Birthday! (Part Two)

On Saturday, I woke up bright and early because I was so excited! I spent the day working on projects around the house and trying to take a nap to get ready for the evening (which I wasn't ever able to do). On Saturday night, I was invited to Ginny's house with my friends Magnolia and Daisy, along with the husbands and the kids, for a barbeque. The weather was cold and drizzly, but the guys made the burgers on the grill and they were delicious as usual!

A few weeks before, I had decided I wanted to make bracelets for Ginny, Magnolia and Daisy. Just call these Grown Up Friendship Bracelets!

I saw that Michaels had strings of pearls on special in basically every color of the rainbow and decided to choose one color for each girl. From left to right they're for Magnolia, Ginny, Daisy and me. Here they are all packed in their little gift boxes:

So, while I know that bringing party favors to a 28th birthday party might not be routine, I also didn't think it would be polite to bring just the bracelets for some of the guests. Favor bags for all!

I chose pink cellophane bags with yellow ribbon. The name tags are on the right in the picture above, which are white paper with pink writing. I added fruit snacks to bulk them up a little bit, along with caramel Dove chocolates and Cookies and Creme Kisses. For the kids, I got board books and window clings and for the guys, I got miniature Slinkies. I was a little worried about whether the guys would think they were cool, but they turned out to be a huge hit.

In the early evening, I went off to the party where I had a blast. The kids - Miss I, Mr. O, and Baby M - were their usual, adorable selves. They were very excited about the whole thing! Ginny made a delicious dinner - as she always does! - that included the burgers cooked by the guys, homemade sweet potato fries, and salad with strawberries and goat cheese, which is my very favorite. Miss I selected a cake for me and even had my name written on it! I wish I'd thought to take any photos, but we were having way too much fun. Maybe next year! My lovely friends also brought gifts for me, which was so very sweet of them!

Magnolia and her husband, Larch, brought this cute set of red bowls and some delicious smelling hand soap. I didn't realize until I unwrapped them that each of the bowls was a little bit different!

 Red color + hobnail detail = Perfect! These lovely objects also came in this reusable tote!

LOVE Vera Bradley! And while I don't do a good job of taking reusable bags with me when I go shopping, I do love having them around to carry all of my belongings - I'm not a light packer, wherever I'm going.

Daisy brought this printmaking kit from Lotta Jansdotter. I'm not terribly familiar with her work, but I'm excited to make some prints! She also brought the "cupcake" in the foreground, which is a trinket box, swirly notepad and flower magnet wrapped up together. The last time Daisy and I saw each other before my birthday, she asked what I wanted. I told her she certainly didn't need to bring a present! She joked about bringing this cupcake notepad set, which is what she gave Miss I on her birthday back in March. While it's silly that a five year old and I have the same taste, I really do like the cupcake!

And even though Ginny and her family had done something super nice for me already by hosting the party, they also gave me a present. I'm so spoiled!

Look at these gorgeous candle holders. They might be familiar to you - as I featured them on this blog here. Yay! Now they're part of my collection.

Here they are with the delicious-smelling candles that came too. Yummy! After I opened all of these presents, I got to distribute the favor bags I'd made. It was really fun to see everyone so surprised! And I was so glad that I could bring something to make them feel special too. I was so excited about each of these gifts. It would be hard NOT to have great style with friends like these!