Birthday weekend recap!

Wow. Wow. WOW! What a FUN weekend. Growing up my mom always said "It's your birthday. Whatever you want.". That was within reason, of course, but the basic concept was "it's your special day and we're going to celebrate you!". I have so many wonderful birthday memories from birthday's past... Big Splash, Sister Act and miniature golf when Big Splash was rained out, coming home and finding my dad had assembled a trampoline in record time so that it was waiting for me when we got home, On The Border, and, of course, cheesecake. Brandon has done a fabulous job over the years keeping the "it's all about you" tradition up. And this year didn't disappoint. I only had three requests. I wanted to walk the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge, go to the beach, and end the night with dinner at Halls Chophouse on King Street. That would've been wonderful, but B went above and beyond and planned an entire weekend. Let's break this down day by day, shall we?

Friday
The day started when this beauty arrived at my door.

Yum , yum, YUM! The cheesecake tradition started on my 18th birthday. I had been to NYC on spring break a few months earlier and fell in love with Carnegie Deli cheesecake. I had no clue you could order one, but mom and dad surprised me. It's been a tradition ever since! :)

By that afternoon I received this from Brandon. The agenda for my weekend! He had planned it all out!

How fun is that?! An agenda! (I'm not a planner at all, so I appreciate all his thought and effort into making my weekend so special.) 

The first thing on the agenda was a 90 minute walking ghost and graveyard tour. It was Friday the 13th, so it was only fitting, right? And any chance we get to walk downtown and explore, we take it! 

It was HOT in the graveyard. I was drenched. I told B I didn't know if it was just the humidity or if all the ghosts were suffocating me. ;)

Saturday

The original plan for Saturday was to travel to Columbia for the day. B wanted to take me to Hobby Lobby (we don't have one here -yet!) and we wanted to find Crowns and Gowns. Does anyone remember the TLC show "King of the Crown"? It followed Cyrus Frakes a pageant consultant. Oh, goodness, we loved that show. Anyway, he's out of Columbia so B thought we could at least get a picture outside of his store. Well, things changed and I needed to spend the day shopping because the "top secret" part of the agenda was a dinner B's boss had planned for me. He wanted to know what I'd like to eat and then researched and found the top rated Italian restaurant in Charleston. I didn't feel like I had adequate clothing so we put Columbia on hold and went shopping for something to wear. Ha!

Tattoria Lucca. Just a cute little house in downtown Charleston that had been converted to a restaurant. It seats maybe 50? So lovely.

I know this is dark, but I didn't want to use my flash. It's house made bucatini and marinara sauce, with goat butter and basil. Umm. I just can't explain how amazing this dish was. The simplicity of it took my breath away. And everyone else's, too, because I insisted they try it. Ha! At one point I was sandwiched between two people getting a bite. I wish I had a picture of that! 

The group. Lots of delicious food and lots of laughter. Good times.

I love my boy.

Sunday

Bran made us reservations to ride Thriller Charleston that afternoon. We had taken this speedboat ride in December, but that was a "sleigh ride" complete with hot chocolate and 40 degree weather. It was time to experience the true thrill -- speed, water in the face, sun blaring down, and loud music. We decided to go to the early service at church so we'd have time to grab a good lunch before Thriller. We woke up earlier than normal and B said "we should go to Cracker Barrel before church. You love their breakfast.". Well, he didn't need to repeat himself. I was jumping out of bed and ready in record time. Ha! We walked in around 7:30 and I devoured my Old Timer's breakfast. After church we were still full so we had a lot of time on our hands. So what'd I do? I curled up in bed and took an hour and a half nap before leaving. Haha! I'm old! ;)

Before boarding.

We sat on the back row. We were told that was the wettest spot on the boat. I wanted to get drenched, but it was more of water in the face type of wet. Still, lots of fun. 

We drove all through the harbor and even beyond. I think I laughed and smiled the entire hour. 

Monday

Oh, happy day! It was finally my birthday! I woke up with an extra pep in my step. I even managed to whip out two loads of laundry before 9 o'clock. Ha! B had to work for a couple of hours, but was home by 9:30. Then it was time to get moving! I had a bridge to conquer, beach to enjoy, and dinner to get ready for! 

The Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge. Three miles, one way.

Here I am after I walked the first three miles. We were about to turn around and head back across the bridge. And I was just a little bit hot. ;)

Being athletic on my birthday. ;)

I did it! It took an hour and a half, (and that included stops for lots of pics) but we did it. 

What better way to relax after that than to hit the beach?!

Birthday on the beach!

I love this pic. We're both laughing. Genuine smiles. :)

After running home and cleaning up, we headed to Halls Chophouse for dinner. I snapped pics of the food (spicy shrimp, chopped salad, sourdough bread, loaded baked potato, steak, and pepperjack cream corn), but I'll just post this one of the two of us. 

That's bread pudding. I don't care for bread pudding, but B had eaten this at the Christmas dinner and loved it. Since I knew I had cheesecake waiting for me at home I let my complimentary birthday dessert from the Halls crew be something I knew B would enjoy. :)

  

Now that's what I'm talking about! Finally! I could cut into my cheesecake! (B had it delivered on Friday thinking we would eat on it all weekend. But I wanted it as my "cake" on my actual birthday so we resisted! And, yes, I know I look exhausted. I was! This was taken at almost 11. Again, I'm old!)

Mmmmmmm! Totally worth the wait! NYC cheesecake and fresh SC peaches. Delish. And, yes, it's a tiny piece. But we had just eaten like pigs at dinner! Ha!

So that was my birthday in a nutshell! I loved every minute of it. Only thing that could've made it better was a hug from my parents and my girls. But they were all together in Oklahoma and celebrated me all day long there. I talked to them all day long and Mom kept giving me a play by play like she does every year, "this time 30 years ago I was....". 

Bring it on, 30th year! I'm ready to see what all is in store for me and my sweet family!