Feeling The Birthday Love

Anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time knows that I LOVE flowers. In fact, I have written before about how flowers really are my love language. And this past weekend showed just how well my friends know me, down to my very specific love language.

Last year my birthday was pretty awful. In fact, after the actual day I declared an entire birthday month for myself, and it really did end up being a very good month. Sadly, this year, I have no such excuse to celebrate all month because my actual birthday was amazing!

Friday night we went out for supper with Tim and Janice. Unfortunately, I took no pictures. Sadness. We went to a new Italian place, Levetto, which was really good. Tim and I shared a salad and Dave and Janice shared a salad too. We obviously don't share the same tastes as our spouses (arugula -- yuck). Dave had a pizza with more arugula, fig sauce, and bacon on it. I enjoyed a pasta dish with peas, tomato sauce, and dill.

And Tim and Janice gave me a gift of English primrose for our yard, which I planted on Sunday.

 

After we parted ways with Tim and Janice, Dave and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few quick things. And tulips were on sale so Dave bought me a bunch.

On Saturday morning Dave took the kids so I could sleep in a little and then we went to run some errands. While Dave took the kids to Costco, I got to browse at a garden centre and I bought an entire flat of pansies. Then we ran to Zehrs for more groceries and then Dave dropped me off at the library so I could browse on my own for a bit. I really enjoyed having so much time to myself! And Dave and the kids got to take advantage of free comic book day.

Sam picked out a huge bunch of beautiful tulips for me at Costco.

In the afternoon I enjoyed reading outside while Dave prepped for my party. He did a really awesome job of making sure everything was good to go and I only had to help out if I wanted to, which I did for a little bit.

It was beautiful weather so we had planned an outdoor BBQ of Farmer's sausage (which my parents had brought from Saskatchewan at Christmas), potato salad, and a pasta salad. And of course, cheesecake. Dave was too busy BBQing sausage, and I was too busy visiting with my friends, so we didn't take any pictures.

One thing which was really unexpected is that everyone brought me presents. I was so touched. I got a beautiful outdoor pitcher and tray set (and the tray has flowers on it!), a gift certificate to a bookstore, and more flowers!

Yes, I have two vases of tulips on my dresser because I'm running out of space to put flowers. It's a GREAT problem to have!

This hydrangea is from Donny and Marika and the colour is just stunning.

And then, because the gorgeous weather continued, we hosted our small group from church on Sunday, and my friends brought me more birthday flowers. We both carried calla lilies at our weddings, so this was a special reminder of that. Margaret also made a really delicious chocolate ganache torte for dessert as a birthday treat. Seriously, go make that recipe.

So I had a really great birthday and felt so celebrated and loved all weekend. I hope everyone feels as special on their birthday as I felt on mine.