BEST Birthday Week 2011

I celebrated another year of my life last week…on both coasts! ๐Ÿ™‚ And, without a doubt, my 2011 birthday has been one of the best EVER. I guess it gets better with age!! hehe I began my week in Miami…where I was greeted by these chocolate covered goodies…

Then surprisingly my cousin Marie just happened to be on layover in the Magic City, so I got to see her on my way to my first pre-bday dinner.

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And then, me & my “favorite” headed to Makoto in Bal Harbour to meet up with my Deco Peeps!

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Here I am with the Deco crew – Eli, Odette and Samantha.

This is where I also got to make my first birthday wish…blowing out the candle on a decadent chocolate lava, fudge cake dessert..YUM!!

The following afternoon I had my pre-bday lunch #2 with my 305 girls…
(l-r) Constance, Rene, Dara (with baby D), Neki and me!

We feasted on a slice of Red Velvet Cheesecake courtesy of Cherisse…so GOOD it’s BAD! ha

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On my actually birthDAY I was in LA LA land…and I started my day with yummy banana pancakes at Vivian’s in Studio City…

Then for dinner I feasted on delicious crab and garlic noodles at Crustacean’s…this picture is actually of Tiffany’s Lobster and garlic noodles, it was more “visual” than my dish…but it was ALL delicious!!

And here I am with Tiffany and Abe who joined me for dinner… my bro the “Sneaker Sensei” gets the photo credit.

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When I got back to the Bay…the now (post) bday party continued with my 408 girls in downtown San Jose at the newly opened San Pedro Square Market…we had a nice pizza brunch on the patio at Pizza Bocca Lupo!

GOOD FRIENDS, GOOD FOOD, GOOD TIMES..what more could a girl ask for on her birthday!?!?

I’m so THANKFUL to be blessed with another year…surrounded by my loved ones!! ๐Ÿ™‚

Next year, I will start my birthday on an empty stomach…did you see all the food I just talked about!?!? lol

Bachelorette Throwback

I spent a big part of today looking at my calendar for the next month or so and thought about the bachelorette parties and weddings I am set to attend before 2010 is a wrap… So, for today’s throwback video of the week, I decided to post a bachelorette party I covered for Deco Drive…that took place at Neiman Marcus Bal Harbour! In this very unique girlie bash for my dear friend Arlyn took place more than 2 years ago and it was a night to remember!! I can’t tell you what happened after the camera stopped rolling, but it was lots of good times!! Take a peek…

And here’s a bonus – some of my favorite pictures from that weekend, circa June 2008!

Let the good times roll…

Marchesa Girls

I had the pleasure of interviewing the “Marchesa Girls” last week at Neiman Marcus Bal Harbour! These ladies create some of the most beautiful & amazing dresses and gowns and you’ve seen the Marchesa designs on all the red carpets! JLo, Halle Berry, Freida Pinto, etc… I wish I had enough occassions and events to wear every single one in the collection.

Side note…I wore my friend Tamae’s – Ishii NYC designer top – for the interview and got tons of compliments. See my previous post where I mentioned that Paula Abdul wore the same top for an episode of American Idol!