(One of many) Birthday Celebrations

First of all, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone for making my birthday so special this year. I always joke that I celebrate my birthday for the whole month of March, but this year it has actually came close to that (the first 2 weeks solid, anyway). I am so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends...you all make me feel very loved! One of my favorite bday celebrations was a "girl day" with Marisa, Gina and Tara. Bear with me on the pics, they are either from my iPhone, or pirated from Tara's facebook page! We started out with pedicures, except for Marisa, she got a facial:

And then Gina had to leave because she was going out of town. Bye Bean! Thanks for coming! And thank you for the sweet birthday gifts. I think I am going to put this picture in the frame you gave me!

After that - Tara, Marisa and I headed up the shore to hit up my favorite restaurant in the state (maybe even in the midwest), The Scenic Cafe. YUM!

We started with the artichoke slather. I am drooling just thinking about it. It is THE BEST artichoke dip I've ever had...it is heavy on the parmesan cheese (yum), and they add sun dried tomatoes (and you know how I feel about sun dried tomatoes!)...and a bottle of wine:

This wine was delicious. We asked our waitress for suggestions, because we wanted a dry white wine that wasn't very oaky. I was a little leery about a Chablis, because...I'm not sure why, because I hadn't ever had a Chablis...but evidently I had some preconceived notions about Chablis in my head. This is me officially apologizing to the Chablis grape for ever doubting it. I really enjoyed this wine. Then on to the main course(s):

Tara and I both had their delicious and creamy tomato soup. I had mine with a salad, and she had hers with grilled cheese. This soup is to die for. The heavy cream in it makes my stomach very unhappy, but I don't even care. I love it anyway.

Marisa had her regular: Pistachio crusted goat cheese salad. She loves it so much, she rarely gets anything else!

And on to the next bottle of wine...

We were feeling pretty good at this point, and having a great time.

Can you tell?

Content and happy.
On our way home, we decided it would be a good idea to get out of the car at Brighton Beach and take some pictures of the ice (which was probably a good idea, because I'm sure most of the ice is gone now with the temps we have been having!), but ended up mostly just taking pictures of ourselves:

Pretty, huh?

Pretty, huh? Just kidding. It looks like I am going to attack her, but I was only trying to get the hair out of my face. It was breezy.

Awwwwww - thanks ladies! I had a wonderful time! Love you all!