The husband's 30th birthday party

Seeing as how the husband turned 30 on December 21 this is a little delayed, but better late than never! To celebrate his birthday, I wanted to do something fun but easy. He organized a really fun wine and cheese party last summer for me and even though he is not "a birthday person," I pretty much insisted that we celebrate. Any excuse to plan and throw a party, right?

I chose a tapas restaurant called Baru and settled on a family style menu.

My mom came over and watched Thatcher for the night!

I picked a 5 course menu, and each dish was more delicious than the one before it. We had mazorca, which is sauteed corn and cheese that is to die for, grilled portabellos, fried oysters, empanadas and skirt steak. The corn and oysters were by far my favorites. Of course, I had to add a baby picture of the husband to the menu.

There were about 20 of us, so it was a tight fit, but we had such a good time. I also made placecards for each seat with a picture from when the husband was a year old.

The husband was so happy to see all of his friends even though he would never have let me plan this had he known about it. He ended up figuring it out a few days before, which was totally fine since it wasn't meant to be a surprise, but he is really just not into his birthday. Though it's odd because he certainly doesn't turn down the presents...

We ended the night with berry chantilly cake which is just about my favorite cake on the planet. Next to cookie cake, that is. It was a wonderful night. Next up: Thatcher's 1st! 5 weeks and counting...