The 27th year

Today is my 27th birthday! :)

But the celebrating started early when we visited my family and oohed and aaahed over fireworks on Saturday night!

There is no cooler birthday gift, I swear.  A local church festival takes place every year on the weekend closest to my birthday (how awesome and convenient, huh?), so we enjoyed those on a perfect summer's eve.  On Sunday, my mom served up a lunch of my choosing -- ham and cheese quiche and salad -- and dessert, also of my choice, of her famous iced brownies.

Because there is no such thing as enough celebrating, Matt treated me to dinner last night at my verrrrrrrrry favorite Pittsburgh restaurant, Monterey Bay up on Mount Washington.  Due to his tricky evening class schedule for grad school, we chose to celebrate early (again!).  Love this (rain droplet-spotted) view!

Loved it even more since there was quite a storm outside, so we had a show of bright lightning and whipping winds and rain to entertain us as we dined.  For him, shrimp and scallop alfredo with housemade spinach fettuccine.

For her, macadamia nut crusted halibut.  Don't we look so artsy and cool without the flash?  Yeah, something like that...

Obligatory self picture for which I actually remembered to use the flash:

And, to keep the tropical nut vibe going, white chocolate macadamia nut mousse with praline biscuits and chocolate Chambord sauce.  To die for, people.  I'm telling you, this makes the top 5 for my "last dessert on Earth" list.  That's huge!

Um, can we also applaud the gorgeous chocolate script?  I want this talented man or woman to be my personal assistant so I can send office memos in chocolate from this day forward.  Yes, I think that would be the key to my professional success.  How could it not?

A perfect evening to reminisce and think back to what an amazing year it's been!  Full of adventures involving lots of travel, both local, and far away, new foods, weddings, blizzards, moving into a new apartment, and a perfect proposal :)  Looking forward to this next year even more!  (Cough, 144 days, cough!)

One Year Ago: Happy birthday to me + chocolate wafer icebox cake