In a continuance of our new-found, globetrotting ways, Flo and I jetted to America last week for a birthday party. See, my sister-in-law, Bonnie, turned 30 in October this year… my best friend Audrey turned 40 in October this year… and my mom turned 50 in October this year… so they threw a big party together! It was really important for me to be there and Flo wanted to go too, so we managed to find some more cash in our couch and bought tickets. (By the way, we can’t really recommend American Airlines.)

We were only in America for about five days, if you don’t count the travel days. We tried to see everyone; of course, that was difficult. But it was fun. We spent a lot of time helping with party prep and general visiting. We also managed to see Got2Groove, which is a band my pop, Bonnie, a long-time family friend and our dance instructor play in. The website is still under construction, but when it’s done, I’ll feature them here. Anyway they’ve been playing together for at least a year now and we’d not heard them yet, so we snuck into a gig -- alright, I snuck in with my mom and brother; Flo did sound for them the whole night!

Then the big event came, the 30-40-50 party and it was a lot of fun. We had buffet dinner and lots of dancing. That’s what the girls ordered up, so that’s what they got. We thought it was really fun how many of the guests know how to do real ballroom and latin dances. All three of the ladies take lessons, so they wanted music they could boogie to, not just rumpshake. I think the DJ did well (and of course, by “DJ” I mean iPod with set list on it). The guests brought the desserts and they were delicious! Missy made a peanut butter pie that was really good, my brother made a Nutella cheesecake that was divine, there was an exquisitely designed apple thing that I didn’t even get to try because it went away so fast! We had the ladies blow out candles on cakes (but no, we didn’t light 120 candles!) and open at least one gift each.

(Click on photo to see the rest from that evening)

I say at least because Audrey got to open two gifts. And her second gift was really sparkly!

So big congratulations to my uncle, Wayne Esposito and my good friend Audrey Tweedie, who got engaged on her 40th birthday at her party, with all their friends and relatives there to celebrate with them. We’re so excited that Audrey’s membership in the family will become official. They have no wedding details yet and, unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture of the ring, but if you want to see their engagement, watch our video: