Hair Trial - Check!

Saturday I had my hair trial! I didn't really know what to expect, but I really had such a great time. The person who will be doing my hair for the wedding is Heidi's mother-in-law, Pat. She has been in the industry for over 20 years, and really knows her stuff. I was so honored when she agreed to participate in our big day.

The trial was such a fun experience. When I got in the chair, I showed Pat the photos I had brought along with me, showing what I thought I might want to do. I wanted an up-do, but a little 'messy' and not so sleek and formal. We chatted a bit about my pictures, and then she got to work.

When she looked at my hair, I think a heard her squeak a little in despair. "When was the last time you got your hair cut?" she asked. "Well, my mom trimmed it about 6 months ago," I said. She laughed a little nervously, and said, "Yes... you need a cut. I'm cutting it. Is that okay?"

Of course that was okay! I got a fabulous cut along with my trial, and my hair now feels healthy and awesome.

Anyway, while she was playing with my hair, her daughter showed up with her new week-old daughter, who was so tiny and sweet! Heidi showed up as well (she was getting her hair trial after me) and all four of us had such a fun time chatting. Girly girl time is always fun.

And when Pat was done, I was so happy. I loved how it turned out and I felt so beautiful. Here are some pictures I took when I got home:

Super close-up of the back.

Jack - "Hi mom, hi, hi, hi, mom? mom?"

What do you think? I'm so excited!

More Pictures of My Birthday

Stuart sent me some pictures he took during my birthday in New York City. They turned out so great, I had to share some with you!











Thank you Stuart! You are always able to capture the essence of the day. :)

29 Will Be a Tough One to Beat

Well, now that I'm sort of recovered from my birthday in New York City, I can tell all of you about it! I still can't believe that I was able to spend my birthday in THE most amazing city in the world. I just love that city and I love the fact that I currently live within a two hour train ride from there.

Which is exactly how we got there on Sunday. We took the 6:55 a.m. train and those of you who know me know that it must have been important to me if I was up and out the door at 6:00 a.m.

I think we look surprisingly awake for how early it was.

After downing a Rock Star on the trip, we arrived at Grand Central at 8:45 a.m., perfect time for breakfast. We took a cab to my favorite cafe in all of NYC - Cafe Lalo.

The have the best coffee.... mmm.

And they have some kick-ass champagne drinks. :)

We stayed there drinking coffee for a while, kicked back, just enjoying being there. I was seriously so happy. I was born to live in NYC, I think. Too bad I couldn't even afford to live in a closet there.

After breakfast we headed down to Riverside Park to visit the place where we got engaged. It was all in bloom and so beautiful! There was someone there picking weeds and we both think it's so cool that it's maintained by the community. Everyone pitches in to keep it so amazing. (By the way, I usually hate boring shots of flowers and such, but this is a special place for us, so bear with me.)

We plan to revisit this park each time we come into the city!

Next we headed toward Times Square, walking through Central Park to get there. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures in Central Park! The Aids Walk was taking place and there were TONS of people and lots of energy. We took a break on a bench at Strawberry Fields where we watched everyone fawn over John Lennon's memorial and listened to some awesome Beatles music performed by a guy with a guitar. (Said guitarist ended up sitting next to us, yelling and screaming about some tourists who had pissed him off. "I'm f**ing here for f**ing John, man, and they want to mess with ME?? I'm f**ing going to f*** them up and give them a REAL New York welcome!" I wanted to say, "Yeah, man, you're just like John, peace and love all the way." haha)

Of course we had to stop at Starbucks about a billion times.

And then we got to Times Square, where we were meeting Stuart at his very swanky, expensive hotel (he made his trip work related so his company would set him up. Nice!).

Joe in the swanky hotel.

This is how Stuart celebrates my birthday.

We had dinner reservations at this fabulous restaurant called Josie's West on the Upper West Side. It was vegetarian and vegan friendly, but also had sustainable meat options for Joe. It was a great find and we will definitely be going back. (Thank you Stuart for buying us dinner!)

I think you can tell I'm getting tired at this point.

We really wanted to take the 9:00 p.m. train back home, but dinner didn't even get over until 9:00, and then we decided to walk all the way back to Grand Central. I didn't want to leave, but I knew it was already going to be a tough day at work on Monday. We took the 10:22 p.m. train back, and after driving home from the station and taking Jackson out for a walk, we collapsed into bed at 2:00 a.m.

We were both so tired on Monday we couldn't even see straight, but it was worth it because it was...

the. best. birthday. ever!

Pre-Birthday Festivities

I tend to spread my birthday festivities over a few days, because let's be honest, one day is just not enough time to celebrate turning a whole year older. And this year especially! This is my last year in my 20's. (Dum-dum-duuuum)

So since we are spending the entire day in New York City tomorrow, we started the celebration today, making cupcakes and opening presents! (Actually, I started a week ago when my mom sent me the kick-assest Wii game ever (called Just Dance) and I 'accidentally' opened it and have been playing it all week! It's SO much fun and a great workout. Thanks Mom!!)

I found this awesome recipe for champagne cupcakes from Betty Crocker. Yes, champagne was one of the main ingredients in both the cake and the frosting. Seriously, you can't go wrong with that!





And they turned out so pretty! We let them cool while we moved on to presents!


I opened my gift from Joe's sister and her family. A new Starbucks tumbler, chocolates, and a gift certificate to Starbucks! Do they know me or what??

I opened cards from family far and near and felt so very loved. (My parents also both sent me cash for my trip into the city. Whoo-hoo!)


Next I opened my gift from Joe's parents - a super cute personalized frame for the doggies' pictures, a gift certificate to Target (love Target!), and this adorable outfit for Ava!

Yes, Ava is officially a Red Sox fan!!

Next was the gift from my cousin (and beautiful bridesmaid) Christi.

omgomgomg! My own Dooney & Bourke purse!!!

(Seriously, I needed this, not only because it is SUPER awesome and I've never owned a real designer bag before, but the strap on the purse I was using just broke the other day. Perfect!)

I saved the gift from my favorite person for last. And I was not disappointed. When we went to pick out Joe's wedding ring a few months ago, I was browsing the necklaces and kept coming back to these super cool key necklaces. He obviously paid attention to that, because I opened this beauty:

Isn't it beautiful? I absolutely adore it. Did I find a good man, or what?

After presents, I dragged Joe to a chick flick (The Back-Up Plan) that didn't end up being that good, and then we came home for cupcakes. And the cupcakes turned out really good!

Now we're just hanging out waiting for Chinese take-out to arrive. We are going to eat high-calorie Chinese take-out while we watch the 'makeover' episode of The Biggest Loser. I love birthdays!


We're headed to bed early tonight because we have a train to catch at 6:55 a.m. tomorrow. There isn't much that gets me up that early, but New York City on my birthday is definitely one of them!