My Birthday Weekend

This post involves a lot of pictures, just so you're forewarned. 

Carson wouldn't let me get up on my birthday until 9am, because he was decorating the house with streamers and balloons. I came downstairs and everything was so festive and fun! He'd wrapped presents and put them on the table, just like I remembered from my childhood. 

Shortly after, he had to go to work, so I stayed at home (looking mostly like I did in that lovely first picture) and did pretty much nothing until he got home at 6:30. I got a few phone calls and birthday cards in the mail that day.

That night, we got dressed up and Carson took me to dinner. But first, pictures. I discovered that Carson took some test photos trying to set up the self-timer while I was still upstairs. This was my favorite.

We went to The Melting Pot and it was FABULOUS! We had a terrific server and a table tucked back into a corner so it was fun and cozy. We've never been but I've always hoped to go and it was even better than expected. We had a cheese fondue for our first course, which we consumed entirely.

Carson with the fab forks

And our dinner course was fun too - there was a pot of boiling water with spices and vegetables inside. We were served raw meat, which we pierced with our forks and put in the pot to cook. Then there were all sorts of spices and sauces to enjoy with the meat.

Last was dessert. I'm not a huge dessert person, but it was really good. We had a cookies and cream fondue with various fruits and cheesecakes, marshmallows and rice krispy treats. On the side, our server brought out a plate with chocolate covered strawberries and a birthday message. He then lit some liquor (Rum, I think?) and poured it on top of the fondue as a "birthday candle", which was by far the coolest candle ever. No one sang the birthday song, which is always my number two birthday request (number one is no surprise parties).

More pictures when we got home, but Carson forgot that we were going to do that and changed.

Day Two
That night, my friend Casey brought over a delicious cheesecake. We didn't want to eat it before our huge meal, so we saved it for "breakfast" the next day. SO GOOD.

A few weeks ago, I told Carson that all I really wanted for my birthday was warm weather. I was joking (but if I thought it were possible, I'd really have wished for that), but the day of my birthday was sunny (not warm) and the day after was sunny and warm. It was 63 degrees, which sounds like winter weather to the old me, who used to live in South Carolina, but because it's Ohio, we saw people in shorts! I had to document the first warm day.

And as if there wasn't enough sweet stuff for the weekend, Carson bought a little ice cream cake and sang happy birthday (I'm okay if it's just one person singing).

Despite the fact that we probably have diabetes from the weekend, it was pretty great! I felt loved, overfed, and warm, which are not terrible things to feel on a birthday weekend.