The Never Ending Birthday Comes to a Close

There's nothing I love more than birthdays. Not just mine, I love all birthdays because they're a reason to be excited about life and to celebrate. Okay fine I'll have to admit, I do love being treated like a princess for a day on my birthday, and it didn't hurt this year that it was preceded by a week of vacation and followed by a short week at work because my office was closed on the big day.

Being that my birthday is July 5th, it somehow gets wrapped up with celebrations for the 4th and turns into a full weekend of celebrating - but this year it just seemed to never end...

celebration night #1: big group dinner...

... followed by out for rooftop fun - complete with incredible views

celebration night #2: 4th of July...

fireworks!

...watching fireworks with my favorites

celebration day #3: birthday lunch with my faves...

... birthday cupcakes, round 1.

celebration day #4: office birthday = flowers and more cupcakes, followed by another bday dinner

celebration night #5: I know, this is getting ridiculous. work bday dinner, cava and yummy desserts

So I guess it has to end at some point... although I did still get to do some birthday shopping over the weekend, and still have a birthday massage to schedule so I suppose it's still going! Thank you to my amaaaazing friends, family and colleagues for treating me like a princess for the best extended birthday ever :) xo

A Quick Vacation

Any New Yorker, no matter how much they love the hustle and bustle of the city, will tell you it is necessary to get out of Manhattan every now and then in order to keep your sanity. After living here a little over a month (does that even make me a New Yorker yet?), I jumped at the opportunity to spend the 4th of July with girlfriends the Hamptons. 

Beautiful sunset before the fireworks started.

Happy 4th of July!

Having grown up in Sarasota, I'm a total beach bum at heart. I love love love living in the city, but sometimes I just need to be by the water (I'm aware Manhattan is an island, but dirty rivers just don't do it for me). East Hampton even reminds me of where I grew up a little bit, so this weekend was very nostalgic and a nice change of pace from what I've experienced since I moved away.

Who knew kids even had lemonade stands anymore? This was way too cute not to stop.

Beautiful day at the beach.

Lazy day in the sun with a silly girly book = perfection.

It was nice having a change of scenery, but I'm glad to be back in the city, sunburned and exhausted. It was cool coming home to my apartment from a night away and truly feeling like I was back home. Even after living here last summer, I could never really call New York home... now I'm finally able to.