Better as I go... the weekend of CAKE

Happy 31 to me. And I love it. I don't know, I just think I get better as I go. Really truly. I'm growing into my looks (holy cow did I have some CHEEKS on my face in high school!), I even like how the little wrinkles are looking around my eyes. (The gray hairs I continue to pull. Still only three of them. Whew.) My personality gets more well rounded, I'm discovering to a better extent who I am and expanding on it. My life situation keeps getting better. Bring on a new year, I don't mind one bit.
West and the circus spoiled me with presents. Among them was this perfume. I wanted to update my perfume to something new and something that he would like, so he took the circus perfume shopping. I love it, and was completely surprised by it.
We had a yummy potluck at work and they got me this cake (the first of many for the next two days!): And I just so happened to win a birthday cake give away from 4 the love of cake.
She gives one away every month, so check her out :)

After I picked up my cake (I felt so bad going to her house and just taking a cake ha ha), I headed to my friend's, Sara, house for some nails. Her daughter Hannah and Cali were super cute pretending to mimic us after we stood up:

After that I rushed home because West had dinner plans for me with Nick and Sara (who was also rushing since I'd just left her house ha ha). West took me to my favorite restaurant, Johnny Carino's and SURPRISE, it wasn't dinner for just the four of us. My man had secretly invited family and friends to join us.

I'm at a good place in life. I feel secure. I feel confident. I feel loved. Thank you everyone, for showing my so much love and support on my birthday.

Of course, the birthday fun wasn't over. Saturday I spent the ENTIRE day up to my elbows in fondant. Four of us in our group of friends had birthdays and I wanted to practice my new skill. I made a cake pop cake for me:

Melissa wanted tiger lilies (which made me not only practice with fondant, but try out a new aspect, gumpaste):

I did a skull cake for Dustin

And this is right after someone shoved it in his face:

And cute Linda wanted a "Joe Boxer" smiley face cake:

There was obvious improvement between the first and second cakes (smiley face and tiger lily) and my third and fourth cakes (cake pop and skull). I think I'm finally getting the hang of fondant, and making it look super smooth on the cake. I can't wait to try it out again. And overall, I don't think any of the cakes looked too bad. We all had fun with them at any rate.