stop right there.)

The point of all this was to share my birthday story and to say a big fat thank you to all my friends and family who made my birthday extra special!! And who also are the responsible parties of me having to zip my jeans with a coat hanger while laying on the bed this week. Thanks to all of you, I'll never have to eat again!! Love to you all!