Monday was my birthday! I know, Happy Birthday to me : ) Missed it? It’s okay, I’m still accepting belated gifts, flowers, fruit arrangements, etc. And it’s easy to remember next year – 1-23!

Naturally, I decided to celebrate the birthday (it was a big one – I’m no longer in my mid-twenties… I’m in my mid-late twenties!) the whole weekend throughout Cleveland. It was a great time and involved a lot of food, surprises and more food.

Friday

Friday began the celebration! Our building had an event so B and I spent the evening enjoying Happy Hour drinks and free bowling at the Corner Alley. I didn’t take any photos because I really didn’t need any evidence of my poor bowling skills (I scored a 48 first round) or sexy bowling shoes (I got them a size up just so I could wear them comfortably with the swollen toe). Friday for dinner B let me choose what I wanted, so we enjoyed a simple feast of cheese (goat, brie and chipotle cheddar), meat (two types of salami) and bread!

Friday also brought the first of my gifts, cards from my parents and Uncle Mike and packages from Jane and my brother arrived. Jane’s gift ended up being a belated wedding gift and one of my favorites thus far – a homemade wedding photo scrapbook. Seriously, this thing is legit and includes our wedding photos, some bachelorette party and shower photos, our invitations, and more. Jane is amazing. My brother also got me an incredible package of a book, a homemade CD with specially-picked tunes (already loaded on my iTunes!) and TWO packages of my favorite ginger candies which I can’t seem to get here.

Saturday

Saturday morning and afternoon involved two of my favorite activities – shopping and a manicure! I woke up early and got my nails done a fun navy blue color and then dragged B along shopping so I could find a perfect outfit for our dinner date that evening, which ended up being a fun plum colored sparkly dress!

After shopping, B went for his 6 mile run outside while I moped that I couldn’t run did the elliptical and got ready. When B got home from his run he excited me with #1 of the 2 surprises of that night – a new necklace, one I’d been eyeing for some time! Then we headed to Blue Point and enjoyed an amazing dinner dinner. I got the My Blue [Pointe] Heaven, a plate full of scallops (yum), shrimp (double yum), lobster tail (yum yum yum!) and lobster mashed potatoes. Jealous?

For dessert, I decided I wanted Ben & Jerry’s. So we walked to Constantino’s to pick up some ice cream to enjoy on our couch at home … or so I thought!

We walked back toward our apartment and decided to take a shorter, warmer route through Tower City. The next thing I knew, we were in the Ritz and heading up to our own room that B had secretly booked, checked in AND stocked with an overnight bag (including workout clothes!) for me AND champagne (all done while he was on his run). That was Surprise #2 in case you didn’t figure that out.

Sunday

Sunday included a short workout (elliptical, still no running) in the Ritz’s pretty nice hotel gym/spa area, followed by brunch at the Diner on Clifton. I enjoyed a pretty awesome ahi tuna club sandwich and sweet potato fries (not the only fries of the day). After lunch involved relaxing and watching some Luther episodes (a new favorite show of mine!), afternoon mass (we got chosen to bring up the gifts … they must have known it was my birthday) and then the Greenhouse Tavern for the Chef Sawyer Iron Chef America episode watch/tweetup!

The Tweetup was great. While Chef Sawyer didn’t win :(, B and I enjoyed a night out, fun people and of course, great food. Being neighbors to the restaurant, it was really cool to see the Chef in person and even shake his hand. The chefs had specially prepared some of the food from the show and handed them out as the show aired. The secret ingredient was mint and we enjoyed a mint salad with lamb (I love lamb!) some zucchini – mint fritters and an amazing dessert, the Stoner Sandwich – a mint ice cream sandwich made with a waffle. We may have also splurged on some of the famous gravy frites before the event.

Monday

Monday was my real birthday! Finally, right? Monday involved work and then a homemade requested dinner by B. We tried out our pasta attachment for our KitchenAid (B made the dough, I just had fun putting it through the attachment) and B made sauce and turkey meatballs, one of my favorite meals by him.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make my birthday a great one. I got so many calls, texts, cards, emails, Facebook messages, and so on, and felt so loved. Last year was pretty awesome (moved downtown, got a promotion, got married, went on a honeymoon to Tortola, BVI) and I’m excited about what’s to come. Here’s to another great year!