Birthday girl!

Have a great month everyone!
Last week on January 28th it was my birthday! My 50th!
As it was an important number hubby and I had decided to celebrate it on the next day at a tavern with some friends but then we both went down with a cold so we didn't arrange anything or invite anyone!
By Thursday, the birthday day, we were almost ok but it was too late for invitations!
I didn't miss a day of school inspite my cold and on Thursday morning I made key lime pie for my colleagues at school who really loved it.

Suddenly a big bouquet arrived with hubby behind it who surprised me pleasantly! He had done that once again many many years ago!

After the first shock my 1st graders and hubby sang "Happy Birthday" to me and then he took the flowers home as I had more hours on my timetable.

Barca was really hungrily happily looking at the flowers when I returned home!

I spent the rest of the day answering the hundreds of wishes that by e-mail and on facebook I received and which were very very sweet!
Thank you everyone who took the time to send me a message with wishes. I appreciate it so much!
This card was from Angela in Canada and there are so many more I can't possibly show all of them but they are on my page on facebook.

And I thought my birthday was over!
The next day Friday 29th was EGST pie cutting meeting at Dimiourgies cafe in Kalamaria.

 Vivika of The Wandering Deer had organized everything.We gathered about 15 people and exchanged ideas and good laughs. We also made a small woven pendant.The pie was delicious but I didn't win the coin! I was very lucky though because one of the fellow Etsy friends gave me a beautiful handmade piece of art. You can find Manos' popRenaissance shop on etsy and his work is highly artistic! Thank you Manos for the gift!

On Saturday morning I attended the "Fairy tales around the world" performance with narrative and music at the local children's library. Maria Gkogka my old friend from the camp was the narrator and and Anastasia Alexaki and Olga Zerva the musicians. It was  a really beautiful performance!

On Saturday evening we had one more InMyCloset workshop meeting this time not in Anna' cozy kitchen but at Koumbi coffee & crafts. We had booked our places in this workshop a long time ago but till the end we didn't know what we were going to make. Anna had said it was a surprise! And indeed it was.
When I arrived at 7, the time of the workshop, everyone was already there and I was impressed by everyone's punctuality as usually I go first!
And guess what! It was not a "real" workshop! It was  a surprise birthday party for me!!!!!!!
I was so so touched by all the girls' thoughtfulness!
There was a delicious chocolate cake,

that was served in beautiful "English" dishes with assorted napkins,

there was a beautiful handmade card made by Kikitsa Stav, with a beautiful window open out to sunshine.

I really loved the interpretation she gave why she made the card like that . You can read all about it in her blog here.
There was a gift which I will spend in no time soon at IKEA.The girls know me so well!

But most of all there was so much care and love and friendship that I was very very touched!

 We had coffee and drinks and played board games and had a good laugh and it was fun!

Thank you Anna for organising all this.
And thank you to each and every one of the girls Kikitsa, Katerina, Evangelia, Elsa, Sophie, Eleanna, Nefeli, Angeliki and Vangelitsa who were present and Demetra, Christina and Christina, Efi, Lina, Martha, Vasso and Lia who couldn't be there!

They had all been organising this "behind" my back over on facebook, by privately chatting and managed to keep it a secret! How sweet is that!
The next morning Sunday 31st, I had one more surprise a birthday cake for me after our shadow puppet performance at Koperti from hubby and our best man and best friend Tassos, the school owner.

The weekend ended with a gorgeous sunset, a gift from the sky!

It was a great birthday! It's such a great feeling to be loved! Thank you everyone!