This is how 33 starts ...

I love it when my birthday falls on a weekend. It means I can celebrate for several days.  Oh, who am I kidding? I usually do that anyway.  I'm a firm believer in birthday weeks.  And months, sometimes.  Ha ha.

My celebration began Friday night at 515 Brewing Company. It's one of my favorite local spots, with a clean and cozy taproom and a great selection of beers (their own and others from Iowa).  Oh, and it's co-owned by the husband of one of my college friends.  My recommendations -- Mexican Spring (if you like light beers) and Numb Nut (if you like dark beers).

A few friends -- Jaci, Jamie, Courtney, Alicia, Megan, Katie, and Eli -- joined me and even brought goodies.  Since 515 Brewery does not serve food, they allow patrons to bring in their own.  They also allow you to bring in wines, with a $10 corking fee (this fee is waived for Iowa wines). Pretty cool, right?  It worked great for my friends and me, as we enjoyed munchies, dip, and Scratch Cupcakes ... on Elmo plates!  Ha ha. 

Both photos are from Courtney's instagram because I forgot to take photos.

I think I ate my weight in Courtney's pickle dip.  Maybe if you all are nice, I'll convince her to let me share the recipe here. 

After the munchies and beers, we headed up the road for a little more of a solid meal.  We unknowingly crashed a teenagers' swim team party, so we joined in the clapping as they celebrated the end of their season and handed out medals.  Courtney threatened to get the whole restaurant to sing "Happy Birthday," but I was able to beg off that one.  No thanks.

Saturday was my actual birthday. I had intended to go to BodyJam, but I decided sleeping in was a lot more fun, so that's what I did.  I woke up to tons of well wishes on various forms of social media, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Oh, and this was my breakfast:

Wedding Day cupcake from Scratch.

Totally acceptable, right?

I spent most of the day just relaxing and taking care of some things around the apartment that I'd been neglecting.

My parents and brother arrived that evening with a few gifts.

From the cats (aka my mom).

From the family ... I'm so excited to use this.

We headed to The Flying Mango, another one of my favorite local places, for dinner.  I've been there to work merch for Stephen Kellogg a few times but never just to eat.  Again, I forgot to take pictures (blogger failure), but I had a delicious 24-hour beef brisket with garlic potatoes and cornbread.  Mom and I shared a lemon raspberry torte for dessert.  It was delicious and such a perfect treat.

After dinner, we went back to 515 Brewery so my family could check out the beers.  I think it was a hit because they've already talked about going back with some of their friends.

It was a really low key birthday weekend, but it was perfect to me.  Now, if only the Rangers could break out of their slump ...