Birthday Come and Gone

Another year down, another year begun...this will be a big one!

I actually didn't get depressed this year near my birthday (a plus) and I had a great party at home with friends. I think I am finally getting to a point in my life when I am happy about who I am (and my life) and I don't need the acceptance or approval from people in my life who I will never get it from anyway. I have to thank my Dad for that, although it's really weird, since he has been gone I feel like I have changed a lot, for the better. When he died I have thought so much about him and what he taught me, his life and his passion. He had bad times and good times but no matter what he looked at things in a positive way - even if it was only for show. He always told me that it doesn't matter what other people think - do what makes me happy. It might seem silly now, but not until he was gone did I understand so much of what he was telling me and all the things he tried to teach me over the years. So really it's been a big year already!

Anyway, back to the birthday party - FYI Pot Luck Appetizers was a great idea!! And of course Tony got my surprise cake and this year it was amazing - as always!
Yep that is giant sushi rolls - or at least it appears that way - those are all little cakes and the base is a cake. Of course it's the decedant white cake with amaretto butter cream icing from Who Made the Cake! by Nadine Moon. I get one every year and each time Tony comes up with a new idea to surprise me.

For Valentine's Day weekend we took a trip to Vegas and that was really great! The first night we saw Zumanity which was fun. The next two days we gambled a lot, did well at the Blackjack table and the slots. We met some fun ladies that were in town with a convention and we stayed at a blackjack table with them at the MGM for 5 1/2 hours! In the end we can home with some of our gambling budget (instead of losing the budget and then some). Didn't do much else but we did finally make it to the M&M World store this time!! I didn't think it would be 4 stories but they put their initials and characters on everything!! We hope to make it back to Vegas at least one more time this year...