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Gnome Lover Turns 1 Giveaway! NOW CLOSED!

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This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for entering. Any entries received after the time of this writing (9:02 p.m. PST) will be deleted.

This little blog has turned one year old! I don’t even know that I changed one single diaper. In fact, I am not sure my husband did either. That is something to ponder and worry over at another date.

Gnome Lover is still just barely pulling itself up. In fact, I would say it might be in the crawling stage. It has a long way to go before it walks.

It has a lot to say. Most of it is gibberish. I am glad a few of you can understand it. Hopefully, it will become more coherent the older it gets.

I am so excited to watch it grow.

Diapers aside.

Today is a happy day! A goal accomplished! A birthday celebration!

Thank you to all of you readers who stop by everyday. Who encourage this little blog. Who take time to comment.

Thank you!

This blog would still be unable to lift its little head if it were not for you.

I am so excited about today’s giveaway!

I have been collecting stuff for this giveaway for months.

We’ll just call them birthday presents.

Are you ready to see what they are?

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I am giving away a group of items: one $25 e-gift card to Anthropologie, one West Elm Favorite Throw in grey stripes, one Clinique Chubby Stick in Richer Raisin, one Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara, one Anthropologie Heirloom necklace, one Anthropologie candle in Pumpkin Spice, and one copy of “The Magician’s Elephant.” All of these items will go to one lucky winner! These are all some of the items that I have shared on this blog over the last year. And I am so thrilled to be able to do such a big giveaway for my blog anniversary!

For such a big giveaway, you will get up to four chances to enter the drawing for the items.

First way to enter is to simply leave a comment stating your favorite birthday memory.* This is a birthday celebration, after all. If you do not celebrate birthdays, feel free to just leave a comment stating a fond childhood memory. My favorite birthday memory is when I turned eight and had my first slumber party. My dad was moving bees out of the state so my mother was all alone with about twelve of us girls in our house. And a mouse ran underneath our feet. And a rattlesnake had curled up in the dog food outside. I can still hear the screaming!…

Second way to enter is to be a follower of this blog. There are many ways to do so on the right hand side of the page. Just be sure to leave a second comment stating you are following on this post!

Third way to enter is to share this post via social media. This could be Facebook, Twitter, via your blog. Any old way will do. Just come back and leave an additional comment stating how you shared it.

Finally, you can pick any of my posts and Pin one to Pinterest. After you have pinned a post, just come back here to let me know which of my post’s you have pinned.

You can choose one of these methods or all of these methods. Just be sure to leave a comment here for each method. If you choose to do all four, then you should have four total comments here. Limit four entries per person. One entry per method per person.

Good luck!

I will be using random.org to pick one winner based on the comments posted here. This giveaway begins on March 10, 2014 at 12:00 a.m. PST and ends March 17, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. PST. I will contact the winner via email provided in the comments here on March 18, 2014. I will post the winner’s name on this blog on March 19, 2014.

Please enter this giveaway with a valid email address. I will attempt to contact the winner three times. If within fourteen days from the first time I have attempted contact, I still have not heard from the winner, the prize will be forfeit and a new winner will be drawn.

Thank you so much for all of your help raising this blog. I could not do it without you. You are the best. Just one more quick thing that has been bugging me since I started this post.

Um, have any of you been changing diapers? This one is gonna haunt me.

P.S. This giveaway is sponsored by me and is in no way affiliated with Anthropologie, West Elm, Benefit, Clinique or Candlewick Publishing.

* edited on March 10, 2014: if you forget to leave a birthday comment and just respond with a comment as your original entry, I am still counting it. As long as the comment left is nice. : )

136 thoughts on “Gnome Lover Turns 1 Giveaway! NOW CLOSED!”

  1. Oh congratulations on your childs… I mean blogs first birthday. It is doing so well. You must be very proud. I can see quite a bit of her mom in her!!

    My birthday memory was when I was 3. It being the 70’s my Dad had got some sort of electric organ that I went a bit wild with. It snowed too so I spent all day making the worlds best snowman which of course was many times bigger than me.

    I also received Red. Red was a cuddly toy, not sure what he was except red and fluffy and he was my first best friend and I took him everywhere for a long time.

    I also remember playing that evening with one of those nodding glass cocktail birds that keep dipping their heads in the drink.

    Reply

  3. Happy birthday little blog!!! I HAVE been changing diapers. Lots of 2yr old diapers here in Kansas if you’d like to change some! (Although I really need to get her potty trained!!).

    My favorite birthday memories are my earlies birthdays. For about my 1st 5 years we had birthdays at my grandparent’s farm with all ny aunts uncles cousins…and the best part was these HUGE SQUARE DECORATED CAKES, I had a Holly Hobbie one for several years. They were so elaborately decorated! From a local bakery & just the coolest things. Big family celebrations! My mom’s birthday is 2 days before mine,so she also got that Holly Hobbie cake for about 5 years straight too, haaa!

    Thanks for the giveaway Jenni! I really understand & enjoy all the gibberish!!!

    Reply

  5. I have two favorite birthday memories. Both involving you. That slumber party still makes me laugh. I had forgotten about the mouse but remember the rattle snake. :-). The other one is the dreaded roller rink party (all if them!). I remember dragging you around the rink by the hands while you screamed!!! So funny.

    Reply

  6. Congrats on one year!

    One of my fondest birthday memories was having parties at a place called Plaster Funtime, where each guest got to pick out a small plaster pony, dog, train, etc. and paint it. It was always so hard to choose! Unfortunately my younger self thought the most artistic thing to do was paint everything pink and cover them in glitter…oops

    Reply

  7. Congratulations on a great year!

    My favorite birthday memory is more of a general memory…my mom would always make and decorate my birthday cakes every year (she had taken some classes, made some wedding cakes, etc). I had the barbie with the dress cake, one year she made a cake and decorated with my My Little Ponies, there was a mermaid cake, so many more. I love looking back at the photos of me at my cake every year. Now that my daughter has had her first birthday already and is rapidly approaching her second, I wish that I had inherited some of that creativeness so I could decorate beautiful cakes, too!

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    Reply

  12. happy blog birthday! how exciting! my fave bday memory as a child was our red special plate (every one was so excited to use this plate for each meal on their birthday..cake included!)..

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  13. My favorite birthday memory is when i turned 22. My birthday is mid-december, so I always have exams at that time and can never celebrate. I was studying for an exam and my boyfriend squirreled me away for a ” study break” when he surprised me with a quick birthday party with my friends. He even made cake!

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  14. One of my favorite memories was when I was 4 or 5 and my grandparents came to surprise me for my birthday ( We lived in Utah, they lived in MI). They came as grandparents clowns and entertained my whole little party. I have no idea they were even coming! Wonderful memories…

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  17. My favorite birthday memory was at a friend’s – when I was in elementary school. We played some games (old fashioned pin the tail, etc.) and I guess I won and was able to select a prize – and I chose a cowboy Barbie-like doll. For some reason I thought that was the BEST THING EVER!!!
    Love your blog and have just been reading it for a couple of months. I actually enjoy the randomness of it all!

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  23. Favorite birthday memories. Probably a tie–I think my 5th birthday, I had a barbie themed pool party. My parents let me wear a “bikini” (tankini) for the first time, and my dad made me this crazy cake with barbie and ken on surfboards with edible sand and ocean. Tons of people were there, including my older brother and his friends, who I thought were super cool. Other favorite was my 23rd, which turned out to be my 1st official date with my now husband. We just got dressed up and went to a steakhouse but it’s fun to look back and know that that was our first date. 🙂

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  25. Congratulations, Jenni, on your accomplishment. I love your blog. I look forward to it everyday. (Love Anthro., too)
    One if my favorite posts was the story of your husband’s secret. Too funny.

    Reply

  26. Iam a follower. Lol. Were we supposed to post our favorite birthday memory? I am dingy today. Anyway, my favorite birthday memory is just a simple adult birthday where my grown son showed up with flowers. Just a simple gesture from your kids is more meaningful than anything else.

    Reply

  27. ~*Happy Blog Birthday!!!*~ Can’t believe I’ve been reading for a year…Doesn’t feel that long! Congratulations Jenni 🙂
    My favorite birthday memory would be my Grammy and Grampa coming every year for my birthday…Made my birthday special every year even if it just happened to be the same time they were driving through our state because of them being snow birds! Growing up it was the best :0)

    Reply

  30. Favorite birthday is an easy one. I was about six years old living in Portland. We lived in a cul de sac type neighborhood before there where such things. It was not in the conventional cul de sac shape however. Anyway. My point is, it was a nice, quiet street with lots of little girls my age and no drive through traffic. My dad was a milkman. Yup, delivered milk to the front door back in the day and he and Mom rented a small carousel from the milk company he worked for my birthday. It fit in our driveway and was so awesome. I can still see myself and my little friends taking turns going round and round.

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  32. Yay! Congrats! I follow your blog and this post and do so enjoy it. My favorite birthday memory is when my now-husband proposed to me the night before I turned 30. It was a very fun birthday, to say the least. xoo

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  34. I actually popped over from EA to tell you that I love your fireplace tiles… but I can share a birthday memory.

    One year my best friend had her birthday party (her birthday was 8 days before mine) the weekend of my birthday and while my parents forgot my birthday that year it was still my most favorite… Her parents knew it was my birthday and it was like a birthday party weekend Lorelai Gilmore would’ve thrown… Indoor Rock Climbing, tandem bikes, hot tubs, tree houses, so much amazingness.

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  36. Happy Birthday, GnomeLover!! So happy to be celebrating this milestone with you. I love reading your post each day. Thanks for adding more smiles and fun to my life with your words and pictures!

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  38. Congrats! I’m not much of a commenter, but I love your blog. Keep up the good work! My fave birthday memory occurred during my first year of marriage, and didn’t really happen on my actual birthday. Exactly 6 months after my 20th birthday my husband celebrated my 1/2 birthday. He said that a day as important as the celebration of my birth deserved to be celebrated more than 1 day each year. We don’t celebrate 1/2 birthdays any more, but I’ll never forget the first one. This July we will celebrate our 29th anniversary, and I don’t know what I would do without him.

    Reply

  42. Yay! Happy 1st Birthday, Jenni! Hmmmm. I think a memory would be.. you know that chocolate layer cake that is so moist and has the yummy shiny chocolate frosting that no one makes anymore?..my mom used to make that for me almost every year when I was young…soooo good. 🙂

    Reply

  44. Happy birthday Gnome Lover! I follow you on Feedly. I love your sense of humor. Most favorite post ever was about the dish towels – who ever thought to use dish towels to dry dishes :-). Kind of reminded me of the childhood books I used to read – the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor but for adults 🙂

    Reply

  45. Congratulations Jenni. I adore your blog and can say it’s the only one I’ve ever consistently read for a whole year. Also, crazy how fast a year has gone by! My favorite birthday memory was my 16th birthday. I was in Myrtle Beach, SC with my grandparents and cousins as we usually met there each summer. I got up early on my birthday to have some quiet time on the beach, (’cause I’m introspective like that) and while I was walking on the sand I saw something shiny wash up. It was a gold aquamarine ring. It fit perfectly on my finger. I couldn’t believe it. I felt kind of guilty because someone had lost this beautiful ring, but I also just kept thinking that the ocean gave me a gift. I know it’s totally cheesy. I wore that ring for the longest time but have since lost it. I hope someone else has found it.

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  47. Love your blog! I look forward to reading it everyday. My favorite birthday was when my husband actually remembered my birthday and planned in advance to let me pick out my own present at a store I had always wanted to visit.

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  48. I turned 20 on a beach on the island of Corfu. I believe the day started with a shot of ouzo, and it was really quite spectacular from there on. Thanks for the blog, sharing yourself, and this wonderful giveaway.

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  52. My mom would always ask me what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday and I always picked an iced angel food cake, I can practically smell it now!! Happy 1st blog birthday!

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  54. Happy bloggy birthday!! It feels like I’ve known you forever! Yesterday was my birthday, so I’m trying to hold onto the magic for birthday ‘week’ (because one day ain’t enough…). It’s funny- I think I only have ‘traumatic at the time’ memories of my birthday. Like the time my mom put my new plastic horse on the cake, but the saddle cloth I’d make from a napkin caught fire and this beautiful palomino horsie started melting in places. I got back at my mom by yelling “And I hate your seven-minute icing too!” (because really all I ever wanted was a store-bought cake…ungrateful wretch that I was…) Actually, seven-minute icing is pretty cool.

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  56. Oh, and thanks for the reminder- my pinterest has been stagnating lately! I pinned your chambray shirt and chevron skirt to remind myself how good they look together. I haven’t worn the skirt yet. Stupid. I don’t know why!

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  57. My favorite birthday was when I turned 16. I’d been waiting for YEARS to get my ears pierced and my parents made me wait til I turned 16. I also had to wait til I was 16 to date so this was a big one for me 🙂
    Last year was great too…. I have four kids and my husband and my kids cleaned the house and cooked and let me relax. Can’t ask for more than that!

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  61. One year already? Wow! Hmm I think my favorite birthday memory will be this year. In a couple of weeks my mom, sister, and aunt will be coming to visit for my birthday! It has been a long time since we have all been together 🙂

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  65. Pingback: My Favorite Posts Of The Year | Gnome Lover

  66. when I was at primary and secondary school my birthday always fell on the first day of school. I don’t know if this is the best memory but when I was in grade one I was so upset that I had missed out on the class singing happy birthday to me and getting a class card that one day I made up that it was my birthday. I was so happy to have everyone sing happy birthday to me but afterwards felt bad. I never told my classmates but Im sure the teacher knew about it.

    Congratulations on one year!!

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  67. My favorite memory is the year I turned 16, I convinced my dad that I had to see the Movie ” Purple Rain ” ! I can still see my dad’s face as he watched it with me , still makes me laugh

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  69. I love your blog and my college aged daughters follow you now too 🙂 I shared your ” entitlement ” post on Facebook

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  72. Every year my husband and I get a babysitter for the day and shop and have lunch on my birthday (it’s Boxing Day here in Canada so biggest shopping day!)

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  74. This is an insane giveaway, Jenni! Oh my gosh, thank you! So generous. 🙂

    One of my most favorite birthdays was a few years ago. Kyle took me out to a surprise evening at the theater. We dressed to the nines. I wore a full-length, pink and black gown covered in sequin motifs. Kyle wore a suit and bowtie. He took me out for a fancy, schmancy dinner, and then we went and saw Wicked. He gifted me with the playbook for a present, and it’s a prized coffee table book in our home, now. It was such a magical, luxurious day. So fun!

    <3 Liz
    http://www.withwonderandwhimsy.com
    withwonderandwhimsy@gmail.com

    Reply

  78. Congratulations, Jenni! My favourite birthday memory: my parents speak English as a second language. For our birthdays, they invented a creature called the Birthday Goose that brought presents. This always seemed completely random to me but I figured out recently that my parents were probably thinking of a stork.

    I follow on blogger, and I’m going to be posting your meatball sliders post to my pinterest board (aptly called “All I pin on pinterest is food”)

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  79. I never had birthday parties growing up 🙁 FOr my 30th birthday my husband threw me a great surprise party by rented our favorite neighborhood wine bar, he invited all of our friends and it was so sweet!

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  81. My favorite was my 21st birthday….almost a week of celebrations with family and friends. I tried so many different kinds of cocktails with friends at the bars near UCD/Sacramento with friends and newly generated friends.

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  82. Happy 1 year to you, Jenni!

    One of my favorite birthday memories is from 1984. My brother and I coincidentally share a birthday (though we’re not twins…ask my parents how they managed that one!). It was my 13th birthday and my dad planned a big day out for my brother and me. First, we went to the Guess store in Westwood and got to pick out a couple items each. I only remember one thing I bought – a pair of faded black and white striped jeans with zippers at the ankles (Hey, it was the 80s – these were cool!). Later that evening, my dad took us to see Prince in concert – it was the Purple Rain tour. That was *fun* concert! I remember thousands of flowers raining down on the audience during the show, and as you can imagine, Prince put on a pretty spectacular performance! I bought a concert sweatshirt – white with “Purple Rain” lettering on it. And the sleeves and neckline were all cut out, a la Jennifer Beals in Flashdance. Another stylish choice on my part! All in all, a very fun day!

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  85. This is such an incredible giveaway! I’m almost reluctant to enter it because the postage would kill you if I won, with all that amazing stuff, haha! I think one of my favourite birthdays was when I was a little kid, and my mum let me invite lots of classmates over for a party. Her house has a balcony inside over the living room, kind of an open loft sort of thing, and she let us all go up there with a home-made fishing rod and put bags of candy on the hook for each one of us. At one point, a beautiful black bird flew into a window, and we all ran out to check what happened. I remember my dad picking it up in his big hands and saying the bird was okay, just winded. Then he put the bird down carefully where we could see it from the inside, and ordered everyone inside. And soon, the bird got up groggily and flew off. I had some pretty cool parents, eh? 🙂

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  87. On my 18th birthday, I hiked a mile from our farmhouse to the paved road, in the pitch dark, to meet my best friend. Although we were already in the middle of nowhere, we then drove to the the edge of it. Our plan was to meet friends and see Halley’s Comet. We got lost, were never sure we actually saw the comet, freaked out some rancher’s dogs, but still that was my most memorable birthday (and I have had a few).

    Reply

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  90. My favorite was the year I had a party at McDonald’s and was allowed to invite my entire first grade class. Happy Meals for everyone! 🙂

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  94. Pingback: "This Is Not Really Happening | Gnome Lover

  95. Hmm, favorite birthday… I think it was my 13th birthday and I had all my girl friends over for a slumber party. We did each other’s hair, watched Pride & Prejudice (the 5 hour version), and cleared all the furniture out of the living room so we could learn how to waltz. It was so much fun!

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  97. Aww, Jenni, this is such a generous giveaway! I read your blog every day and look forward to every new post. My favorite birthday memory is when I was 5 years old and we played “knock down the giant” — an excuse for all the kids to pile on my dad and try to topple him. It didn’t take much to entertain kids 30 years ago!
    Thanks for triggering that sweet memory.

    Reply

  98. My favorite birthday memory was a surprise party my friends threw for me on my 16th birthday. Did not see that coming.

    mindie*****@*****

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  100. You are so generous!

    Birthday memory…has to be when I turned 16 and my Dad rented an antique Bentley with a chauffeur and we all went out for a super fancy meal. What a great birthday!

    bisous
    Suzanne

    Reply

  101. Carb heaven now that I’m 27 – best birthday party ever! and perfect excuse for buttered noodles, homemade pretzles, potatos, rice, and bread, bread, and more bread!

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  104. Happy Birthday to your blog! I had some good birthdays as a kid but I think I’ll choose my birthday in 7th grade (or was it 8th?)–a sleepover with my best friends!

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  105. My favorite birthday memory was having a costume party at the park. we made a parade through the park showing off our costumes. everyone also brought their favorite stuffed animal and my mom put up a fence area for the animals to “play in” while we ate. I think I was 6 or 7. Always make me smile 🙂 happy birthday!

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  110. Fav bday memory: getting 3 different cakes. Roomies got me one, boyfriend got me one, friends got me one. This was like 6 yrs ago 🙂

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  111. Favorite birthday memory: My 18th birthday, I had a domino themed party and everyone in my family even dressed up like dominos. I loved them for it.

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  112. Happy Blog Birthday! My favorite memory is that every year I have the same meal: homemade lasagna, salad, and cheesecake for dessert. Yummy! 🙂

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  114. Congrats on your one year, Jenni! My fondest birthday memory is when when I was a teenager and we rented a projector to watch movies outside late at night. Cheesy, but so much fun!

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  117. Congratulations on one year! Thank you for the giveaway opportunity.

    I have many fond birthday memories but my favorite recent one was celebrating my daughter’s first birthday last November. She did a great job smashing her cake and was so cute and fun. It was nice to celebrate surviving our first year as a family!

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  118. Congratulations on one year! My favorite birthday memory was one 11 years ago, and it is special to me because my then boyfriend — husband now, took me out to dinner and gave me a beautiful necklace, and it the box there was a tiny note tucked away with a poem….

    Thanks so much for the giveaway!

    mmalavec(at)med(dot)umich(dot)edu

    Reply

  119. My favorite birthday memory is not one from my own birthday, but from my sister’s birthday! We threw her a surprise party one year and though I am TERRIBLE at keeping secrets from her, we pulled it off! She was so surprised! Great memories from that night.

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  123. My favorite birthday memory is my six year old birthday party! We had it at home and my mom had the neighbor do face painting and balloons and we invited all the kids from school and LOVED it.

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  125. My favorite birthday memory is actually not my own birthday, but when I was in third grade I was invited to a birthday party at a laser tag place in town that I had never been to before. Needless to say it was the most fun I ever had, and for every birthday of mine after that point I went back to that laser tag place. There’s nothing quite like shooting lasers at people in black light with a giant disco ball overhead. 🙂

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  127. Yay for your blog birthday! I love your blog; it is my favorite blog, in fact!

    One of my favorite birthday memories is the year I had a slumber party and in the morning for breakfast my mom had mini size cereal boxes, spoons, and bananas tied up with ribbons hanging from the apple tree in the backyard. That tree looked like a wacky art instillation piece. So of course I loved it!

    Viva la breakfast trees!

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  129. Congrats on the birthday!

    My favorite birthday memories are almost all of my childhood birthdays spent at the beach with my cousins, closing the night out with awesome Mexican food.

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  133. My favorite birthday memory is from 2011. I spent the day at the beach with my brother, Will, and we had a perfect day. He gave me a vintage necklace he bought at a store in Houston, and we ate sandwhiches from our favorite local restaurant.

    Reply

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