Happy Birthday to moi

I have felt awash in friends and love today; boy am I lucky. After my little ones wished me a lovingly loud Happy Birthday as I ascended the basement stairs and I dropped them at school, I had coffee with a friend and his precious baby daughter (got a nice baby holding fix there!), worked out, received a call from another friend who sang to me, came home and opened some cards, heard from my parents and sister + more friends, was taken to Dumbarton Oaks for a private tour with two pals, then to lunch at Blue Duck with said marvelous pals, picked up the kiddos, made whipped cream-mascarpone frosting for the strawberry cake and cupcakes I made yesterday and am now in repose with a glass of pink champagne. Thank you so much, to everyone, for the happy wishes! I appreciate your thoughtfulness more than you know. Photographic evidence of today's beautiful (though cold) bounty (on principle, I refused to wear socks and was vaguely sorry to have done so):

www.em-i-lis.com

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Blue Duck was without the Brussels sprouts but I'll let it go because they still had the grits on menu. Our food overall had some misses -lemon ice box cake, deconstructed? sometimes you just want a hunk of cake, you know? when we ordered it, we were unaware of the deconstructed element- but also some serious highs; wow on the cracked spelt salad with roasted grapes and Meyer lemon, and the three of us felt positively giddy to be "ladies who were lunching", hair brushed and all!

www.em-i-lis.com

www.em-i-lis.com

www.em-i-lis.com