Billions of Pictures

Be prepared for the billions and billions (ok, maybe not that many) of pictures!

 My delicious 100 Grand birthday cake!

Matthew and Lindsey's wedding!  Her dress was GORGEOUS.

Hurricane Irene's damage

This is our church on the left hand side

Making homemade scones, Conference Weekend

My Halloween craftiness - this is puff paint that you use on fabric!  Super duper easy.

This wreath was super simple too.  I made the fabric flowers (you can find tutorials anywhere on the internet) and hot-glued them to a vine wreath.  Took about 10 minutes.

Love my hair-stylist!  I was asking her how to do a faux-hawk and she did it for me :)

Huge spider web in our kitchen window...and HUGE HUGE HUGE spider outside our front door!  

Our Apartment Complex

Fun park across the street from us.  It has little fitness stations!

Our apartment

It's kindof hard to tell from these pictures, but this is the crazy rain we got from Hurricane Irene.  Pounding on the windows!

Again, hard to tell from the pictures, but there are some big and deep puddles outside our back door from the amount of rain we got.

Damage in our neighborhood - thankfully, none of it near us.

They didn't cover the pool up during the hurricane, and it's almost overflowing!

This was the worst damage in our neighborhood - this is the huge branch that broke off and snapped loudly in the middle of the night.

Birthday Celebrations!

I love my birthday.  I think it's the best day in the whole year!  It helps that I have NEVER had to work on my birthday (ever)!  I love making my birthday relaxing and memorable and fun.  Last year we had some good times, but it was not the best birthday ever.  Mainly because we had just moved and didn't know anyone.  This year, however, was a blast.

We celebrated over the weekend, because I wasn't sure what my schedule was for work.  On Saturday, we went to Maymont, a 100-acre property in Richmond right on the James River.  It is beautiful!  Dozens of gardens, arboretums, streams, and waterfalls.  The property was owned by a Mr. and Mrs. Dooley from the Civil War era.  Mr. Dooley was one of the key people to re-build the south after the war.  They built a huge mansion on the property, never had children, and then donated the property to the city of Richmond after their deaths.  The mansion is kept in impeccable condition, and we toured it on Saturday afternoon.  I love architecture and interior design, and this building is a dream!  You have to see it.

After Maymont, we went back home and then went out to dinner at Texas de Brazil.  It was amazingly delicious again, but we decided that we can never eat there again because it's breaking the bank!  So yummy though.  They have the best flank steak and ribeye!

We went to the grocery store so I could get supplies for my 100-Grand Birthday Cake.  I made the cake on Sunday, and although it took about 4 hours to make, I decided it was totally worth it.  We invited our medical school friends Alan and Lyanna over and had such a good time talking and eating.  Pictures soon to come on the cake!  Called our families and had a great time talking to everyone!

On my actual birthday, Jordan had school for the whole day.  I worked out, ate cake for mid-afternoon snack, and then went out to lunch with Lyanna at a place called Can-Can.  It's a french place in Carytown, and was yummy!  I ate something Jordan would never get, quiche!  It had shrimp and gruyere cheese - delicious!  Then I had a doctor's appointment (on my birthday, I know) and came home, took a nap, and got take-out for dinner cause I was feeling lazy and didn't want to cook on my birthday.

All in all, this was probably the best birthday I've had in a long time.  Mostly because of all you lovely people that called, texted, and Facebooked me!  Thank you!  It helps me feel so connected to home when we're far away :)

(PS - if some of this doesn't make sense, or there are billions of run-ons, ignore them because I'm working a 16-hour shift tonight!)

Birthday Plans...

This post is more for me, so I can remember what I want to do.  I want to spend the morning at Maymont (hopefully it's not a billion degrees outside) because last time we went was too short!  Then I want to go home and make my birthday cake...I'm so excited.  Then I want to go shopping here, here, and here for some of my wardrobe essentials.  Then we'll go out to dinner and come home for cake!  That sounds fun to me.