in honor of her actual birthday tomorrow, i felt it only appropriate to share details from our early celebrations of momma bear this past saturday.

dressed in our best party attire (gold glitter counts as party attire, right?), S and i joined mom and toppie for an evening out in la jolla. the birthday girl had selected eddie v’s off prospect as her restaurant of choice. with panoramic views of the pacific, the rooftop dining area was the perfect venue to spend our evening.  since the restaurant boasts an array of fresh seafood preparations, we each chose a different fish dish for our main meal -mom had the sole, toppie, the swordfish, S ordered shrimp, and for me, i elected sea bass. we also ordered a few sides to share -the brussels sprouts (obviously), roasted beets and candied walnuts, and sauteed spinach. despite handily finishing our entrees, we were sure to save room for dessert. eddie v’s treated the birthday girl to a complimentary confection of homemade buttercake, pecan ice cream, and bruleed bananas, and thankfully, momma was gracious enough to share. it was worth every stomach ache and calorie. holy yum!

after dinner, we took a short drive, tracing the coastline as we chased the sunset. since the cove was blocked off for construction, we drove south toward the children’s pool. finding an opening amongst the line of idled cars, we pulled off to along the cliffs to snap a few photos in the last minutes of daylight. it was the perfect cap on an already special evening honoring a spectacular human of whom i’m so crazy blessed to call both my mother and best friend.

happy (early) birthday momma. may these next 365 days be even better, more memorable, and more blessing-filled than the last.