Happy birthday - part II

After a late night party, the sunrise on Mr. Big's birthday had us both up by 8am (that was his birthday sunrise in the post below). We dillied, we dallied, and then we remembered that we had guests that spent the night with us! Good morning!


Kids were already swimming in the pool and the cappucinos were frothing. It was Mr. Big's birthday! More friends casually stopped by, thankfully helping us finish off the leftovers from the night before.


Before you knew it, the party hat was back on. We lounged in the pool, napped in the sun, talked to friends and family back home, continued to experiment on the pool table, watched golf...basically a whole lot of nothing.


Even our friendly famous chef popped by. Somehow the boys conned him into cooking lesson on his famous shrimp quesadillas. As if the kitchen hadn't taken enough of a beating the night before, these two at the helm was quite a sight.


While the evening before was nice, the next day was p-e-r-f-e-c-t. We did absolutely nothing but enjoy our friends and new home. Lots of great birthday smiles...party hat included.

Getting inspiration from a new source

One of the best advantages of our homesite is that it faces east. This means that we are regularly treated with gorgeous sunrises. Now, I'm not a morning girl and I grew up on the West Coast...so I always appreciated sunsets. But things are changing. I regularly open one eye at 5:30 to take in the daily spectacular show...and then promptly go back to sleep, storing the image in my memory for half a second.

A friend from school visited recently and she actually took the initiative to get a picture of the sunrise one morning. Why didn't I think of that?!? (Probably because there's zilch going on in my brain at that time of the day).

So just how pretty are these sunrises? I finally dragged my groggy head out of bed to capture one for you all.


So there you have it. This is a standard Cayman morning, which is pretty darn impressive. This whole morning thing might just grow on me. Might.

Happy birthday - part I

Mr. Big's birthday has come and gone. We celebrated for about two weeks straight...first locally and then with a big trip to Las Vegas. It was loads of fun, but it came at a price. This household packed on a whopping 12 pounds in two weeks of indulgence! This is part I of a three post recap (covering exactly where those pounds came from).

For the local party, we celebrated with about 80 friends. Of course, yours truly couldn't just throw up a few "Happy Birthday" signs (which would have been more than Mr. Big expected). I was inspired by these votives, but couldn't come close to stomaching such a crazy price tag to create an ambience.


Instead, the lovely Martha Stewart helped create a similar feel with white paper bags, a bit of sand, and small candles. I got the bags ready and enlisted the help of four kids to help fill the sand. They methodically filled each bag with just the right amount of sand and carefully placed a candle in each one. It was a fun project, albeit completed about 15 minutes before the start of the party (in our typical style...)



We hung white Christmas lights and a few Cince de Mayo flower balls to keep the festive mood.


We even brought in a few extra tables for dining on the dock. Fortunately, the rain stayed away (despite pouring most of the day) and a mosquito couldn't be found anywhere. That's Mr. Big for you...lucky, lucky, lucky.


The margarita bar stayed busy, tequila was served in ice shot glasses, and Mexican food filled our stomachs. Unfortunately, I was having too much fun that I completely forgot to get the camera out during the party! Good lesson for next time...

Most people wandered home around 1am, but the pool table and cigars remained active until 3:30am...proving that we're not getting that old. By the end of the night, things were looking about this hazy. And yes, Mr. Big's party hat was out in full force.


Even poor little Jordan couldn't keep his eyes open at the end of the evening, even though he still needed to be the center of everyone's attention (of course).


It was a lovely evening and we were fortunate to share it with many fanstastic friends. Thanks to everyone who joined and celebrated the big guy with us!