Gonna Sip Bacardi Like it’s My Birfday….

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It’s my birthday! *throws confetti*

Funny, actually my birthday is never really a big deal for me. Ever. I grew up in a family where if we said “happy birthday, so and so,” that was enough. It was a BIG deal to get a card, and gifts..pfft. Who needs ’em?

But this year, wow. This year, people, a lot of people, came together and made my birthday a big deal. A really big deal, and I am floored, gobsmacked, honored, and humbled to no end at the thought.

First of all, some of my favorite people in the blogosphere surprised me early this morning with a Birthday Blog Hop. For me.

I received a text message from my BBB, Beth, which said to check Hasty’s blog. I jumped, not even slightly kidding, out of my bed and started reading as my Sonicare took its sweet 2 minutes to clean my teeth. I could hardly see through my blurry eyes, so it took me more than a minute to realize that the poem was not only about me, but for me. What?? I jumped from post to post, and each post made it more difficult to see through my tears. Here they are in order. What are you doing? Click and read….

You Are My Sunshine

My Only Sunshine

You Make Me Happy

When Skies Are Gray

You’ll Never Know Dear

How Much I Love You

Please Don’t Take My Sunshine Away

Can you believe it? The love they showed me? Neither can I. I still don’t even think I’ve done anything even close to enough to deserve such an amazing tribute. Lizzi also wrote me a poem and incorporated one of my favorite songs into it. And that’s not even the end. Beth also told me they had something for me, so after being treated to lunch by another amazing friend, Nikki, I ran to Beth’s house where she handed me my very own pom poms, some balloons held together by a megaphone (I’ll use that with my husband/wife later), a lei (to ensure I got laid on my birthday) a funny card, and…dun dun dun…a cape. A cape! I know!

Here you go. Me all *sparklyhappybirthdayglowy*.

Super Mandi 2

When I came home, I checked my email, and something special awaited me from a different group of friends. Most of you know that I am a less than closet fan of the show The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. I’m not really proud of it, but part of my addiction to the show is that I have this pool, We call it #MichellesPoolParty. It’s kind of like Fantasy Football for a really silly but entertaining show. I’ve made some amazing friends through it, some online friends who have turned into IRL friends, and they too made my birthday special.

This, by far, is the best birthday I’ve ever had. Hasty, Sandy, Lizzi, TD, Samara, Beth, Deanna, Laura, Nikki, Dave, Maggie, and Michelle. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, which I’m pretty sure might burst from overflowing with love and gratitude.

My cup runneth over.

49 thoughts on “Gonna Sip Bacardi Like it’s My Birfday….”

  5. For your friendship…
    For your constant support…
    For your enthusiasm…
    For your encouragement…
    For your honesty…
    For your spirit of fun…
    For your ability to give *incredibly* good comment…
    For your talent as a writer and storyteller…
    For your determination…
    For your willingness to be vulnerable…
    For your lightness and brightness and the way my world is that bit more *twinklysparkly* for having you in it…

    …you deserve it. And if not for those reasons, then because we care deeply about you and decided you meant so much to us, that this is what we wanted to do to show it, and in so deciding, made you worthy of this and more.

    You are cherished, and I am so glad to have been a part of the utter delight of conspiring together to do this, and am HUGELY pleased to know that we all came together to make your birthday so wonderful. My heart is full 🙂

    You are *awesome* and now you have your own cape – it only seems fitting 🙂

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    • I do love my cape. It was hard to remove it for bed. If it weren’t plastic and sticky, I may have slept in it.

      I am so amazed at how you all pulled this off. It was so fun to read, and I can only imagine how much fun it was to coordinate. Now I need to know all of your birthdays. Right now!!

      Thank you, Lizzi. Again. Although it doesn’t seem like enough.

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      • Ohhhh was it a plastic cape? I want to know if it flies out behind you well when you run 🙂 Beth found some *perfect* things. She’s such a star 🙂

        Co-ordinating it was…yeah I think hilarious is about right! Yow!

        My pleasure 🙂

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  6. What a WONDERFUL Blog Hop Birthday surprise! You are so very deserving and loved by more than you know! We hope your entire day and evening was filled with smiles and joy with you and for you, Mandi! Happy, Happy Birthday our friend! 🙂

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  7. You are such a lovely person to know, Mandi. I think you are a pretty big deal, the real deal. You are the shining example of what a good person is, what a good friend is…near or far. I’m glad we were able to make your birthday a good one! XX

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  9. Best berfday evah?? Hoorah! I’m glad you had such an amazing birthday and I’m happy to have contributed to it in some way.

    Be responsible with that cape. After all, with great power comes great…um…authority. Wait. Shit, I think I messed that up…

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    • How you pulled it off without my seeing you is pretty amazing. You know…because…stalking. I’m so glad you took part in this. It means more to me than I’ll ever be able to express. As far as the cape, I will take authority and power and…wait…what?

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      • It was VERY tricky getting that done without you seeing. I’m very proud of how I pulled it off, so I’m not going to reveal that tidbit on the off chance that I may need to use it again.

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  10. Happy Birthday girlie! I should have posted on here yesterday instead of facebook…Sounds like you had a perfectly wonderful day, and I can agree even with the small amounts of time I have had the pleasure of being around you, all of those happy posts are so very true! You are a one of a kind beautiful, kind, fun, and extraordinary human being!
    And on a side note…I did not know this was your favorite song…it is one of my all time favorites also! I really enjoyed each posting, and
    Hugs!

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  12. Happy Birthday, Mandi. Sorry I can’t muster more than this… the pain is really wrecking me today.
    I am glad your day was a good one. I will tell you this– for me, what makes me happy is that my family gets together, has some good food, we do something fun, and Cimmorene makes the cake. (Bakery cakes are okay, but they tend to be loaded with icing that’s too sugar-rich for me.) Anything else… is a bonus.

    Younger sister #2 cannot contain herself– it’s no secret she wants to make fun of the fact I’m turning 40. She wants to give me a wizard’s staff? Sure, fine… I’ll tell people that Gandalf and Santa Claus somehow mated and gave birth to me. (My parents can argue over who gets to be Gandalf, I guess.)

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  18. Damn, I hadn’t commented here already – I thought I did. Oh, I think that was on Facebook. Anyway, you look super sexy in that cape, because a smiling, happy woman is always sexy. So glad you were celebrated as you deserved to be.

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  23. AW!!! I’m so glad you were celebrated in style and you felt the love!
    Happy, happy, happy belated birthday! XOXO –Lisa

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