Birthday :)

I decided earlier this year that I would not mope on my birthdays, especially not this year. Yes, it's my first one without my mom, and I miss her. But I don't think she'd want me to dwell on those sad feelings. She'd want me to have a good time and be joyful with my friends and family. So I did. Today, on my 26th birthday, Michael and I gave out cinnamon rolls to a few friends. We have 2 different recipes: his and my mom's. The ones he passed out today were his recipe, which is a copycat version of Cinnabon (aka enormous with a cream cheese frosting). We will make my mom's recipe over Christmas and give them out to friends, because my family always did that on Christmas Eve, after she'd spent all day making them from scratch. So I guess you could say having cinnamon rolls be a part of my birthday today reminds me of my mom, which keeps a piece of her and those happy memories close.

So to start off, I received these yesterday, which put me in a great mood, from my father in law and stepmom in law. The flowers will do double duty as a centerpiece for Thanksgiving. It was really sweet of them to send me flowers. I think every girl just loves to get flowers, even if it's a rare treat...just makes it that much more special.



Went to a nail salon with my friend Elizabeth and we got pedicures. It was a relaxing treat, and I'm glad I convinced her to go with me. I think we are going to see Burlesque on Sunday. Any Lawrencians reading this and want to come with, let me know...

Then I went to Target and bought Beauty and the Beast on Blu Ray...because the inner little girl in me will never go away. ;)

Came home and made my grandma's recipe for pecan pie (which is pretty much the same as the karo syrup bottle's recipe but don't tell her that. Haha.) It smells SO good in the house! Michael made homemade crescent rolls and cornbread. We realized halfway through that we only have one pie plate, so we improvised and put pie dough into muffin tins and will make pumpkin pie muffins tomorrow.

After baking we went to KCI to pick up my dad from the airport!! He is in town through Saturday afternoon. SO happy he is here. I haven't seen him since July and just love him to pieces. It will be another 6ish years before we have the opportunity to live in the same town again, and that is hard, but these visits are just the best.

We decided on steak for my birthday dinner, and after some fiddling around with yelp/urbanspoon, decided on Hereford House in Leawood. Oh. Em. Gee. It was amazing. One of the best steaks I think I've ever had. Pictures do not do it justice but I will post them anyway:

The shrimp came on a block of ice. Cool-literally. Har har.


Your standard steakhouse caesar salad and roll, but yummy nonetheless.


Steak Oscar...filet mignon with a crab cake, in a béarnaise sauce with asparagus and mashed potatoes. The steak cut like butter. I have leftovers...too bad tomorrow is Thanksgiving!


White chocolate bread pudding. So incredibly rich and decadent. I could only eat a few bites but it was delicious.

And the piece de resistance, better than any steak:


It's a Marc by Marc Jacobs Hillier Hobo bag. It's so soft...I can't get over how cute it is. My dad definitely spoils me, no doubt about it.

He also gave me a present from my best friend's mom, also known as "Mommy #2" throughout middle and high school (and now, haha). We collected all of the ribbons from the flower arrangements at my mom's funeral in March. She knew a local artist that makes ribbon wreath art and had 3 made for my dad, sister and I.



How awesome is this? I now have a physical keepsake of that day, of all of the friends and family that cared enough to be there, to send flowers to decorate mom's final send off from this life. I was too overwhelmed on April 3rd, her funeral, to really take in the amount of people that were there to celebrate her life. All I wanted to do was hide in a corner and bawl my eyes out until everyone left. But now I can remember, through this piece of art, just what a celebration it really was.

Anyway...26 is off to a great start. And I need to get to bed, because I've got a great day planned with my dad tomorrow...cooking, eating, parade watching, dog show cheering, napping, and Harry Potter! Happy Thanksgiving!