Birthday celebrating

I love birthdays!

And this year was no exception. I'm so thankful for all my friends and family that went out of there way to make my birthday this year a special one. Thank you for all the well wishes, texts, cards, gifts...you all are too sweet!

I kicked off the birthday celebrating on Friday night by having a few friends over for a slumber party at my place. My old neighbors Anne and Alicia, my new neighbor Hilarie, and Colleen and Sarah all headed over after work for a fiesta (Anne even brought a sombrero!). I made tacos for dinner, and we entertained ourselves by watching youtube videos and playing Cards Against Humanity. Hilarie even brought chocolate wine for dessert!

only picture from the night, ha!

On Sunday, the day of my birthday, Clint and I headed to Woodinville to stay the night at Willows Lodge. Clint's friend Matt is the general manager there, so he was able to hook us up with a suite! The room was incredible. We got there just after noon and checked in at the front desk. When we each got a complimentary glass of wine when we arrived, I knew I wanted to live there.

Willows Lodge

wine? yes please!

We dropped of our bags, and headed out for lunch. The pizza place suggested to us was closed...they were having a Superbowl party for the staff, so we went across the street to Mazatlan for Mexican food.  With a belly full of enchiladas and margaritas, Clint and I opted to skip wine tasting and go back to our room for a nap and to watch the Superbowl. Guess we'll just need to go another time to check out all the winery tasting rooms!

jetted tub!

cozy bed

Superbowl by the fire...except we couldn't find the switch

We had fun watching the game (or for me the commercials and half time show), but by time the 4th quarter came around we had to leave for our dinner reservation. We walked across the parking lot to the Barking Frog, a restaurant I've been wanting to try from all the good things I've heard. It was delicious! Clint ordered the tasting menu, so I got to taste all of his courses, while I went with the scallops, noms.

sorbet palate cleanser

yummy scallops

Clint's braised pork

"artsy" birthday card from Clint

After taking our time at dinner and practically closing down the restaurant, we made our way back to our room to call it a night. 

In the morning, we got up and fired up our laptops to get some work done (it being a Monday and all). Work doesn't seem as bad when you're working from a luxury hotel suite! I also took advantage of the jetted tub and took a nice relaxing bath. We finally checked out at 1pm, and went to grab some lunch. I was determined to get that pizza, so we went back to Station Pizzeria and fortunately they were open. The menu is full of delicious wood-fired pizza options, so we went with the Cipolla and a shredded brussel sprout salad that was also really good.

sausage, ricotta cheese, onion, and pine nuts

After lunch, Clint had a meeting to get to, and I headed home to log back on to get some more work done. Later that evening, Mom came over so that we could go out to Jak's in West Seattle to continue the celebrating (I really do like to stretch out my birthday as long as I can). She came over bearing frog cupcakes, my favorite, isn't she the best?!

ribbit

We headed to Jak's and both ordered the ribeye, which was ginormous! Unfortunately, a large chunk of the steak was all fat, but still way more than either of us could eat. I ended up with plenty of leftovers for the next night.

The next day at work, my coworkers had all signed a birthday card for me, and my coworker  Deanna had baked peanut butter cookies, another favorite! It was nice of them to remember even though my birthday had been over the weekend.

To continue the birthday momentum, Dad took me to dinner Wednesday night. We met up at Salty's for another delicious dinner. I had the scallops (yes, for the third time in one week) and Dad had the salmon. I was also surprised with a delicious white chocolate cake for dessert. 

make a wish!

It was a great week of celebrating, and thanks again to everyone!