Saturday, I met some friends down in Champaign for the University of Illinois football game. These were girls that I went to college with and their husbands/fiances/boyfriends. We all were in the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority together and lived together in the house Sophomore and Junior year. Junior year, we all lived in what came to be known as "the hallway" in the house.
From Left to Right: Kelly (Roberts) Kroening, Kates (Gleason) Wenzel, Lindsey (Boyer) Graff, Laura (Carson) Smith, Me (and Audrey), Casey Parsons, Lisa Kellogg. We were missing 2 members of "the hallway": Nicole Haase and Mandy (Thompson) Vaughan
A lot of us got together for Lindsey's wedding back in December 2009, but this was the first time all of us girls have all been together since college! We had tickets to the game...Illinois won by the way by A LOT. They played South Dakota State. I think the final score was 56-3 Illinois. But staying true to our college days, we left at halftime to go tailgate. :) C'mon, it was something like 35-0, so we stayed for the halftime performance (including the 3-in-1, even though there is no Chief anymore) and then walked over to the lot to tailgate. It was so fun to hear what everyone is up to these days. Although, since Facebook, we can really stay up on each other's lives even if we don't get to see each other that much. But we also had so much fun just sitting around and telling stories. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! I also was just so impressed by everyone's significant other. This really is a good group of girls, and everyone's husband/fiance is so cool, such good guys. Love this group! By the way, I'm wearing Carl's shirt in the above picture. All of my Illinois shirts are belly shirts on me now. :)
Sunday (Sept 11th) was my actual birthday. And I tell ya, it was a packed day! I stayed at my parents house on Saturday night, so when I woke up on Sunday, Mom was already in the kitchen cooking/baking for my birthday meal. Earlier in the week, Mom asked what I wanted to eat on Sunday... if I wanted to eat out or have her make something. I really wanted her to make something, but I couldn't make up my mind as to what exactly I wanted. So, on Friday I emailed her and said I couldn't decide and that she would have to decide for me... I felt like both cinnamon rolls/coffee cake and Zuppa Toscana. She emailed me back saying "We can do brunch, we'll make it work!" And that's exactly what she did. It was the best! She made an Italian Sausage Quiche (soooo good!), Coffee Cake (my fave!), Zuppa Toscana (the best soup ever!), and fresh fruit. It really was the perfect brunch. But of course we stuffed ourselves so full. And that wasn't it... Mom made homemade cake just for me. It was just like Portillo's Chocolate Cake! I can't even describe how rich and moist and delicious this cake was. The most perfect birthday ever! And Mom and Dad were so generous and got me PJs and a nice robe (Juicy Couture!) that I can wear at the hospital after I have Audrey. Love!
Note: My birthday, 9/11/11, was the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in NYC. As we were eating brunch, we were watching the live broadcast from the Today Show on Tuesday, 9/11/01. I didn't really watch the live broadcasts much on the morning of the attacks 10 years ago. Not to say that I ignored what had happened and I didn't respect the victims, their families, and the service men/women who proved to be heroes that day... it was just hard for me to deal with because it was my birthday. It was really bizarre watching 10 years later, knowing what was going to happen, and listening for Matt Lauer and Katie Couric's reactions. Ok, enough of that... back to the birthday celebration details.
That afternoon, I drove home and was greeted by Carl and Chief who both gave me a big happy birthday greeting! Carl had my presents sitting out. All I asked for was a case for my Kindle, but there were a couple packages on the counter. First, before I get into that, I have to mention the card that Carl gave me. It was the most touching card ever. He made me cry.. like really cry! The card itself was very meaningful, and then what he wrote it in was so touching. He of course wished me a happy birthday and thanked me for giving him the greatest gift in the world. Aw! Seriously meant so much to me. And at the same time, I feel like Audrey is the greatest gift in the world he could have given me. So, I opened the first package and it was in fact a case for my Kindle... perfect! Then, I opened the 2nd package. It was a case for something I couldn't quite tell, then I big box. I opened the box and revealed a Lenovo Ideapad Tablet!!!! It is a tablet similar to the iPad but with an Android-operating system. Here is a pic of it from Amazon:
I love it! I can play Words with Friends, check my email, check Facebook, read the blogs I follow, etc. all from my couch! Love! I love it so much I told Carl that we can just cancel my smartphone data package because I really don't need it anymore. And good timing with this present because the screen on my Droid (cell phone) broke this weekend. He really spoiled me this year. Oh my!
Then, Sunday night, we went to dinner with Carl's parents, sister, and his Grandma and Grandpa Bockelmann. We went to White Fence Farm for fried chicken dinner. It was delicious! They had these corn fritters that tasted like cake donuts, the best fried chicken, and really good mashed potatoes. Then, we came back to our house and had more cake! Carl went out and got a cake and candles for me. How special! Here is the obligatory picture of me blowing out the candles:
Notice the Portillo's cake (that my Mom made) on the table. Everyone loved both cakes! Oh, and more gifts! (Did I mention that I'm spoiled??) Carl and Joyce gave me a much appreciated gift certificate to Mario Tricoci for a pedicure or some type of service after Audrey comes. And they said babysitting is included! Time to myself - yeah! And Jennifer got me an Amazon gift card, which is perfect so I can purchase books for my Kindle. I anticipate being up late at night needing to keep awake while I feed the baby. She joked that she didn't really know what to get me because normally she gets me clothes. Ha - I told her it was a good choice not to go with clothes this year! :)
And that sums up my wonderful birthday weekend...or should I say marathon-eating weekend. But it's always that way the weekend before I have my doctor's checkup. I wouldn't trade this weekend for anything. Even though I was exhausted and I still (on Tuesday) have mad "cankles".
Thank you to everyone who made me feel so special. 29 is really going to be a great year.
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