My 31st Birthday!

My 31st birthday was this last Monday! I planned on blogging about it on Monday night, but bed looked too inviting. So actually my birthday festivities started on Saturday when we drove to Riverside to Kat & Jon's. The whole night was a surprise,I had no idea what Kathy had planned and conspired with Shane about. It could have been anything, and my imagination did run wild at times! Anyhow, we got to their house about 3pm,opened presents (I got cards and smelly goods from Kat and Jon, Flowers and chocolates from my Mom, Wonderful by American Beauty perfume, two books, and a $50 gift card to Starbucks from Shane), and then headed over to Islands at about 5pm for a quick dinner, they were very concerned that we leave as close to 6 pm as possible. I knew by that point the adventure was not going to include Aedyn, so I kissed him and left him in Grammy Bev's hands. We all crawled into the vehicles, girls(Kat,me, Heather, and Summer) in one car, and boys(Shane and Jon) in the other. As we drove on the 91 closer to Disneyland my mind started spinning. We all were dressed up a bit, so actually going to the park didn't seem likely! We proceeded to the parking structure and got on the tram. It drops us off and instead of taking a left to the park we take a right to Downtown Disney, at this time I kinda figured we are heading to the House of Blues(maybe). We get there and I'm looking at the marquee and nothing is showing but events in April. The surprise was we were seeing Ingrid Michaelson in concert, along with others on her tour. Hooray! (Ingrid is an up and coming artist that is so talented, not just as a vocalist but as a songwriter.) It was a great suprise. On top of that, what would have been a 3 hour stand turned into a VIP experience. Kathy used her "talents" to get us into the VIP friends of the band and performers section. We sat in the balcony and it was a great experience. All of the artists were unique,but Ingrid rocked! She was so honest and funny.

My suprised face. This was genuine!Sisters!My ticket and VIP sticker!

Ingrid Michealson in the flesh!The whole gang after the concert!

The next morning we awoke and had a huge breakfast at a little restaurant around the corner, and then drove home. At about 4pm my Dad and Helen arrived and we went out to dinner at Famous Daves. Boy, it was finger-lickin' good! The next morning,my actual birthday, Shane had to go to work, so the rest of us went to Panera for some goodies. They have the best bagel there called the Cinnamon Crunch bagel, it takes like a donut to me. Plans changed around a bit, but we ended up at the Thousand Oaks mall where we had lunch at Johnny Rockets(it was only so so), but then did a little shopping at a store called Torrid. It's the greatest place, it's a plus-size store with cool hip fashions! I found a dress that I can actually wear for Easter Sunday and maybe even Nina's wedding! I was stoked. Dad and Helen had to leave around 3pm. The rest of the day was pretty low key. Shane had to finish a homework assignement that proved to be more difficult than anticipated. So we actually went out to dinner last night, Tuesday! Thus, ending the birthday festivities!

It was a beautiful birthday, much better than last year(if any of you can remember I decided not to celebrate due to circumstances happening at that time). I appreciate everyone's effort to make this one special. I must admit on Monday, Aedyn flashed me a smile as if to say Happy Birthday Mommy, this might have been the best gift of all!