Birthday Weekending with the Fam

Happy Monday, friends. Before I recap my weekend for you, I had to take a moment and thank each and every one of you for all of the heart felt messages of condolence--either through the comments here, private emails, texts...they all meant so much to me. You guys really showed me the love, and each of your messages helped, so thank you.

The past week has been pretty overwhelming--we've gotten so much support from family and friends, and even some people I've fallen out of touch with have reached out. It makes you realize how people can really show up for you when it's needed.

This weekend was also my birthday, and I was actually able to celebrate this weekend, despite all of the other emotions I was dealing with.

My weekend highlights included:

~Having my MIL, SIL and youngest niece come down from Philly on Friday afternoon.

~Got to get outside and enjoy the 4th day of the week that was warm and beautiful

~Getting 7 bouquets of flowers either for my birthday or as condolence from friends. They've all been beautiful and helped to brighten up our home--and they smell wonderful!

~Got spoiled for my birthday by MG and his sister. All of these gems are now mine:

totally in love with my new Kate Spade watch courtesy of MG #love

~Birthday dinner at Chef Geoff's with MG, my mom, MIL, SIL and niece. The food was incredible--I ordered the scallops and mushroom risotto and ate every single bite of it. It didn't disappoint!

~Back to the house for some chocolate mousse birthday cake and birthday photos

~Saturday morning we made breakfast together and then went to National Harbor to walk around and grab lunch before MG's family headed back home

I'm so thankful that they came down--it was such a nice distraction and really helped make my birthday feel special and not so gloomy.

I'm so blessed. I really really am.

~Gave myself a manicure with Essie's In Stitches

~Went out to dinner with our friends and tried out a new restaurant, Grand Cru--a wine bar/bistro where we did a wine tasting along with our meals (which were also super delicious). It was so nice to spend time with our friends and catch up.

~Ran errands Sunday, took a bunch of things to donate, and brought Coop to the dog park--watching him run around without a care in the world made me smile :)

~Helped my mom make some final preparations for my dad's memorial service

~Had Chipotle for dinner for the first time since their whole food crisis happened. We survived!

~Watched a few episodes of House of Cards before calling it a night

This year's birthday obviously wasn't what I expected it to be a couple of months ago, but thanks to my incredible family and friends, it was still special. I know my dad would have wanted me to celebrate, and do things in order to be happy. And with some help, I was able to do that. 

Just because there are pictures with smiles doesn't mean there weren't really hard parts of the weekend with tears. But, I'm not dwelling on those. I'm embracing the sadness, but I'm also choosing to look for the happy.

I hope your weekend was special, too :)