Party in the U.S.A.

As previously mentioned, my birthday fell during our holiday jaunt in Texas.  It would've been challenging to bring L's gift with us on the trip in order for me to open it on my actual birthday, so instead he surprised me with my present a few days before we left so I could take my gift with me, if I so desired.  I gotta say, L killed it on my gift this year.  L has a history of giving awesome gifts many years and interesting gifts on some other years.  He's done pretty well for the last few years but he didn't ask em for any ideas or suggestions this year so I had no idea what to expect.  Meet my new friend Stevie:

I was seriously so impressed and shocked.   I did happen to want a new purse, but I hadn't said anything to him about it.  L just happened to take it upon himself to inventory my handbags in my closet and decide I needed a black one.  And then he went and picked this one out himself!  And wrapped it (which was extra cute because it took him several tries with several different rolls of paper; apparently most of the rolls didn't have enough paper on them to cover the whole box).  I was so surprised by the whole thing!  Definitely one of his awesome gifts.  Stevie and I have been inseparable ever since! 

Celebrating with the fam was also fun.  We rolled over to my parents' house on Tuesday and Mom had Sprinkles cupcakes for everyone.  Sprinkles = my fam's preferred purveyor of cupcakes in Dallas.

Dad was in charge of picking up the cupcakes on Tuesday afternoon. Obviously he came back with an extra cupcake for Boomer.  It's just not a party if Boomer isn't included.  If you're wondering why two cupcakes have candles in them, it's because my sister's birthday is a month before mine and Mom and Dad didn't get to celebrate with her, so we frequently do a joint thing for our birthdays when we're all together.  And if you're wondering why the cupcakes have weird numbers of candles, Mom's explanation to me was, "You're 31 so you get one candle.  Your sister is 34 so she gets four candles.  Pretend the extra 30 are there for both of you."  So nice of her to not jam 30 extra candles in our cupcakes! 

Boom loved his cupcake.  Here's a closer shot of our cupcakes together:

The bone on top was pretty cute.  If it grosses you out that our cupcakes were almost touching, I promise it's really okay.  His was just like a regular cupcake, but it was sugar-free and chocolate-free.  Here's Boomer eating his treat:

When you have something that exciting and good, you can't stop and pose for pictures.  You must take it and run underneath the nearest table so that you can gobble it down in a place where no one can reach you and steal your treat.  Totally worth the $2.50 if your pup needs a treat! 

But on the topic of Sprinkles, a word of advice: it's best not to ever place semi-loose cupcakes (especially from Sprinkles) in your purse.  I had a JL meeting and someone brought cupcakes for our whole committee, of which only three people indulged during the meeting.  Consequently, there were 21 cupcakes left at the end of the meeting, so our committee chair told  us all to take one home for ourselves and one for any husbands/boyfriends/roommates.  I grabbed two and wrapped each in a napkin and placed them in my purse.  It was rainy that night and my car was parked too far away for me to carry them down M and keep them- and myself- dry.  I got home to find my top-heavy cupcakes overturned and icing. was. everywhere.  Good thing L gave me my new bag later that night! 

But seriously, don't put cupcakes in your purse.