We write to taste life twice

	Christine (the cheesecake goddess), me, and Ruth
	Christy (and Brian...who is due anyday now!), me, and Corry
	me with Andrea
	Jeff (Andrea's husband), Dave (the dad-to-be), and Lance, who looks really ticked about something, HAHA!
	These glasses were actually a birthday card. HAHA. I was laughing when this picture was taken, which is why I look stupid (silly glasses aside). Note the Happy Birthday button.
	Reading Christine's card
	Trying to open Ruth's gift (I said that I wouldn't be able to get it open until my 32nd birthday)
	half of Ruth's present - very expensive gourmet lemon infused olive oil

It was a fun party.  We have fewer leftovers than I expected, which was great.  Even Lance seemed to have a good time entertaining the men, who were all outside on the patio while we women stayed in the living room.

My haul:

From Gaby - a gift certificate for a half hour traditional Thai massage (HA!  I knew it!)
From Corry - (aside from the gift she bought me at the mall last week) chocolates and the Happy Birthday button
From Christy and Dave - gift forthcoming, but I'm pretty sure it will be food or book related (probably a cookbook)
From Christine - the chocolate caramel cheesecake she brought, and a huge Sauvignon Blanc scented candle
From Andrea - a book thong (a string with beads at both ends to put in a book) and a bottle of red wine in a pretty wine bag
From Ruth - very expensive gourmet olive oil and balsamic vinegar from Barkenhof (holy crap, I almost died when I saw this)

It was a great evening.  I love my friends.  I'm so happy that I finally found the right people to spend my time with here.  Lance was also very impressed with my friends as well.  Some of them he was only meeting for the first time.

Gaby also brought Luca and Bruxa (her dogs) for a little bit.  She went home and got them and brought them, so I got to play with them for a bit, which was fun.  Luca loves me and gave me birthday hugs.  By the way, no pictures of Gaby because she refuses to have her picture taken.

I'm getting a bit of a headache.  The red wine probably did it, but I'm having some Riesling now and it's not very good (I only realized after inserting the corkscrew that it's actually a screw top bottle and not a cork, which is probably why it's lousy).

(By the way, I should add that I am not sunburned in these pictures.  I've always had a bad complexion and I color easily when I'm laughing and happy).