My birthday got off to a rocky start this year, but in the end it became a month of celebrations. After being sick on the day of I was pretty down about the whole prospect of birthdays and endless winter.

But it definitely had its shining moments.

Like this new set of colored pencils I got from my in-laws (thankyouthankyouthankyou).

I also got some accessories for my Kitchenaid stand mixer from my mom and some other folks.

And Adam gave me this:

The camera I’ve had forever, I inherited it from Adam when he upgraded his a couple of cameras ago. But he bought me a lens! So I don’t have to sneak around his camera gear borrowing his all the time (this is my first DSLR lens). I’m still playing with it, but I love it.

I’ve made two trips in to City Quilter this month to stock up on yummy fabrics. Adam, H, and I had a belated birthday dinner at Gaetano’s a week after my actual birthday. And I believe there was a trip to Coco Beans Play Cafe that day, too (H loves Coco Beans).

And then last weekend my mom took H overnight so Adam and I could have dinner at Artisanal with my friends Laura Ann and Julie. It was actually a three-way birthday celebration since Laura Ann’s birthday is in January and Julie’s is Valentine’s Day. We hadn’t all been together in forever, it was nice.

And there was so much cheese, but my photos of the night are terrible. I didn’t take nearly enough of friends, and the one shot I got of our amazing fondue appetizer is just indistinguishable. But, this was my dessert. It was amazing, even though the waiter swapped in some cheeses in place of what I asked for (availability?). Who cares, they were delicious! Honey walnuts with Pont-l’Évêque from France, Saenkanter from the Netherlands, and Ossau-Iraty from France. Heaven.

We went for drinks afterwards at Tavern 29, and Adam and I stayed at the Morgan.

Love the city view!

I bought cookies at Schmackary’s the next day, and then Adam headed home around lunchtime.

I went to City Quilter for more goodies, and I caught up with a friend of mine from the NYC quilt guild. Always fun!

And then I went to Kathy’s birthday brunch at YOTEL, which was insane. Yo Brunch! Drag queens, a contortionist, incredibly yummy food, endless mimosas. I have exactly zero decent photos of anyone at her brunch, but I did get this photo of the contortionist.

This was after he wriggled out of a skintight red mermaid suit while dancing to “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid.

It was everything.

There are photos of Kathy and me floating out there somewhere, I will post one when I get my hands on it.

So, yeah. February turned out pretty well in the end.