The Big 4-0: Cake and Champagne

Cake and Champagne With The Girls!
Back Row: Laura, Rebekah, Me, Danielle, Megan, Barb
Front Row: Sarah, Marjie, Marcy, Andrea, Jennifer

On Saturday night, I celebrated my big 4-0 with a group of my favorite girls. 

The theme: Cake and Champagne.

And lots and lots of '80's memories.

Come join in the fun through pictures!

I got a new dress at Arts Fest this year and have been saving to wear as much as I can this month! 

Mom and I spent much of Friday baking two gluten-free cakes: a chocolate cake with coffee icing (from the America's Test Kitchen How Can It Be Gluten-Free Cookbook). It was seriously good!

And an Almond Cake from The Complete Low FODMAP Diet.

I wanted the party to be a great combination of celebrating the milestone that is turning 40 and a blast from the past of parties I had growing up.

That meant goody bags,

noise makers,

deely boppers,

and lots of 80's memorabilia!

Remember landlines?

Marjie had important calls to make!

The advantage/disadvantage of living in the same house for my whole life means I have lots of stuff from my childhood. 

A first edition cabbage doll from my grandmother,

sticker books,

Major Morgan,

mix tapes, VHS tapes, a little Whitney Houston and even some Kenny G!

Twister,

Super Soakers,

 a Cornsilk Cabbage Patch doll,

and a boombox (which I still use!).

For admittance to the party, no IDs were required but a photo of oneself from the 80's was required.

Yes, this one is of me.

And since I still went by 'Erin' in the 80's, we used some Post-It Notes copyrighted 1989 to number our pics on the wall.

A party in the 80's wouldn't be a party without a game, right? 

So, everyone had to try to guess which childhood photo matched each adult at the party. 

The prize? Chocolate!

(I offered Kenny G's Silhouette, but no one took me up on it.)

To bring myself into this decade, I dressed in a party dress newly purchased over the summer.

I paired it with my prom shoes to add a retro touch. :)

Kiernan took me party shopping, and I went crazy for the 'Fierce, Fabulous and Forty' collection. 

Pink? Yes!

Polka dots? Yes!

Forty and fabulous? Yes!

With all of that organized, it was time to PARTY!

I was joined by my favorite girls, including Marjie  (only a couple couldn't make it and they were missed a LOT).

Kate, my 'oldest' friend in attendance (friends since 7th grade), even made it up from Baltimore,

and stayed until 1 AM talking!

Marcy and Laura helped pop the champagne.

I supervised!

We had plenty of wine, too.

Kate brought her photo album of our senior year of high school (think prom, graduation, girls on a camping trip, and marching band).

Anne (a friend in town visiting Andrea), Andrea, Rebekah, Marcy

Barb, Megan, Jennifer

Laura, Marjie and Danielle took a selfie with a 'real' camera. 

Sarah couldn't make it in from out of town, so she sent this gorgeous Edible Arrangement with balloons, which was a huge hit! We missed you, girl.

Once the champagne was popped, it was time to light the candles and eat some cake!

Kate rocked the party when it came to making things happen.

Everyone else helped so much, too, with serving and cleaning up!

Everyone sang a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday,

we toasted with champagne,

and I made the best wishes I could think of!

Then, Sarah, Barb and Rebekah took charge of serving! Thank you, girls!

The cakes were delicious. I had them both as dinner last night and again as my lunch today! I added rainbow sprinkles to everyone's frozen yogurt because who didn't eat those in the 80's too?!

Wearing Our Deely Boppers!
Back Row: Laura, Rebekah, Me, Danielle, Megan, Barb
Front Row: Sarah, Marjie, Marcy, Andrea, Kate, Jennifer

It felt INCREDIBLE to be surrounded by some of my very favorite girls and celebrate LIFE. I felt so fully alive on Saturday night. 

Girls I've known since childhood (Kate) to those I've just met this year joined me, and every single one of them I cherish and am so grateful to have in my life. In a testament to how much I love our neighborhood, I realized that six of the girls are my neighbors too!

I loved planning for the party, shopping for the party, setting up an 80's Pandora station, making goody bags, researching popular candies of the 80's to put in the bags, finding memorabilia, setting up for the party, and baking the cakes with Mom. 

It was a lot of hard work, yes. But I loved it so very much!

The last time I could really celebrate a birthday I was still in college and was 22 years old. I want to make my 40th FABULOUS because I feel so excited about what life has in store for me this decade.

I can't wait to continue celebrating and continue fundraising this month!

Posing With Our 80's Memorabilia!

Thank you to everyone who has made October my birthday month so special already--with your donations to my campaign, with your attendance at my party, and with all of your love that brought me to this place I find myself in now. 

I'm a blessed girl.

Here's to 40 being FABULOUS!

Sarah: Look carefully--there's the cupcake temporary tattoo from Lana on my forearm!

Be a dancing light,

Emily