Hi sweet friends! Hope you are having a great start to your 4th of July week! We just got back from D.C. where we spent a few days sight-seeing and attending a friend’s wedding. We had so much fun and I can’t wait to write a post about it and share our pictures. There is something so nice about escaping town for a few days and disconnecting. The weather & sights were beautiful and my legs are VERY tired…  But, we didn’t leave town before celebrating Greg’s birthday!

If you remember, last year was the BIG 3-0 and the party we threw was full of surprises (and mascots!), so Greg definitely wanted something a little more low key this year. (*If you’re needing ideas for a Manly 30th Bday — check out my post from last summer!) I want to share with you some cute ways I made his bday extra special even though it didn’t end in a 0 or 5 this year.

Our friend (& one of Greg’s groomsmen — thanks, Marcus!), who stayed with us a few weekends ago, sent us Chicago style deep dish pizza in the mail. What a unique gift and a fun package to receive on your door step! I’m definitely going to have to remember this when gifting some of our out-of-town friends & family around the holidays. We decided to have my in-laws over and our menu consisted of deep-dish pizza and the most delicious summer salad that my mother-in-law made. I’ll have to get the recipe from her and share it…mmm!

We topped off the evening by celebrating with a cake in the shape of Texas. This cake pan was the same cake pan Greg’s grooms cake was baked in for our wedding and its the first time since we’ve been married that I’ve baked in it at home. Almost 5 years in seemed like a good time to get it out and use it again and the cake turned out so cute!

Since we were going to be heading out of town I decorated the table with a little patriotic flair (it was July when we returned post-vaca) and added some baseballs we had lying around to the footed-fruit bowl centerpiece (insert eye roll emoji here)… but hey, these are the fun things I have time for in the summer, so why not?! #thesummerwife

It’s so fun to make bdays a little extra special! Hope you have an excellent 4th!