Birthday, birthday, birthday!

Having my birthday in late November is both a blessing and a burden.  Many times it lands on Black Friday, the biggest, most crazy shopping day of the year, which equals a blessing because I love to shop.  Thus, it gives me the perfect excuse to go stand in crazy long lines with hordes of people for a fantastic sale and not seem so crazy because it's my birthday and I do what I like...lol.  Other years it lands on Thanksgiving Day, which equals a burden because I still have to work and do dishes and what not even though it's my birthday.  Junkie, but I deal...by celebrating my birthday the whole week long.  Hey, I get gypped on the actual day, so a little extra celebration won't kill anyone!

This year it just so happened to land on Black Friday.  The heavens opened, angels sang, the whole works.  Hey, it is my birthday! :)

My Mom and I went out shopping, naturally, at the ungodly hour of 7:30am...I know, I claim temporary insanity.  The first and really only store that I wanted to hit up was Eden in Love.  They are a cute little boutique store over at Ward Warehouse owned by Ms. Tanna Dang, The Wedding Cafe diva.  They usually have cute little dresses and such and I was on the hunt for a short flower print dress to wear with my new boots (pictures to come, rest assured.).  Plus they were offering 40% off!  They were supposed to open at 9am, in the conference room above their store, and I figured getting there at 8am would be more than enough time to stand in line.  Boy was I wrong.  I had no idea that the store had such a strong following...the line was huge.  I swear people must have started waiting in line at like 6am, that's how long the line was.  I figured no problem.  People wanted to be in and out just like I wanted, right?  Wrong again.  My mom and I waited in line until 10:30am when we were finally let into the door and greeted by this...

Craziness and mayhem that is what that is.  The line to pay for your items circled the room two times.  Yes, that is right, TWO times!  I looked around and grabbed a few dresses, there were no flower print ones to be found.  I looked at the dresses in my hand, then at the hour and a half line to wait in to pay, and then at all the other women around me, many of whom had the same dresses or similar ones in their hand, and I decided that we needed to high tail it out of there as fast as we could.  To me the whole point of boutique shopping is to get something that no one else has.  Don't get me wrong, the dresses and things that they sell in that store are cute, cute, cute, but if I'm going to spend $50 on a dress I better not show up to the party and see three other women wearing the same dress.  Total wardrobe foul, if you know what I mean.

We still got stamped with the 40% off on our hands, so in a last effort to save all of our time waiting in line we headed downstairs to their actual store.  There was no line and I actually liked the stuff there better than the new items that they were offering upstairs.  I got to try things on in the dressing room and take my time.  I ended up buying a flirty animal print tube top (I love animal print.  I know that kind of makes me sound like a douche, but I totally love it.  I rock the animal print like nobody's business!), a belt, and a bottle of nail polish all for 40% off.  Score!  The only bummer was that I probably could have saved myself the two hours in line by having gone to the store first.  If only I knew then what I know now, huh?  At least it wasn't a total wash.

We hit up a few more stores and then headed home so that I could meet up with friends for happy hour at Formaggios in Kailua.  (Happy hour there is everyday from 3-6pm.  Who can resist a $4 glass of wine or a $5 cocktail?  Plus their tapas are amazing and they are only $6!)  It wouldn't be a birthday without wine and yummy food from Formaggios!

Outfit for the occasion...

Eight Sixty dress in blue leopard print.  Had my eye on it since it was at Nordstrom and I actually found it that day while shopping at Nordstrom Rack.  I know!  What are the odds?  The birthday gods were smiling upon me.

Steve Madden sling backs in black.  My go-to shoes for punk rocker-ish outfits. 

The bling.  My new bow ring that my husband gave me for my birthday.  I LOVE IT!  I want to wear it all the time.  

Note: If you want one you need to order it online at Macys.com because this was the only one left on the island...I checked.  Not because I wanted to be the only one with one, but because I really wanted it and saw it at only one Macy's.  They were having a sale (story of my life...lol.) so I called around and had them put it on hold.  Then I sent my husband to get it...lol.  It totally counts as a birthday present from him if he buys it.

We had a few drinks and ate a bunch of food (Courtesy of my long-time friend Nathan, since he wouldn't let my husband pick up the bill.  Thanks Nate!  We're going to get you next time and I don't want to hear any argument!  I'm leaving my card with the waitress as soon as I sit down, so I won't be had again...lol.).  Then Alisha, from Formaggios, brought us out three desserts to celebrate my birthday.  Guava berry cheesecake, Tiramisu, and Chocolate Souffle.  Yum, yum, and yummier.  I'd recommend them all.  Thanks Alisha for making my birthday so sweet!

After Formaggios, the night was still young.  So we held the after party at my parent's house where we spent the evening playing Kinect on my brother's XBOX 360.  That is, for sure, going to be the holiday gift of the season!  For those of you non-gamers, it's a 3D camera with an inferred light that tracks your body movements so you don't have to use a controller to play games.  It was really fun, but a total workout!  (I don't recommend playing in a dress...lol.)  You are moving and jumping all over the room...good thing I never made it to the gym that day.

Thank you to all who helped me celebrate and all who wished me well!  I had a blast!  Until next year...