birthday extravaganza

Subtitled: Husband of the Year

At the beginning of the month, Doug asked what my expectations were for my 30th birthday.

I said I just wanted to celebrate with people I love.

Well, he took that and ran and ran and RAN with it.

On my birthday, Doug told me that my gifts had a theme - 

he had looked at my "Life List" and decided to help me accomplish some of them.

That evening, he handed me this:

He explained that we'd be having a family dinner at Taste of Ethiopia, complete with coffee ceremony.

Then he told me that he'd talked to the owner, Mez, and arranged for her to teach me how to make injera.
This was such a special family evening. Bo had his first sip of coffee... and seemed to love it.

Mez was awesome. Such a sweet woman.

Here we are, practicing with the griddle before adding the injera batter.

Meanwhile, Willa was also making friends in the kitchen.

 Ta-da! My first injera! (Note the hole - I didn't spread the batter quickly enough!)

Mez & me with my finished injera.

Such an awesome experience - can't wait to try it again!

On Thursday, Doug had asked Victoria & Jeremy to watch our kids, 

and we had our first date night since Willa was born.

I met Doug at his office and he gave me this:

We went to Wegmans and took their sushi class. It was so fun!

I would definitely love to take more of their classes in the future.

Friday night, Doug had also told me to keep my calendar clear.

He just told me we were going out to dinner, and we got in the car and drove... to my friend Sarah's house!

Doug told me that only Willa & I were staying - he and Bo had other plans.

I walked in the house, and there were a bunch of my girlfriends!

They were all there for Life List #9 - can homemade salsa.

It was such a fun night laughing and cooking and eating tacos & amazing cheesecake.

On Saturday, Victoria, Willa & I headed to IKEA, where we burned the place down.

Finally, Sunday morning, Doug presented me with a card for my final birthday surprise:

We're going to Maine this summer! 

I am so overwhelmed by the past week.

I feel so blessed and so loved and so spoiled by my husband and my friends.

I'm lucky to have such loving people in my life.

Thank you all for making this such a special birthday.

I love you all!