Wonderful surprise

On Thursday, November 3rd, there was a big, unexpected and wonderful surprise for me at work. A very tasty lunch (from a mid-eastern cuisine restaurant), birthday cake and presents! All these were meant as a belated birthday acknowledgement and appreciation.... I was born in the month of August, 1965...
The presents were a stainless steel personalized coffee mug (yes, my name is written all over it!) and a very generous $120 gift certificate issued for my favorite cake supply store. I was so touched and moved by all this, I was crying..., it really touched my heart! I was caught by surprise, didn't expect any of this!, did not have my camera with me so I asked one of my colleagues to take pictures with her smart phone camera (thanks Irma!).

 Sorry I did not have the presence of spirit to photograph the cake before it was sliced... Tasty sponge cake with pistachios cream filling, decorated very nicely and tastefully.

A section image for you:

Here is an image with (almost) all my presents:

.....* Side note *....
You see, when my birthday came around this year I was visiting my older sister and her family who are living in Oradea, Romania. Here you can see from left to right: Constantin (my brother in law), Emil (my younger nephew - 20 years old, also known as "mormolocu' lui tusica"), me, and Costin (my older nephew - 23 years old, tzuca-l tusa!)

 And here is my beloved sister Dorina (in the far right) making faces for the camera... Don't be fooled though, she is a very smart woman, a primary school teacher ("institutoare" after graduating college), hard working lady with a Master's Degree under her belt!

I turned 46 years old this year (can hardly believe it myself!- as I don't feel older than 30-35); my sister, my brother in law and both my nephews made me feel like a queen on my birthday. Hey, who took my tiara??

With a tasty chocolate cake,

lots of flowers,

and a horse back riding session late in the afternoon...

because they remembered me telling them how much fun I had a few years ago when I had the chance to learn a little about horse back riding...

*back in time* - a younger version of me (at almost 40 years of age) having the first horse back riding lesson:

This is fun, not as scary as it may seem, I was really enjoying myself:

But time goes by, I'm not as young anymore (although I don't feel any older!) and not so willow-y as I used to be.... so back to the present time.... 2011 by the grace of God.

We all had fun on my birthday this year, changing the candles on my cake to make me look older than 46... Hey, don't I look damn good for 64??? ha ha ha ha

Better yet, how about 94??  ha ha ha ha ha ha

The cake was pretty tasty, see for yourselves:

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family in Romania and USA, great colleagues at my jobs (dental office and research & development lab), and loyal friends all over the world,  is so nice to feel loved and appreciated!

Excuse me for a minute please, tears of joy and gratefulness are choking me again...