It is my birthday.

Last weekend was my birthday and I got to spend it at the happiest place on earth! It was the perfect long weekend, I spent Saturday celebrating with family and friends and Sunday we flew down to Southern California so we could go to Disneyland on my actual birthday which was on Monday. Four days off work may have been the best part, or maybe it was getting to go to the park on a weekday when the lines are short and the crowds are non-existent.

So on Saturday, I had dinner at my parent's house. My sister baked me this absolutely beautiful birthday cake:

I just love her decorating job. It had pink frosting and pretty pastel sprinkles around the top edge. I was so proud of her decorating skills. She used Emily's Chocolate Cake recipe and it was moist and delicious as usual.

When we flew into Long Beach on Sunday, I was surprised to see that the recent rain down there had transformed Southern California (an area I generally find ugly while covered in a blanket of smog) into a truly beautiful place. The sky was clear and blue, the foothills were bright green, and the surrounding mountains actually had snow on them. Prior to this, I didn't even know there were mountains out there. I could never see that far. Check this out!

Disneyland was the best! We finally were able to get a reservation at the Blue Bayou (um, the photos on this link are pretty awesome, in a completely outdated kind of way), the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The food was SO good. I ordered the Seafood Jambalaya and Eric had the Monte Cristo sandwich. Both were prepared perfectly and got me counting down the days until my next trip to New Orleans where every meal is this good.

Thanks so much to all my friends and family for making this birthday so special!