Day 30

BIRTHDAY

Despite my kicking and screaming the last 20 minutes of my 20's, midnight arrived and the official day of my birth began. I like to think of it not as aging, but like an upgrade from Apple: Missi OS 3.0...

Grigio and giggling.

An insanely large thank you to everyone who came to Vine Expressions to celebrate. It's a rare year when I get two friends to toast a birthday beer with me, 12 was beyond my imagination. People say, your presence is present enough, but considering birthdays past {last year: 0 attendees}, this statement holds incredibly true. It means so much to me that so many of you would choose to spend your time celebrating with me. A mountain of sparklicious thank you's.

The inevitable.

The morning after vino and friends, VIP and I woke up and ran a 5k. I made this decision in my 20's, when not-so-bright decisions were still acceptable. Thank goodness because a 5k after a late night was not my brightest anything...

AFTER the 5k. Bright eyed.

Croquembouche: A French dessert, a kind of pièce montée often served at weddings, baptisms, and first communions. It is a high cone of profiteroles (choux filled with pastry cream) sometimes dipped in chocolate bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, sugared almonds, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons.

I had decided some time ago that 30 was special and would require an uber fancy sweet treat. Not knowing anyone who knew how to pronounce croquembouche, let alone create one, I decided to go about it myself and after a bit of research, I decided to take the semi-homemade route. For more information, visit my food blog.

Spinning sugarwebs over my Croquembouche.

In my family, knowing what time your worldly debut was made is a big deal. I have no idea who started this or why, but it is a tradition long standing. My mom has always called me at the time of my arrival and, on their birthdays, I call my kids at the time of theirs. Every family has their birthday tradition, I guess this is ours.

This is me. Officially 30. Annual phone call from mom at the time of my arrival, 10:05am.

After the croquembouche had been assembled and stowed away for party time, we ate our way through the Great Arizona Picnic, hosted by the Scottsdale Culinary Festival. Food, music, and sunshine, is there anything else you could ask for?

The t-shirt says it all.

Quote of the Day: Nothing says '92 degree picnic in Arizona quite like sushi.
I agree. Happy Birthday, food poisoning?

Life is good.

Random Sunshine:
3-day weekend, croquembouche, and sunshine. I'm a happy camper.

Gratitude:
When one door closes, another one opens. While a few tears have being shed because countdown 30 Before 30 has reached zero, I'm kind of happy it is. It means there's only new adventures to begin....