Happy Belated to Me :)

Some of my very lovely expat girlfriends threw me a belated birthday brunch today, since I was in France on holiday for my actual celebration day. There was lots of scrumptious food the girls all prepared, beautiful decorations, very thoughtful presents, and, of course, some nice sparkly bubbly!

The hostess is another blipper (responsible for my induction to this community) and if I didn't love her so much and owe her a debt of gratitude for all she's done for me in the last two years, I'd flog her for posting an unflattering image of me capturing this picture! :)

PS apropos yesterday's "meet the neighbors dilemma" : when I got home from the party some neighbors were out in the rain doing more set up work for the street fair. Noticing a few tables that didn't fit under the tent, I bravely walked over and asked if they could use more tents - as I have two of them. They were very grateful, as they'd been looking for some since yesterday! So I grabbed my boys to help get our tents set up, and we brought out more towels to dry to tables that were in the rain, and helped with other odds and ends. The volunteer crew was very friendly and happy for the help. Now I'm just finishing baking some brownies to donate to the dessert table and getting ready to head out and enjoy the festival with my neighbors :)