Birthday Extravaganza

Those of you who know me, realize that I like an extravaganza when it comes to my birthday.  I think this all started with Jess Burden's spoiling me to bits on different occasions.  One year she gave me an "Advent" calendar with 30 days of gifts, and another year she created the best birthday blowout a girl could have-- asking all of my best friends for special memories and then taking us on a eating, dancing, and goofy events tour.

I can't quite match her scale of fabulous extravaganza, but this year I've managed to drag it out over two weekends.

The first weekend was for dancing.  All of the girls from campus came out and we hit Friends for sushi dinner, and then went to the alley for dancing.

 

Nicole and Athena

There were so many of us that we hired a school bus to drive us around.  School buses in turkey are a bit fancier than they are in the states!

Carole and Christy

Stephanie

Emily and me

After the night of dancing, Tuesday came around.  That was my actual birthday and I had made a pinata to bash.  It was my first attempt at a pinata, and it was an adult strength one!  It took five adults taking three swings each before it was busted open enough to get the candy out.

It's a birthday cake shape, but it's kinda hard to tell in the photo

For the last few months, my friend Sheila and I have been talking about going to Cyprus for the weekend.  We finally picked a date and it happened to be the weekend after my birthday!  We stayed at a beautiful hotel called "The Hideaway". 

I think the images speak for themselves. 

Roses in bloom in November?  There was also a ton of jasmine that smelled beautiful.

The outside of the hotel

A view from a walk we took.

The hotel's view.  Killer right?

The hotel pool and bar.  The people suntanning? Their Brits. Sheila and I were in sweats all weekend!

The view from our balcony.

Looking at the pictures, I see that the sky and sea were very pretty.  On Saturday night there was a huge storm that went through the area, knocking out power and internet.  It sure did do good things for pictures!

I'm planning on taking Adam here in April.  I hope the weather will be as cooperative as it was for us, raining only at night and having moments of gorgeous sunshine.