Birthday!

I'm catchin' up. Slowly but surely!

This year for New Year's Eve (my b-day) we drove down to Indiana with some of Dan's near-Detroit-residing college friends to visit some MORE college friends who just bought a new house. So since we left on my birthday morning, we celebrated my birthday the night before.

We had the traditional trip to Macaroni Grill (Carmella's Chicken Rigatoni!) and then came home for cake and presents. (This year instead of making myself a plain 'ol boxed cake, I ordered a Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream cake from Coldstone. Um, YES.)

Before the present pictures (which, of course, are necessary because I'm like a seven year old), here's the continuation of the pillow story! (Remember? I told you to remember that orange Pottery Barn pillow from the last post!)

SO. Me and my mother-in-law found out that the Pottery Barn in the mall closest to us is CLOSING! on January 15th. (This resulted in many panic stricken texts between us, until we found out that it's re-opening in March at another close-ish mall.Whew.) So I stopped in, knowing they'd probably be having some clearance sales.

So the deal was, anything in their spring line wasn't on sale and everything else in the store was on sale with an additional 20% off. So I perused the pillows. I already have the one orange/terra cotta linen one that Dan's mom got me for Christmas. So I was looking for colors that complement that. Well LO AND BEHOLD, she bought that from the spring line, and they had many of the exact same pillows in beautiful shades! (That coincidentally pull from the EXACT colors in a piece of art I have hanging in the dining room!)

In a rare moment of restraint, I decided not to buy two additional spring line pillows until the new store opens in March. (But one is like a sky/Carolina blue and one is a deep beige. They WILL be on my couch in March.) This, however, is what I DID get....

Splurge moment. From the spring line - but the different style and mustard yellow is a nice pop that will complement the other colors.


This cover was on clearance for $12. What WHAT?! I just need a down insert for it and it'll be a cut 'lil lumbar pillow to use anywhere in the house.


THIS, my friends, is weird. This is the exact same style pillow cover as the spring line. But this shade of green is only SLIGHTLY (and I mean miniscule) different from the new "spring line green." Because of that, this cover was on clearance, too! Again, I'll need an insert, but the inserts aren't nearly as much as the covers.

So here are the three pillow I got together - and just imagine a terra cotta orange, light blue and deep beige thrown in there. In my oh-so-neutral house, this will be the burst of accent fun that I've been waiting and hoping for :)

NOW! Birthday pres's! :)

From Amanda - the gal knows me well...


Also from Amanda. This mug is special. We both did the facebook thing where you see what your Patronus would be. Hers was a phoenix and mine was a fox. Please note - the fox and the "phoenix" on this mug.


I almost fainted at how much I loved a turkey platter that Amanda's sister-in-law, Brenna, got her for her birthday in October. She did her best to find one like it. It's not exactly the same, but I LOVE this one! I can't wait until fall-time to display her!


WHAT?! The big hit of the evening were this antique newspaper that Amanda and Jason got me from the JFK assassination!!!! Normally I would frame them and display, but there are so many articles and pages! So for now, they're safely in a plastic covering on my JFK shelf upstairs :)


Notice the date - November 24, 1963


From Dan :) Just like The Hunger Games, he told me this was requested from the library, but that it was just taking a long time :) I read the book in October and have been PATIENTLY (or not so patiently) waiting to see the movie!


Also from Dan - I've been wanting this shirt since the Tigers made the playoffs last year.


Back of the shirt - can't WAIT for baseball season!!!!!


My big gift from Dan - the "leaner mirror" for our bedroom. These mirrors are supposed to be just propped on the ground and lean on the wall. But I don't like that look. So temporary and forgotten. So we hung this 45 pound bad boy up :)


Another shot of the mirror.

(Funny story about that mirror. Me and Dan were going to head out to Novi/Brighton - a few hours away - to go to this awesome guitar store, Elderly. We also planned to peruse this woodworking store that Dan loves and possibly stop by Home Goods to just see if there was anything worthwhile there. So we had this whole day planned and I was so excited. We went out for breakfast that morning and were heading out. But all-of-a-sudden, Dan pulled into his parents' driveway??? We went inside and I was SO confused. He said to his mom, "So are we still good for that thing I talked to you about the other day?" She said yes, they switched keys and we walked out. Turns out, Dan had worked out with his mom to switch cars for the day. We were taking HER car so that we could buy a leaner mirror and fit it in her bigger-than-our-car! So Dan went through ALL that trouble and we finally found the mirror. And then. It wouldn't fit in his mom's car. Here we are, in the heavy snow outside of Home Goods, two hours from home with a $100 mirror that won't fit in the car. Let me tell ya, creativity ruled the day because we fit that thing in there with ZERO room to spare. So, the mirror got safely home.)

My big gift of the night was from my mother-in-law. She held out on my Christmas presents because apparently, my birthday gift from her was over her typical allotted birthday budget. So my mind had been reeling about what she was getting me! I was shocked when I opened it, because I expected something super practical - my throw pillows, a gift card for window treatments...something for the house, definitely. But instead, it's a sterling silver pendant of North Carolina, with a diamond over the zip code of my home. I will treasure this FOREVER. I love it.

It was a superb birthday! 27 is heaven :)