Birthday's Can Be Beautiful

As I get older the excitement and anticipation of each new Birthday seems to diminish with each passing year. As a little girl, I can remember counting Birthdays with eager expectancy even announcing the half year mark with pride. It seemed to take forever until the next Birthday would arrive and I could say I was another year older. Now as the years have quickly crept up on me I accept Birthday wishes with a smile and hope that no one actually asks me how old I will be turning. This year as my Birthday was approaching, Emma, the sweet little girl who I babysit, asked me to show her on my fingers how many years old I would be turning. I guess to a four year old this was a distinct possibility. I just smiled and told her I would need several more hands to accommodate her request. I must say however, even though I do not look forward to turning another year older, I do look forward to time spent with friends who make this day so special. This year they really out did themselves. My Birthday this year fell on a Sunday. When my very best friend, Heidi, asked me what I would like to do I quickly answered that I would like to take a Saturday trip to the Strip District. Now don't worry, with a name like the Strip District your minds are probably swirling with ideas. For those of you familiar with Pittsburgh, you know that this is an area just east of the city known for it's wholesalers, restaurants and fun funky shops. There are so many ethnic groups represented in the Strip and the street vendors are plenty as well selling everything from food to T-Shirts. I was so excited to visit one of my all time favorite stores, Roxanne's Dried Flowers. Let me just show you in photos why this is one of my favorite places.......

This sweet little bird nest was so unique I just fell in love with it. I was thrilled when Heidi offered to purchase it for my Birthday. Wait until you see what I did with it... but that will have to be a post for a later time. After shopping at Roxanne's, we had a most delicious breakfast at a lovely cafe and continued on with our shopping. We purchased the most yummy biscotti, spices, gourmet popcorn, and of course some Steeler T-shirts.

This fun stove was on display at the gourmet popcorn store. Wouldn't it be amazing to have this stove in your kitchen. I just loved the color. Below are flowers for sale on the street corner. Aren't they beautiful.

Heidi and I had such a wonderful morning. I could not have asked for a better way to start off my Birthday celebration---and that was Saturday alone. I have so much more to share from other friends but I think I will do a sequel to this post.
Even though getting a year old is not one of my favorite things, Birthday's can be Beautiful spent with Beautiful friends.