A Great Birthday!

This year confirmed for me yet again, that birthdays are one of my favorite days of the year! After a fantastic fiesta on Saturday to celebrate Emily and Greta here, I wasn't really expecting or needing much for my actual birthday a few days later.

Flip Cup! (It seems I'm actually regressing in age!)

However, turning 32 on a Wednesday proved to be really fantastic! Tessa and I went out with Greta and Hakan on Tuesday for their last night in BCN, along with Alex and Anne. Hakan snuck out for a few minutes while we were having drinks - little did I know he (the only one of us who doesn't speak any Spanish) went on a mission to find a little birthday cake! Having "Happy Birthday" sung to me in the elephant stirrer bar was pretty great.

Thanks, Hakan!

Although I knew my kids had something planned, they managed to throw a fantastic surprise party for me! It was so funny to watch them try and hide what they were doing (ex: "It's such a boring day today, nothing important is happening.") and stressing out when there were changes to their schedule - thanks to Tessa and Anne for attempting to calm them down! :) Like last year, I'm just so impressed, and touched, by the thoughtfulness and effort that my kids showed - although I'm sure parents helped a bit, I know it was really them that did this - so, so sweet!

preparing . . .

Singing Happy Birthday in all possible languages!

A delicious cake made my Maya

And an amazing one made by Joon Ho, too!

My favorite card - so diplomatic and so cute!

Anna sent these beautiful flowers to me - what an amazing surprise! Flowers at work are the best :) After work we went to Cup and Cake to enjoy a cupcake or two - so delicious!

Such a beautiful bouquet!

Delicious!

Finally, the thoughtful cards, FB messages, emails, etc. that I received from friends and family all over the world were so appreciated. It's so nice to hear such kind words - what a lucky girl I am! Heather sent me this  message and I love it: "May the most you wish for be the least you receive." If this proves to be the case, this next year is going to be pretty amazing!