Oh, man, it's happened...

...I've just celebrated turning 40! Please notice that I didn't say "I've turned 40" because that has not officially happened yet :) Let me tell you how I celebrated...

I chose to celebrate with my favorite things - food, family and friends. And since I like a good theme, it was a Stephanie's Favorites party theme. Around 40 guests arrived in 80's dress with donations of underwear and socks for a local children's center. We snacked on chips, guacamole and salsa and a chocolate fountain complete with Rice Krispie treats, pretzels and pineapple for dipping. What a fabulous way to start a party, if you ask me! Oh, and I can't forget the item that started the Stephanie's Favorites theme - the margaritas!! Mixed in a bucket and frozen overnight, these were the easiest margaritas ever (except the part where we didn't get them out of the freezer soon enough and they were rock hard when guests arrived-oh well).

Kariss, Tricia, Kymberli showing off their 80's clothes

For dinner we served Jake's Taco Salads. This is of course one of my favorites and was an easy menu item because guests could build-their-own. If you wanted the works (chips, lettuce, meat, beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream and guacamole), great! If not, great! I think, though, most people had the works (just the way I like it). As people were concluding their meal most participated in the "How Well Do You Know Stephanie?" questionnaire. Questions ranged from "What is Stephanie's favorite drink at Starbuck's?" to "The e-word in Stephanie's vocabulary is __________?" A prize was awarded to the person who got the most answers right. That person was high school friend Tony Valenti. Yea, Tony! (Tricia technically got the most correct, but since she's family, I asked if we could give the prize to a non-family member).

After dinner I was sung to (with a beautiful rendition, I might add) and the house was almost burned down! Forty candles is a lot! And a big thanks to Joshua! Since he wanted candles (I had planned on skipping that part myself) I let him put them on the cake (Jake's Chocolate cake, YUM). He did a great job even though I still couldn't blow them all out at once :(




While guests were enjoying their cake, we had an air hockey tournament set up. A few people participated-it was mostly just to give people something to do. Jill's house is a great entertaining place with her game room in the front. I thought we should take advantage of it. Again, my friend Tony came out on top. He won the Air Hockey Champ "medal". We also had other interesting things around for people to check out. There was a DVD of my 8mm baby movies playing in the family room for optional viewing. And there were also some photo collages behind the air hockey table of different times in my life. Some quite humorous, I might add!

Joshua and Megan warming up for the tournament. You can see the photo collages in the background.

It was a very nice evening. And just when I thought I knew everything that was to take place, my sisters surprised me with a "black box." I have now joined the "bird" club and have been officially assigned a bird (I said a bird, not the bird)...it's a crow! You know, "old crow!" I could tell that my sisters put a lot of thought (and, yes, love) into that gift. Things range from the silly to the creepy. And I love the fact that they did it for me. :) My mom also surprised me with a gift. She had a Stephanie's Favorites box. It was filled with things that I like...bubble bath, photos of nieces and nephews, favorite candies and lots of other things all wrapped in pink tissue paper. There was a lot of unwrapping. And I could tell there was a lot of thought and love (and driving around) put into that gift too.

The sisters' gift - a box full of "old crow" stuff

Mom's gift - my favorite things!

It was a really nice evening. Everyone had a great time. Especially me!! It was a really nice compliment to me that all of these people came to celebrate with me because they love me! There's no better way to usher in a new phase of life than with family and friends beside you (and a whole lot of margaritas and chocolate!!).



By the way, if you are interested, the answers to the Stephanie questions are caramel macchiato and exercise.