I Love Birthdays!

I’m one of those people that LOVES their birthday! I think birthdays are more than a one day celebration too. It’s more like a week or so… and the whole month if you can pull it off! I’ve never understood the “Oh, I don’t want to do anything for my birthday” statements from friends and family. “It’s my birthday… Let’s party baby!!” My dad used to say… “It’s better than the alternative.”

As a kid, my parents always did a good job of making it my special day. As a summer baby, you get skipped over for the school classroom celebration with cupcakes and birthday cards because school is out for the summer. On the flip side, it’s summer! So pool parties and beach parties galore!

One of my most memorable birthdays was my surprise 13^th birthday party. It was a doozie. We still lived south of Miami, in Homestead, FL and my long time friend Kathleen and I had ‘gone shopping’, which was to get me out of the house, of course. After my mom dropped us off, we snuck over to a boy’s house where he and his friend were waiting for us. Long story short, when my mom came to pick us up from all our “shopping” and took us home… were there was a police car in our driveway… (I’ll get back to that part) I walked in the front door and had the daylights scared out of me by all my friends yelling “SURPRISE!” It was fantastic! That party lasted all night long and every kid in our neighborhood from 10 – 18 was there! Sadly, we moved up to Central FL the following day which, as a new teenager, I was not happy about. What’s even sadder and one of the main reasons we moved out of South FL, was we had been robbed an hour before my birthday party began. Hence the police car!

This birthday, I turned 35. Ouch! I’m a bit stunned that 35 years of my life have zipped by. People that are 35… GULP, are grown-ups. Ugh! My friends, Mara & Kat, organized a Happy Birthday Happy Hour for me a few days before my birthday at the Funky Buddha, one of my Denver favorites. Thanks girls! We had our very own private patio and plenty of cosmos. Lots of friends came to celebrate and it was a lot of fun!

Then on my birthday, my fabulous hubby, Eric took me dinner and a show. We went to Bastien's Restaurant which was pretty good. They brings out these strange, long two foot breadsticks to the table for snacking. I would describe it as an old diner taken over by a fine dining chef. They have a fantastic Limoncello martini. SO good! I'd highly recommend stopping by to get one! Then we went to see Wanda Sykes at the Comedy Works. She's hilarious!! She even had Eric laughing and that's hard to do. We had a lot of fun. Thanks everyone for a great birthday! Until next year...

This Blogging Thing...

So, I’ve figured out that taking the time to blog regularly is more difficult than I thought. My thinking was that I’m not all that busy, how hard can it be? Turns out, I actually have been busy. I’ll try to catch everyone up on what’s been going on this coming week. So, today you get a 2 for 1 special. Here we go…

RSVP Process

Step 1: Read invitation.
Step 2: Decide if you'd like to go to event.
Step 3: If answer to step 2 is yes, go to step 4.
If answer to step 2 is no, go straight to step 5.
Step 4: Check calendar for availability.
Step 5: RSVP with appropriate answer.

WHY is this such a difficult process? Honestly, I don't get it! Is it because people want to wait until the last minute... just in case something better comes along? What is that?! People don't even respond to wedding invitations anymore. I mean, come on. There's a lot of work that goes into planning a party and a head count is important.

I realize it's just an invitation to a party and we're all busy with life, but it leads me to believe that the common courtesies in our world, the ones that our parents drilled into us as children, are slipping away. Frankly, that's disappointing.

Happy Birthday Tanya!!

My "twin sister" Tanya's birthday is today! She's 35 and fabulous! (Wait - Isn't that Carrie Bradshaw's line?) We've been friends for years... 22 years if I'm doing my math right. Whoa! How'd that happen?!

So, Happy Birthday Tanya!! To quote my friend Mark Reinhardt... I hope you have something terribly exciting, possibly even dangerous and/or illegal in 37 states, planned to celebrate!

Happy Father's Day

To all the father's out there... Happy Father's Day! I hope your day is full of smiles and happiness!

Father's Day has always been a very special day for my dad and I. My birthday often fell on or near Father's Day. I was literally my dad's Father's Day gift when I was born on the Saturday of Father's Day weekend. At the beginning of this year, my dad and I talked about me going home to FL for Father's Day and my birthday because we thought they'd both fall on Sunday. (We hadn't taken the time to realize that it was leap year and my birthday would fall on Monday instead.) My dad was 35 when I was born... This is my 35th birthday... So, with my father's recent passing, as you might imagine... this is a bit of a somber day for me. I miss him!

My dad was a loving, honest, wise from life experiences, funny man. He had a fantastic sense of humor. One of my favorite 'Davis funnies' was the "Sport, can you hold this for me?" game he'd play on my mom. (Sport was his nickname for my mom) We'd all be in the living room, my mom would be standing next to my dad, and ever so cleverly, he'd ask her "Sport, can you hold this for me?" and hand her some random object that was within reach... the salt shaker, his tea glass, the TV Guide, his flash light, etc. This would continue until her arms were at capacity or until she caught on. Whichever happened first. Then he'd get tickled at himself for pulling it off and just laugh and laugh, and I'd laugh, and my Mom would start laughing. It's probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but man... it makes me laugh remembering it now.

So, Happy Father's Day Dad!! I'm sure you're out catching "the big one" in the Atlantic somewhere. Put a pickle on the hook... that ought to do it.

On a much lighter note, I also want to say Happy Father's Day to my father-in-law, Rick. He too has a great sense of humor. My hubby has his dad's sense of humor so I get my chuckles from them regularly. I believe my father-in-law is the kind of father all new dad's aspire to be... loving, funny, supportive, affectionate, a man of wisdom that we look up to, and on and on. (Don't want to embarrass the man.) I don't even think he tries to be... I think he just is that dad. I'm actually a very lucky woman to have such loving and down-to-earth parents-in-law. (I'll be expecting my check in the mail this week... ha ha)

So, Happy Father's Day to all! I hope it's a fun day for you!

To Blog or Not to Blog...

...that has been the question. I have decide "to blog"! I have a few friends that blog and it's a nice way to keep up with the goings on in their lives on a regular basis. I like the idea of being able to stay connected with our family and friends. So, I'm gonna give it a whirl.

This blog will also act as a journal that I can look back on and remember all of life's stories that occur. I may have an occasional opinionated moment that might get under your skin, but hey, I love a good, healthy debate. Feel free to leave me your comments, thoughts, observations, etc. All are welcome here!

Until next time...