Low - key non birthday party

After my 30 for 30 on Wednesday, I had the audacity to brag about not being sore at work on Thursday. I had done a 5 mile run earlier that afternoon, and while it was slow, I felt fine.

I paid for that on Friday morning's 8 miler. I felt like I was trying to run with two concrete blocks for legs. That run was the same pace as my 30 miler had been. So.....yeah.

Friday night, I had what I refuse to call a "party". On the Facebook invite, I referred to it as "Alyssa's ridiculously low key 30th birthday". The premise was that all I ever want to do is sit on my couch and drink wine and eat chocolate, and having a few good friends over to join me is the ultimate perfection. I feel there's some pressure to have a balls to the wall crazy 30th birthday party, and don't get me wrong, those can be fun, but it was my birthday and I needed to follow my heart. 

Friday afternoon, I texted everyone and reminded them to wear pjs, or some sort of comfy clothing with an elastic waistband so they could eat to their heart's content.

Eric and I do not have to be told twice to wear pajamas to an event.

You can't see it, but we have pj shorts on.

Now the evening may have been low key, but the food and drinks were top notch. I had a summer school training during the day, so Eric made everything and it was amazing. I think we can all agree that there is nothing better than appetizers for dinner, so I went with a Superbowl style menu. Eric made buffalo chicken dip, Pioneer woman spinach artichoke dip, and bacon wrapped ritz. Carolyn brought taco dip, Lily brought homemade guacamole, and Casi made this super fancy delicious crab dip ring out of crescent rolls. Here's a picture of Eric finishing it for breakfast the next morning.

I hadn't really felt much older or anything being 30 until I got home from the training Friday. Eric had cleaned the fridge while I was gone and I went crazy and kept saying it was the best birthday gift ever. That made me feel a bit old.

I tried this weird thing at the low key birthday celebration where I didn't use my phone or camera and just lived in the moment and enjoyed things. It's a cool idea, I recommend it. Luckily, Eric captured some pictures to prove I actually have friends. 

LOOK! I have friends and they are having fun!

Seriously have you played Cards Against Humanity yet? We were all hysterically laughing.

Runners always wear reflective gear, even at birthday parties.

So many people played, sometimes you had to crawl into the circle to play your card.

No birthday is complete in our circle with being serenaded with "Birthday Sex" into a magic mike.

And of course, Turquoise Jeep is a must play.

The most important part of any birthday though is clearly the cake. In this case, I made Bailey's Milk Chocolate Truffle Cake. It was ridiculously easy and has Bailey's whipped cream on top. I gave it my own twist by including a pretzel crust.

Apparently my husband wanted to me still feel young?

It was exactly everything I'd wanted in a birthday non-party, I had so much fun, and went to bed nearly sober. My adorable 23 year old friend texted me at 11:15pm to tell me she couldn't make it. I replied with something like "no worries!" and neglected to inform her that the party was over and I was now cleaning up and getting ready to go to sleep.

Although, right after that text, here's what I found. Apparently the party was not over for everyone.

Saturday morning I felt ok, but decided to stick to the treadmill just in case. The first 3 miles were insanely hard, and then I finally figured out it was on a 2.0 incline. I'm not exactly sure what that means but I put it back to zero and then the last 2 miles felt much easier. When I finished, I only had 11 minutes left in Buffy season 1, and I would have loved to knock it out, but I was running super late for my exciting plans.

I spent the day in Virginia. I started out with a lunch date with Ashley, and then had a little high school reunion with 2 out of the 3 high school friends I still talk to: Casi and Katylin. Bonus - we got to play with Katylin's adorable 9 month old daughter, Nora. Again, no pictures. But we did go out to dinner and had the best pizza ever (outside of Chicago): one was spicy meatball, and the other was fig, black pepper honey, arugula, Gorgonzola, and Prosciutto. 

Today, I'm flying to San Antonio for a work conference! Weird coincidence - I also spent my 20th birthday in San Antonio (visiting my army boyfriend from college).

This was somewhere on the Riverwalk - I should totally find it and recreate this pic.

Maybe I'll go there again for my 40th birthday? Today I have a 25 minute layover in Nashville so I feel I may be getting a little speedwork in as I sprint from one plane to the other. Don't worry though, my running shoes are in my carry-on, so if I don't make it I'll still have those.

Would you rather go to a pajama party or get dressed up and go out on the town? They both have their place, but if you twist my arm, pajamas all the way.