Have Birthday, Will Travel

I know, I know. I've been terrible about posting. But I've been busy, I swear! I really wanted to share another new recipe with you, but until someone shows up at my door to take care of the pile of dishes in the sink, I won't be whipping anything up for you anytime soon. 


Just have a few cocktail onions. They'll fill you right up. 


While most people have been settling into a post-holiday routine-keeping resolutions, taking down twinkle lights-my schedule has been jam-packed celebrating milestone birthdays. 


I guess springtime really does make people feel romantical. 


Since I graduated high school in 2000 and college in 2004, you could easily do the math to find out that most of my peers are approaching the 30-year mark. 


P.S. Don't even think of trying this math on me. I was very smart and skipped many many grades AND there is still a boy down at the Jersey shore who believes I am a "very young looking 25-year old". There is no reason he even needs to know I am really 26...ish. 


The first weekend of 2012 was spent on a multi-city whirlwind birthday tour. I planned to come back from the weekend and tell you all about it, but a dear Junior League friend was also celebrating a milestone birthday (greater than 30, less than 40) and I spent the night hitting NYC hotspots Brandy Library, Odeon, and Employees Only to help her celebrate. 


Then, even though he is spending his actual 30th birthday on a tropical island with the rest of my pals from Chez Ledge End in VT and didn't invite me (so now I am currently freezing my you-know-whats off here in the NYC cold), I still had to make chocolate guinness cupcakes for this guy:

You're welcome :)

But back to the whirlwind birthday weekend.

A few months ago it came to our attention that two of our college friends were celebrating back-to-back birthdays in two different cities: one in NYC, and one in Pittsburgh. So we did what any good friend would do: two birthdays, two cities, 6 girls, 48 hours.

On Friday night, these pretty ladies came to town:

To celebrate the birth of this handsome gent:

When your mom finishes making your bed and your dad has plugged in the last electrical cord on your first day of college and say their goodbyes, leaving you with with a group of strangers who will see you at your best, your worst, and probably "the drunkest you've ever been in your whole life". And then over the next four years those same strangers develop into the best friends you've ever had, seeing you through hearbreaks, spring breaks, study abroad, and even the dreaded housing lottery. You end up spending your post-college years together supporting moves, job searches, engagements, bachelorette parties in Vegas, and a marathon year of wedding, and you become sort of a family.

So really, what' s 2 birthdays, 2 cities, 6 girls, and 48 hours among friends?

We started out the evening at dinner, keeping it classy, per usual

And after a few cocktails got the better of us, we ended up crammed in tiny room in midtown at 1 AM doing this:

What 11:30 AM flight to Pittsburgh?

But even though some peoples flights were delayed and others were yelled at by the flight attended for "talking to loudly", we managed to arrive in Ketchuptown.

Sidebar: Can we just talk for a second about how NEVER in my life did I think I would EVER go to Pittsburgh. Wasn't even on my raidar. What is in Pittsburgh? Where is Pittsburgh? But here I am, in the home of Mr. Rodgers for the third time in a six month period. It's my sixth trip total! I'm so glad I've had so many opportunities to travel there. Everytime I've been, it's been a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Just goes to show, you never know where life will take you.

It took a lot of beautifying to recover from the night (morning?) before. The home we were staying in had the ultimate gal-pal feature: an entire wall of mirrors! Is there anything better than getting ready to go out with all your girlfriends in ONE room, rockin' out to good tunes without fighting for mirror space? No, there is not. Heaven really is a place on earth.

We arrived at the birthday girl's sister's house, ready to party once again.

Who am I kidding, we are ALWAYS ready for a party.

Did I mention the birthday party in Pittsburgh was a surprise? Talk about keeping a secret. No FB posts, no twitter.

Surprise! Happy Birthday SH-dub!

We all flew back to our respective homes early the next morning. Not sure what's harder, hangovers or goodbyes.

I'd also love to give some happy birthday shoutouts to my little cousin (who just got his drivers lisence!), the lovely Blair's Headband and UGA Bama Belle, who also recently celebrated birthdays, and TAG over at JGIWC who has a birthday coming up! May all your wishes come true!