The Princess Party

As my 35th birthday approached, Jeannine said we had to talk about a way to make it a celebration. My goal for the party and for my 35th year was this: to have more FUN. And fun we had! 

She said to me: Do we need a theme? What do we need to do? At this time I was still on the rocephin, and wondering how I was going to have any birthday celebration at all, no matter how small. I wanted the them to be just fun, simple, and positive. 

We decided on the theme of a Princess Party. We are all queens of something, right? 

The 'party' was just three of us: me, Mom, and Jeannine, as I really can't handle much more than that at a time right now. We started out with an amazing treat of take-out Thai food from a new restaurant. 

We topped that off with gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin spice cupcakes. Some of my friends may be amazed that I did not have vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. :)

I just love this photo of me and Jeannine outside after lunch. How she manages to radiate so much joy in her face with the trials she faces, I do not know. 

Jeannine arrived at our luncheon with a big brown shopping bag labelled "Emily's Bag 'O Fun". It was filled with tons of fun crafty supplies like glitter pens, stickers, paint pens, paint, feathers, fluorescent hair spray, and masks to decorate. Apparently finding crowns or wands to decorate is a challenge, so she came with masks instead.  I, of course, made a princess mask as you can see in the photo at the top. Can you guess which one is Mom's and which one is Jeannine's?  It was really amazing to watch how much our personalities came out in each of the masks.

I have missed crafting so much. I used to love to do creative things, and was constantly engaged creatively. This 'party' may seem silly, but it was just perfect. The craft was doable in the sense that it could be done in a short time, and it was something that was disposable--I didn't have to make something perfect to keep. Just something to have fun with (and which I ended up wearing for Halloween). 

I feel like a kid in a candy store with my Bag 'O Fun, and can't wait to have energy to use some of the goodies again. 

After the crafting, we spray-painted our hair with the fluorescent colored hair spray. Jeannine picked purple. I picked, um, pink of course!  That stuff is seriously gross (it STINKS!), but it is also so much fun.

After so much stress and challenges, being silly, goofy, frivolous, 'un-grown up', and having a Princess Party made for the perfect birthday. I was grateful to have those two hours of feeling well enough to enjoy the party, and have FUN. 

Major thanks to Jeannine for coming up with the theme and the craft! You did good, as you would say.  

Blessings,

Princess Emily

Photos:  Masquerade masks--top to bottom: mine, Mom's, Jeannine's (hers is definitely the best one); Thai spring rolls; Making a birthday wish (gee, wonder what I wished for?); me and Jeannine outside; Making our masks; Jeannine and her purple hair; Me and my pink hair.