My 40 days and nights.

The big 4-0 birthday weekend has come and gone. I survived. I made it through the drunken arguments, the redneck fest, my own "it's-my-party-and-I'll-cry-if-I-want-to" pity parties, the audience with the pope, the gorging ourselves with food, and the tattoos.

Wow. Read that sentence again. Sounds like we are just ripe for our own reality TV show over here. Really it's just a fun filled, never without drama, 40th birthday weekend for me. The drunken arguments, redneck fest, and pity parties are stories that will have to wait for another day.

Right now I would like to just say what a wonderful family I have. My husband is a saint and is so loving, my parents and family are so loving and generous, and my kids are the best. I truly feeled blessed to have the family that I do.

Here is a little birthday recap beginning with an audience with the pope.

More like "the pope room" at Bucca di Beppo! You didn't think I had an acutal audience with the pope did you? Yea, I can see how that one would go. "Oh hello your Eminence, bless me father for I have sinned by declaring myself an ex-catholic because I think you are all a bunch of narrow-minded, ritual driven, misogynists that have nothing better to do than throw guilt at little children and condemn to hell those that dont' think like you do. Um, yeah, so I sure do dig your crib."

Wow, did I just say that?

Anyway, Bucca's was as fabulous as ever and the food was scrumptious. Of course I have zero photos of the food cuz once those family style platters hit that over-sized lazy susan it was a Turner family free-for-all. That lazy susan was whipping back and forth, serving spoons were flying, everyone filled their plates, and then there was dead silence for the next 15 minutes. Yea, we like our food and the restaurant did not disappoint.

If you've never been to Bucca di Beppo's, it is an italian restaurant that serves their food family style and is known for their kitchy italian decor. As you can see in the top pic, we were in the "pope room" which is just large enough for a round table that seats approx. 12 people. In the center of the table is a giant "lazy susan" with the pope bust in the center.

The pope approved of my sangria. Yummy!

My beloved Aunts Terri & Mary and my Uncle Ralph:

My Uncle Ed & my little sister Rachael:

My son and his girlfriend lookin all cute:

Me & hubby after I had one too many sangrias:

I love this picture of my parents. The candlelight, the statue on the wall, the peace on their faces. So ethereal. Such treasures.

Here's the hat they all signed with well-wishes and made me wear. No. You wont' be seeing a photo of that.

After dinner Sunday afternoon we went back to my parents' home where I was showered with yummy gifts:

Gorgeous set of dishes from my parents. My current set is from my wedding shower and is so, like, 1990.

My parents also gave me this adorable set of canape plates and serving dish. Now I just need to figure out what the hell a canape is, and how to make it.

A purse from my aunts. How did they know red was my favorite color? And did they dead-on pick my style of purse, or what? Yes! They defintitely did!

Some fun reading material from my Dad. I am such an American Idol junkie. I can't wait to dig into this book.

So we move on to Monday and that passed by like Mondays always do. Work all day, have an hour off and then head to the 2nd job in the evening. Yeah, I prefer not to discuss Mondays. Especially since it involved yet another heated conversation with yet another crazy cheer mom. What is with these trashy women? Again, another story for another day.


Moving on to yesterday, Tuesday, and it's my actual 40th Birthday. Yay! It's here. And I had a GREAT DAY. Of course I worked all day, but once I was off of work my daughter and I headed to Le Nails and I got my nails did. I let Lizzie pick out the color and she chose straight up "O.P.I. Red". It's got "hey big guy, here i am" written all over it. But it is pretty and well, my favorite color is red after all.

When we got home my hubby had the MOST DELICIOUS dinner for me. Ribeye steaks that he grilled outside along with baked potatos and green beans. OK, I can't even begin to describe how delicious his steaks are. Folks, he has a gift. Again, no photos of the dinner, cuz hey, I smell steaks and it's just all over for me.

I did get a shot of the yummy peach pie that he had for dessert. (Note to readers: Peach is my favorite pie. In case, you decide to hit up Ohio and take me out for dessert or something).

After dinner my sister Rachael showed up and brought me this next little bit of heaven.

Hello my precious ones. Come to mama. By the time I got the camera out we had one cupcake gone and 2 half-eaten. The one with pink frosting in the back row was a casata cake. Heloooo!

Then sister Rachael and I headed off to get tattoos. "Girrrl, no you di-ent". "Girrrl, oh yes I di-id". I already have one, but this was sister's first.

We got our last name, Turner, on our foot. Of course there's always a story behind a tattoo, and again that will wait for another post later this week.

So I settled in at midnight last night for my daily Oprah viewing and sighed with contentment and happiness thinking over my wonderful family and my fabulous birthday weekend.

Then my son walks in the door and showers me with this bit of awesomeness:

So today is Wednesday and the birthday has come and gone and it's back to the usual grind. Oh but wait, what was sitting on my front porch covered in dew this morning? It's a sweet bouquet of flowers from my brother Chuck, who got in from the road at midnight last night and made a pit-stop to leave me these:

So that is my birthday extravaganza and it's over and I survived and hey, I got to cross 2 more things off my list (which I'll update later today).

THANK YOU FAMILY! THANK YOU FRIENDS! 40 ISN'T SO BAD AFTER ALL. I AM BLESSED TO HAVE YOU ALL IN MY LIFE. YOU HAVE MADE ME FEEL SO LOVED - AS YOU DO MOST EVERY DAY. LOVE YOU!!