It all started on Thursday morning while we were waiting for the roads to clear from the snow so we could head to work. He has been ITCHING to give me my birthday present for at least a week, but I kept putting him off. I finally gave in and on Thursday opened my BEAUTIFUL birthday present which were gorgeous earrings! They are beautiful.

Saturday the celebration continued as my bestest buddies from Chattanooga paid me a little visit! I met up with The Moncriefs at Opry Mills mall where we had some yummy lunch and walked a lap around the CRAZY madhouse of a mall. (Note to self: don't go to Opry Mills with only 12 shopping days left!) After the mail excursion and a little nappy for Ada, we headed to dinner at our new found restaurant in Nashville: Maggiano's. It was incredible!! This is an INCREDIBLE family-style dining Italian restaurant. Brent and I had eaten there last weekend, but you have to have at least four adults to make it to family-style. We got a very late start to dinner and after waiting for about 45 minutes we finally got to eat! It was AWESOME: stuffed mushrooms, calamari, lasagna, baked ziti with sausage, spinach salad, maggiano's salad, chicken Parmesan, chicken Marsala, peppermint profiteroles, and ricotta-based cheesecake!! It was incredible. What I was most impressed with, however, was how extremely well-behaved Ada was. We all know that babies have a limit and it seems every time we're around the Moncriefs, we tend to test Ada's limit. Surprisingly, Ada was SO pleasant the entire dinner - we didn't leave until about 10:00 p.m. and remember there is an hour difference in their time zone! I was impressed.

Sunday morning, the Moncriefs headed back to Chatty and I spent the day hanging out doing my favorite things. Once Brent got off from work, he was quite the trooper and we headed out for dinner at a new restaurant in Smyrna followed by some shopping for our secret santa people and clothes for me!

Monday wrapped up the festivities with a little birthday lunch at work and then dinner at our new favorite sushi restaurant: Peter's Thai and Sushi with our new Nashville friends - Austin and Ann. Ann's birthday is the 15th (Monday) and Austin had gotten her a VERY yummy birthday cake, so we got to partake in her festivities as well.

Overall it was a wonderful birthday - all 5 days worth of celebrations. Brent's question on everyones birthday is "What is [insert year of birthday here] years of wisdom?"
For me this year it's 28 years of wisdom...

Several people have asked if I was depressed or down about my birthday and honestly I am not. I never have been and I think my 28 years of wisdom is if you are down or depressed on your birthday, then what are you doing with your life? What is it that makes you depressed? Are you truly being all that God has made you to be?

Oh and I wanted to thank everyone for reading our blog! I've come to realize that we have quite the following - most of which never comment on the blog. Brent and I are both extremely fortunate to have so many friends and family members who care enough about our lives to keep in contact and are interested in our crazy lives. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas - remember to take time to enjoy the holiday and remember what we're celebrating in the birth of Jesus Christ.