A Golden Birthday Weekend

What a weekend. Fair warning, this is a LONG post. There is lots to re-cap!

And this blog post should more accurately be titled, "A Weekend of 1,000 Donuts."

The A's started the weekend off with a visit from Grammy and Grampy in their new van on Friday afternoon. While Sam and I awaited their arrival, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and played outside a bit.

Saturday morning we were up early for a trip to BJ's (gotta love everything in BULK) and an afternoon spent apple picking with the family. My cousin Colleen has a fabulous camera and a great eye and it was our mission to get a photo for Sam's holiday card out of the afternoon. Really, Colleen and I just wanted the photo shoot and the fresh apple donuts. Isn't that the point of apple picking?

We wrapped up the day with cocktails at my aunt's - I had a caramel vodka and apple cider concoction and it was divine - my family sang "Happy Birthday" to me and Colleen made yum-tastic funfetti mini cupcakes.

And Sam was LOVING this pumpkin. 

For my birthday eve meal, G and I feasted on donuts and milk. Totally inappropriate but absolutely delicious.

Sunday was my official golden birthday and I started the day with a golden ticket!

G made this! I was so impressed and felt pretty loved. 

Sam's adorable present for his momma was a new Pandora Charm - the cupcake with the golden sprinkle. Love it! So thoughtful is that Sam. 

The three of us had brunch at the Frog and Turtle. Sam decided he didn't want to nap. 

But quickly turned his attitude around when he saw these donuts. (Yes, we ate donuts again.)

These donuts were INSANE. Maple glazed topped with bacon bits (the "John Candy"), chocolate glazed stuffed with peanut butter, banana, and chocolate (the "Elvis"), and to get back to the root of the donut we also ordered a plain. 

I celebrated with a delish Bloody Mary - perfectly seasoned and not too tomato-y. 

Following brunch, G arranged a massage and steam for me at Nine Stones and although I protested as I wanted to spend more time with my boys, I was VERY happy to indulge. 

We wrapped up the weekend at a neighborhood potluck. We are new to the neighborhood so although it was my birthday, we had to go. I made these super easy, super yummy, Bacon-wrapped Chicken Bites and was so happy to see that they were flying off the plate. Bacon is a sure bet. Although we didn't last long at the potluck, Sammy was EXHAUSTED and made that quite known, it was great to meet some of the neighbors.

Suffice it to say, we were all exhausted by the end of the weekend. A huge thanks to my incredible husband for making my golden birthday sparkle so bright.