Inspiration and Rough Drafts: Celebrating 27 Years

The common theme of my birthday weekend... food, friends and family. A couple of my college girlfriends came in town, so we had a total of seven ND girls in Chicago this weekend. Seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday...

On Friday night, we all got together at our condo for a pre-Hot Chocolate 15K pasta dinner. Some of the girls brought appetizers, salad, garlic bread, and wine... Scott and I served up the pasta and pulled out the extra leaf in our table so we all gathered close and dug in. It was amazing to look around the table and see so many of my close friends and their significant others, just enjoying good food and catching up. My mom sent her signature chocolate birthday cake too... literally icing on the cake of a wonderful evening.

Early Saturday morning, a bunch of us participated in the Hot Chocolate 15K, either walking or running it. K and I walked the 9.3 miles... and had a great time chatting while I worked my butt off to keep up with her :) After the race, we met up with the runners and chowed on chocolate fondue and hot cocoa... amazing!

After some much-needed naps, we grabbed Thai food at Joy's and headed to Matilda's for the big birthday bash x 3. Three of us birthday girls cut into a huge chocolate cake from Bittersweet and celebrated with our friends and family. My favorite part about birthdays is having a chance to spend time and catch up with friends far and near.

On Sunday morning, we enjoyed a quick brunch at Ann Sather... they have to-die-for cinnamon rolls. And the birthday celebration continued with dinner at Mia Francesca with Scott. What a cozy meal... delicious wine, bruschetta, and pasta!

Oh, there was a common theme among my birthday gifts too... shoes, shoes and more shoes... in addition to some great fall clothes, pillows for our bed (Scott says, more pillows?!), and pretty accessories. I also have some serious shopping to do... gifts cards galore to J.Crew, LOFT and Starbucks!