One Year Older

Yesterday was my birthday, and that is the cake that Shell got for me. It's an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Oreo ice cream with white cake and Heath Bar crumbles all over the top. It was SO good. My boss bought a Boston Cream Pie for me at work, so lots of cake yesterday. Yum!

I really love my birthday. People who I love call me, I get gifts and I don't have to worry about cooking. It really is the best day. Both of my sisters, my niece, Dana and Eric all called me to say Happy Birthday. Shell called me periodically throughout the day to do the same. Strangely, neither of my parents called me... I wonder if they'll call today realizing that they missed it?

I had no idea what Shell would get for me, I just knew she was really excited about it. She wanted to give it to me in the morning before I left for work, but I wanted to wait until after I got home. Unfortunately for her, I like to wait to open presents until the last possible moment. I love the anticipation and suspense and the older I get, the less gifts I get. So I knew that once I opened her gift, the fun part would be over. She, on the other hand, is the type of person who wants to open her gifts immediately. And she wants to give people their gifts as soon as possible and then tries to convince them to open them early. She's definitely about the instant gratification. Making her wait to give me my gift yesterday almost killed her. And every time she called me, she reminded me of that. So I got home from work and changed, and before I knew it she was in front of me with a little box. Yes, that kind of little box. It was a new wedding ring. I was floored. We'd been talking about replacing the one I had for a while, but I didn't expect it for my birthday. The ring I bought for our ceremony was very inexpensive. I guess I got what I paid for it. In the 6 years since I bought it, one of the itty bitty tiny diamonds has fallen out and the ring itself is no longer a nice circle. More of a bent oval. It's become less comfortable to wear and I hate that. Plus, I was not loving the idea of wearing a "wedding" ring that I didn't get "married" with. You know? But it was time, so she took it upon herself to get me a new one. It needs to be sized, is too big to wear right now or I would totally have it on today. I really love it and I love her so much for getting it for me. We'll probably get it sized this weekend, then I'll post a picture of it.

I had a couple of questions come up from the posts about our ceremony. Steph asked if the kids were there. No, they weren't. Our trip was very quick, got there late on Friday and left early on Sunday, so we didn't do any touristy stuff plus they were only 4 years old at the time and wouldn't have remembered it anyway. Shell spent most of her time before the ceremony with her family and friends in the casino gambling and drinking and I spent my time running around making sure everything was ready for the reception. So instead, they stayed with my mom who wasn't going. The chapel we used did broadcast all ceremonies on their website, so they watched it but again, don't remember. We have the DVD of the ceremony and they've watched it a few times over the years.

B asked how many guests we had. My "side" was: Eric, my dad, my sister & brother-in-law, a good friend I've known since 6th grade & her boyfriend. Another friend who happened to be in Vegas that weekend already stopped in during the reception with her wife. Shell's "side" was: both her parents, her brother & sister-in-law, two nieces, her aunt, 2 cousins, a 2nd cousin, her best friend & her husband & mom, and an old friend of her mom's.

Teaberry asked if we had a honeymoon. We didn't. And we didn't have a proper wedding night either. That was my fault. I had quite a few Long Island Iced Tea's during the reception and had been up early that day and really didn't eat anything until the reception. It was a long day with a lot of stress and excitement. We headed back to our room after the reception and after I got undressed (which was a production in itself), I laid down on the bed and passed out. I slept great, but needless to say Shell was not a happy newlywed. I felt so bad, and still do. Can't really redo the wedding night, but someday I hope to try. That would have been our "honeymoon". Oops. We did end up going to the Bahamas 3 years later on an all expenses paid trip, and kind of refer to that as our honeymoon. Again, we hope to do it up right someday when we can make it legal.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I found a couple of the professional photos that were taken during the ceremony that I had scanned, so for quality sake, here's a few more.