ALOOOOOOHA!

Between Aloha and Mahalo that's the extent of my Hawaiian vocabulary. 

Though I'm sure they say "fun" the same way we do. And fun is what my birthday part this year was full of.

I decided, on a whim, to have a Hawaiian theme. I throw myself a party every year and it turns out that I kind of like coming up with themes.  So Hawaiian it was.

Side note: I throw myself a part for a couple of reasons. One, I've had some pretty crappy birthdays when people/boyfriends have forgotten to put something together - even when I express how important birthdays are for me. And two, I'm a control freak.

Right, back to Hawaiian.

The weather didn't cooperate to give us the glorious 70 degree weather that I'm sure the Hawaiian islands have this time of year, but sunny and 40 we'll take.

I managed to find plenty of Hawaiian themed decorations, as well as borrow some from friends, that made the house feel like you were walking into a tropical paradise.

Okay not really, but I had some really fun decorations.  Including little umbrellas for the Mai Tai's I made.

Oh Mai Tai's how I love and hate you all at the same time. I didn't feel like I had too many, but since I can't actually remember how many I had, perhaps I did have "too many". But can you ever really have "too many" mai tai's? I think not.

This is the Mai Tai recipe I "followed". I didn't use spiced rum, I used a dark rum. Then we ran out of that I used Bicardi. What? You can mix alcohols as long as they're in the same family.

Moving along.

The BEST part of the birthday party, by far, was Puck.  Blueberry got a hold of him in the circus, (according to Blueberry's story Barnum and Baily Circus is now where Puck resides) and asked him to come for one more visit.  He sent an impostor.

P-Dot was in love.  She'd never seen such a strong, happy, large, pink duck before.  She thought he was the cat's meow.

Puck the Cake! Blueberry really pulled out all stops this year and totally raised the "birthday" bar. Now I have to get creative for her birthday in April.

Puck the Cake was a total surprise, and one that I will forever remember!  Its rare that Blueberry can surprise me and when she does....she doesn't hold back.

Puck The Cake was one of the BEST cakes I've ever had. I'm not a huge cake fan, but the cake...OMG...to die for. It was chocolate, of course - I mean why bother if it's not chocolate - and then it had a chocolate ganache layer - or two - and a Salted Caramel layer - OMG...so good.

Blueberry decapitated Puck the Cake. Apparently his head is made of rice krispie treats. I plan on checking that out tonight at NYE.  The cake was supposed to feed 15 people and brother let me tell you, we could have fed the town of Redmond.  SOOO much cake left. We'll have it again tonight, and the rest will come to work with me on Wednesday - as if there's going to be any left.

On top of the fabulous cake, one of my friends, the Yank, brought his ukulele and led the group in a very Hawaiian singing of happy birthday. I can say in all my years, I've never had a ukulele playing at a birthday party. (Thanks Yank. That was quite thoughtful of you...and clever.)

Ignore that this is a bad photo. My friend Mr. Not so Newlywed had my camera and all he kept saying all night is "I'm using up all your film."

Here are few of the usual suspects who helped me celebrate.  Some photos turned out so bad that, to save my friendships, I won't be posting them.

Of course The Pantry Goat and Blueberry were there to help me celebrate.

Mr. and Mrs. Not so Newlywed were there. PS - check out that rockin Flamingo in the background. Thanks ChickenLady for the Flamingo. It fit the decor perfectly.

PhotoGirl and the Yank - two of my favorite people. Thanks for the bottle of Bader Cellars wine, BTW.

ZOEY!  She belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Hot-lanta (They're from Atlanta so I just made up their nickname. Clever huh?) Zoey is the BEST little girl in the world.  She has the habit of making sad, woe is me faces that get her all shades of attention.

 

And last but not least, the gang.

Left to Right - Front row: Blueberry and me (I'm the one in the grass skirt in case you couldn't tell.)

LTR Back row: Mr&Mrs Not So Newlywed, Mr&Mrs HotLanta, Mr&Mrs Landlords, PhotoGirl, The Yank, his ukulele, Pantry Goat and Zoey (who really didn't want to be in the photo).

 

So until next year - which is tomorrow - I say Aloha. Which turns out means hello and goodbye in Hawaiian.