My Birthday = My Best Day!

Guess what's today. Correct! It's my birthday, which just so happens to be my very favorite holiday! I'm going to head over to my parents' house in just a little while because my mom is making a delicious pasta meal to celebrate and she has also baked the greatest dessert of all time: a homemade coconut layer cake with cream-cheese icing and a layer of lemon curd in the middle. It. Is. Amazing.

No doubt, that cake is going to be the highlight of my day, but I'd like to touch on some other excellent things that have occurred in the days leading up to my birthday (because I actually started celebrating my favorite holiday on Saturday). Ready? Here we go...

My friends came over to play the Birthday Trivia Game (I made it up; sorry, but you can't find this amazing game on Amazon) and in playing the Birthday Trivia Game, I got some mad compliments. Like, for example, I learned that my bosom friend Wes thinks that my greatest trait is loyalty, and even though I already knew that he values my loyalty (he promised years ago to take care of me in an apocalypse because I am "loyal to a fault"), it was nice to hear that he remembers I am insanely loyal and will therefore still take care of me.

Phil shared his favorite musical memory made with me and opted for the time we saw Moon Hooch because he witnessed the "pure joy" on my face in experiencing one of his favorite bands. Truthfully, that show really was the greatest musical memory I've ever had -- with Phil or otherwise -- because it was the best show I've ever attended, EVER. In fact, there were three bands (Moon Hooch, The Lucky Chops, and Too Many Zooz) that combined to form one band (Lucky Moon Zooz), so it will be hard to top... but Phil is taking me on a birthday concert date this coming Thursday (we are skipping trivia) so that we can see Moon Hooch at HMAC and eat at Zer0day beforehand and we will probably wear matching shoes (and colors) because we always do.

Brock participated in the Best Art Wine Label Contest (there were three contests and I made out very well) and his reasoning for including Martha's Chard was as basic as a very exuberant, "Because Martha Stewart's face is on the label!" He didn't win for that label (I don't think; in truth, I don't remember...) but he did win for something.

Mary also won for her Humble Bunch label. She tied it back to me being humble and creative and all sorts of other nice compliments and it made me feel really good. That was the Hannah's Personality Wine Label Contest. And then Phil also won for the Best Memory With Hannah Contest. He chose a wine with an airplane-esque thing on the label because we went to Germany together in high school, and we obviously flew there, and part of his prize included a picture of me. (See above for said picture; my mother hates this photograph of me, fyi.)

Want to know more about the prizes for the winners? Each of them got a "tiny mouse plunger" (as Phil likes to call it) that is actually a bottle stopper, along with a really cute ceramic wine glass. And then there were some bonus gifts in each bag to personalize each individual prize (i.e., a photograph of me for Phil). Isn't that fun? I know. I love coming up with gifts for people -- especially when those people are my friends!

A sampling of my wine haul. Note the "tiny mouse plunger" in Martha's Chard... I got one for myself as well!

Siri and I shared some wonderful Strawberry Shortcake memories (it's kind of our thing) and I caught up with BFF Kathy (I hadn't seen her since November!) and Jody drove down from New York because she's the life of every party and knew I needed her at mine!

Okay. Now let's zoom ahead to today, which is my actual birthday.

Today, on my actual birthday, several great things happened but these are the things I want to talk about:

• Darren sent me the absolute nicest text because he is apparently in a competition with Mary to send the better text. So far he is winning. Mary hasn't yet sent a birthday text. However, in Mary's defense, she spent the entire day with me and wished me a happy birthday in person and was the only person all day to notice I was wearing a tank top with an 8 on it... because it is April 8th.

• I got a lot of other nice texts from my friends... and even my eye doctor, which surprised me.

• My favorite red tulips are blooming!

• My students were very sweet (for the most part) and some former students even made it a point to swing by my room just to say "Happy birthday!" HaHa was there first thing this morning to express her well wishes, and a few kids I've never even taught swung by as well!

• I got to see Baustie! He just happened to be at school for the eclipse and I don't even think he realized it was my birthday, but I always enjoy seeing that man so it was great to get a hug from him.

• An eclipse happened. A lot of people seemed to think this was a big birthday deal, and I did check it out, but it was more so the people who made the day special. So many coworkers emailed and popped in to say "Happy birthday!" and so many friends texted to share the same sentiment.

Okay. Now it's time to feed the dogs and corral Harvey so he can accompany me to my birthday dinner and we can both spend the evening with my parents. My birthday is kind of a big deal for my mom too, you know, seeing as she's the reason I'm here... ♥️