Giant Birthday Week Post

OK. Emma's birthday party is now done and I have no more parties to throw for quite a while. I am so over parties right now.
That said, she had a pretty spectacular birthday this year. The day of her actual birthday was a school day, so I made two dozen cupcakes (vegan, of course, because she seems to be sensitive to eggs too). There was an Icing Incident at midnight the night before. I don't really want to talk about it. Through a series of complicated maneuvers, though, cupcakes were brought to school. Emma was celebrated.
We usually try to have a special family dinner on our kids' actual birthdays, especially when their party falls on a day other than their birthday. My sister-in-law, Sarah, offered to host a make-your-own pizza party for Emma, which was a real time-saver for me to say the least. She had sweet flowers and balloons and great pizza toppings all set out and I didn't have to do anything. Sweet!







I was supposed to bring Emma's birthday cake to that party, but there was a Cake Incident about an hour before the party. I bought a cake instead. Nobody seemed to mind, but I did think I overheard my mom asking why we didn't have the bakery write her name on the cake. Come to think of it, maybe people noticed or minded that I didn't bring a homemade cake but decided not to say anything about it, which was very gracious. Either it was gracious, or I looked like I might go over the edge if approached in the wrong way (i.e., without a peace offering of chocolate in hand). I've been, um, a little off kilter.

So what? You wanna make something of it?

I didn't think so.

Ahem.

She got a the bike she wanted and the vintage poison ring she wanted and the video games she wanted. She was a very happy camper. She even got a cake-decorating kit. When she opened it and saw the box, she said, "Oh, look! It's Chef Duff!" My kid spends way more time with the Food Network than with the Disney Channel.

The rest of the week passed in birthday present bliss and I found out I had a herniated disc. Which kinda bummed me out and made it really hard to push through the rest of this week. Something about knowing it's actually there - that I have actual injuries - made them all hurt more. It's harder to ignore something if you happen to know it's a fact, you know? But push through I did, with the help of friends. In fact, I would not have survived this last month had it not been for the help of several people. I will thank them all, with more detailed information, very publicly and very soon.

I stayed up way too late finishing Emma's birthday present from me. It's a satin-lined, velvet hooded cloak. There was a Hem Incident and also a Neck Seam Incident. Through a series of complicated ninja-sewing moves, I wound up with a giftable cape, but I will have to fix a couple of things on it later. Pictures forthcoming. I promise. She put it on instantly and pretended she was a vampire. I kid you not. She really loved it and wanted to wear it in the car to her party.

Oh yes - her party.
It was awesome.
There were pink-sugar-rimmed shot glasses (for lemonade) and miniature bubble-gum flavored cupcakes (my first experience with flavor oils - that's totally going to happen again! oh, the possibilities!) that were made without Incident.




And my friend Denise, though she helped with other stuff too, really came through for me on the treat bags. We were taking Emma and her friends to "Candy College" at a candy store, so Denise put together mini dorm crates with cute school supples. I designed little college pendants and it all came together so nicely:



The candy shop we went to is in Hyde Park Village (in Tampa, happily located around the corner from Anthropologie) - it's called City Street Sweets. It was a really affordable, but really special destination party. I was so pleased.
I made all the girls chef hats as party favors and the people at the store loved it. The girls all got their own treat bag to take around the store.



As the owner took them to each section, he talked about the history of each candy and the ingredients that make it special.




Most importantly, he gave them all samples for their bags. There were jelly beans, taffies, lollipops and even fudge - Birthday Cake fudge! Then the girls all got to make a chocolate-dipped marshmallow pop and decorate it themselves.








Uh, yum?



The final step before you graduate from Candy College, though, is learning the Oompa Loompa dance. I laughed so hard watching the girls!




Everyone went their separate ways and we stayed in Tampa for lunch and a haircut for me. Mysteriously, this party happened to be booked on the very same weekend I needed to get a haircut. I have no idea how that happened.
But I feel much nicer after my haircut. My hair guy just got back from New York where he enjoyed a class at Bumble and Bumble. It was kinda nice to feel like I was getting the very latest in hair fashion. It's a little shorter this time and has more of a "mod" feel - a 60s vibe. He said that Mod is all over the place in New York right now. I wouldn't know. I lost all my cool points before the age of five, so I have no idea what's all over the place in New York.
I'd show you a picture, except that I slept on it and it's wonky. Plus, I didn't fix it. Plus, I'm still in my pajamas at four o'clock in the afternoon. My hubby, who I will also thank publicly very soon, has put me on mandatory rest today. I barely even brushed my own teeth.
Yes, I feel like crap. My neck hurts and my stupid back keeps having spasms. That even makes one of my legs hurt. But somehow, I can't sit still unless somebody orders me to do so in a kind of mean voice. But he knows that, so he did that. And I, who rarely ever obey, decided to be a good girl and obey.