well, another birthday has come and gone and the biggest difference is that i am no longer a twentysomething. it’s ok, though. i’m not freaking out. everyone says their 30s were some of the best years of their lives, so i’m actually kind of excited to have entered this period. i’m anticipating things to come, and it feels really good <3

being celebrated also feels really good! which is why i’m still basking in the glow of the weekend on monday morning. so much time and effort was put forth by so many people to ensure i had a wonderful, memorable weekend. i would be remiss if i didn’t mention shirley and the two days she took off work to prep for the big party on saturday. hours and hours of cooking and cleaning and errand-running, all for me. do i have a wonderful mother-in-law or what?

not to mention the other amazing women in my family (my mom, rodi, tai, auntie margie and auntie loretta) who brought all kinds of homemade deliciousness for my guests to enjoy. and antonella, a wonderful friend with a talent for baking, who made 70 of the most adorable cupcakes i’ve ever seen.

and, of course, my parents. not only did they CREATE me (haha), but they also treated us to a very enjoyable birthday dinner on friday night at quinn’s lighthouse, a restaurant of my choice. in addition to all that, my mom took ellie for a walk during my party when i needed a break, and my dad manned the video camera all night. i cannot wait to see the ridiculousness he caught on tape :)

thank you, also, to brianne for wiping my tears and calming my nerves during a moment of extreme stress (and for taking pictures when i realized i hadn’t been taking any – oops!), and to alyssa’s dear husband matt for lighting my candles when ryan was off dealing with ellie <3

and to all the other friends and family who joined in the celebration on saturday, especially josh who made the eight-hour drive from san diego just to be there; flo & brian, who are surely the busiest couple of all with their wedding coming up in less than a WEEK; and all the rest of you amazing people. each one of you made it an event i will always remember, one of the best nights of my life.

and finally, to ryan, the love of my life, the single most selfless person i know, the one who makes everything possible. thank you for my party, thank you for my daughter, thank you for giving me all that i could ever want. i love you so much.

“happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
.aristotle.

the lack family loves a good festival. we go to the pumpkin festival in half moon bay every year, we entertained the idea of going to the gilroy garlic festival this year (but we decided it was too far to drive), we’re thinking of going to the harvest festival in november, and on saturday we went to one we had never been to before, the hayward zucchini festival.

much like the pumpkin festival is for us, the zucchini festival is a tradition for our friends eric and alicia. we had never heard of it, but they invited us to tag along, so we decided to check it out. the first thing ellie saw was a pony, so she was excited from the moment we entered the gates.

from there we made our way over to the food. ellie munched on crackers, ryan had a hot link and i had fried zucchini because – duh – it was the zucchini festival! and mmm, it was delicious.

then we browsed the different vendors’ tents, bought honey sticks, tried on ridiculous hats, and ryan took my picture next to a pile of giant zucchini :)

we tried to take a few pictures of ellie and brylie (future BFFs) together, but brylie wasn’t in the mood to pose. so ellie danced to the live music, we had a few more drinks and then we headed home <3

my only complaint is that there weren’t too many zucchini things are the zucchini festival. if i hadn’t gotten fried zucchini or found the big zucchini to take a picture with, we wouldn’t have seen a single zucchini! we still had lots of fun with the blum family, though. perhaps we’ll join them again next year :)

this post is a little belated, but it’s better to announce it now that they’ve SET A DATE!

our good friend jon and his girlfriend maria got engaged last month after a whirlwind six-month courtship that began with a “wink” on match.com :)

they’ll tie the knot on may 28th of next year in a real-life big fat greek wedding … and guess who’s the flower girl? :D

congratulations, guys! the lacks love you!

on sunday we had the great pleasure of joining our friends jeff and carolyn at their daughter cerise’s first birthday party. it was hello kitty-themed and the birthday girl was dressed in her sunday best – a purple tutu and a hello kitty shirt, of course!

ellie had a great time running around playing with balloons and all of cerise’s cool toys. she was in such a good mood we even got her to wear a party hat for awhile :) oh, but the coolest part? hello-kitty tattoos for the kids!

cerise’s birthday cake was the pinkest cake i’d ever seen. and ooooh my goodness, was it delicious. i wasn’t going to have any because we were headed to grandpa alex’s birthday dinner after the party, but once i had a bite of ryan’s piece, it was all over. mmm, hello kitty cake!

thank you to the rubensteins for including us in such a special celebration. we had a great time!

brianne’s parents were kind enough to throw her a birthday party in a centerfield suite at the a’s vs. white sox game on friday night, and ryan and i were lucky enough to be invited!

we’d never watched a game from a suite before, so it was pretty cool :) we even got free parking and, more importantly, free food! i stuffed my face with chips, peanuts, a hot dog, half a chicken wrap and the bottom of a cupcake. mmm.

happy 30th, brianne! <3 (…guess who’s next?)

we’ve taken ellie to tilden park several times since she was born, but we never managed to make it over to the little farm until last friday. my mom, ellie and i met our friends yvonne, tam and fiona at the little farm *first* to ensure we’d make all the stops, and just as we suspected, the girls loved it.

we saw cows, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, roosters and ducks. it was so cute watching the girls feed the cows. they were so brave! not at all afraid of those big, pink tongues … of course ellie has had lots of practice from giving riley so many treats at home ;)

when we reached the pigs, she snorted!

after all the farm animal fun, we drove to the merry-go-round. it was ellie’s third or fourth time and she definitely likes it more as she gets older. we rode it twice and she cried when it was time to get off!

then it was time for fiona’s nap, so yvonne and tam took off and my mom, ellie and i headed over to the steam train … because a visit to tilden park just wouldn’t be complete without a ride on the train!

we had a great time at tilden, as always, and are looking forward to our next visit <3