TGIF & Fill in the Blank Friday!

We're taking a bit of an intermission with the NYC recap posts for Fill in the Blank Friday at the little things we do. Don't worry, day 4 will be up later today.

Happy Birthday Lauren!! August birthdays are the best!

1. Birthdays are: a pretty big deal in our family. We celebrate every single one with dinner, usually. We keep pretty busy with 15+ birthdays to celebrate every year! We have two really busy months - March has 7 birthdays and December has 4!

2. My favorite birthday memory was when I turned 8. My mom had to work, so my dad took the day off to spend with me. We went up to visit the ice cream store (the one that my dad was in the process of buying) and we played putt putt. I got really upset because I was losing so bad and I was supposed to win, I mean it was my birthday! My dad felt so bad that he was just hitting the ball, trying to lose, but he ended up still beating me. I remember crying about having "the worst birthday ever" and to this day I still want to cry when I think about what my dad must've thought when I said that. He took the entire day off to treat me like a princess and I had deemed it the worst birthday ever! Looking back, though, that was my best birthday memory. Things were simple then. It was just my daddy and me, and I was the birthday princess.

3. A birthday tradition I (or my family) has is: hmm, other than getting together for everyone's birthday, we really don't have a tradition.

4. If I had to choose one birthday meal to eat for the rest of my birthdays hence forward, I would choose my grandmother's chocolate eclair cake. The only two people who make it, now that my grandma has passed, are my sister & I. It is oh-so-good. I've been meaning to share the recipe, but I haven't gotten around to it.

5. My birthday is on August 1st - two Sundays ago! I'm at the ripe old age of 24. I don't want to get any older. I like the number 24 and I don't like any number after that. Next year I'll be in my mid-20's! I'm not ready for that!

6. If I could take a birthday trip I would go to: this is a hard one. I would like to say Costa Rica, Nicaragua, or the Dominican Republic, but I would want to go to those places in the fall/winter instead of August. Maybe Las Vegas? But only if someone was going to give me spending money, too.

7. The best gift I've ever received for my birthday was being able to spend all of them with family & friends. And this year was a trip to NYC! It's hard to beat that!

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I'm soooo looking forward to laying on the beach all weekend. After our weekend in NYC, I ended up with a tourist tan (tan on your shoulders and the back of your neck only, with a line from the collar of your shirt on your neck/back). There's a local surfing tournament this weekend and one of my best friends is coming into town to visit!!

On Sunday, I promised my sister I would watch her youngest two while she & my BIL take my oldest niece out surfing. My niece was supposed to surf in a contest in NC this weekend, but things fell through, and my niece was pretty devastated. To make it up to her, my sister & BIL have promised to take her surfing with both of them. Normally, when we all go to the beach, it's a juggling act with the three girls and everyone wanting to surf & swim, so I'm hoping my oldest niece will get some quality time to rip it up this weekend! We need her to go pro so she can support all of us. :-)

I hope you all enjoy your weekend as much as I plan to!