Dirty Thirty

Well, I finally made it to the big three-oh!

Richard totally shocked me by throwing me a surprise party with my friends and family. There were a few times that it was thisclose to getting blown, but I was totally oblivious.

It was short-lived since I didn't know about it and made plans with these girls. These are my co-worker girlfriends and our birthdays are right in a row (July 16, 17, 18). The cute little one on the left got us VIP entrance to The Hotel where we danced the night away.

VIP baby!

We saw this cool group, whose name escapes me. It consisted of a hip hop guy and girl (look how hot she is!) and a drummer and I'm sure some DJ in the back. It was pretty cool.

After trying to sleep in and picking up these cuties, we headed out to see Toy Story 3 with my brother, sister-in-law and their 2 guests from China. I didn't get any pics at the movie but got a few when we decided to wander around the Junction. (Yes, Zachary had to pee.)

We made our way upstairs to watch the iFly, where both my boys decided they wanted to try it. It was fun watching and we all oohed and ahhed when this tiny little kid did it. When everyone had taken their turn, the instructor got to play around a little and my boys loved it!

In the end, I had an awesome birthday. Probably the best I've had in years. So, thanks to everyone who contributed! I love you all!

Sometimes it's the little things..... (and the not so little things)

Just wanted to share my exciting little find today. I found this totally cool dish strainer at Sam's Club today. It's almost sad how giddy this made me on my lunch. :) But this is thee perfect strainer. Look how big it is, it fits my pans easily with plenty of room to spare. And it was only $14!! (I've seen similar ones for $30 or $40.)

I love when I can find cheap, practical things that make me that happy.

AND, look at my new washing buddy! Our other hand-me-down washer was dying (it was like 20 years old, it'd had a good run) so we decided to upgrade. This thing is so awesome! It's so quiet, sometimes I just sit and watch my clothes tumbling in the see-through door. It's a giant though, look how teeny my poor old dryer looks next to it. I actually wish we would've bought it's mate so I don't have to split up the huge loads to dry them. Soon...

It used to be the shopping trips to the mall that made me this happy (don't get me wrong, those will still do the trick!) but I'm glad I made these practical purchases. No buyer's remorse here!