My Raw Birthday Party!

Yesterday was the most fantastic day ever! My family (those are my siblings, my sister-in-love Rebecca, my niece Karina, and my best friend and cousin Emily above) spoiled me in a completely acceptable way and I had...as David Wolfe would say..."the best day ever!" :0) I was a little bit nervous hoping that ALL of my family would like the meal and the dessert. I need not have worried...they loved it!!! That just made my day!

We had all sorts of toppings for the main meal: big bowls of mixed greens, romaine, and coleslaw, "raw corn chips", "fried mushrooms", "taco meat", celery, green pepper, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, sprouts, carrots, Vidalia onion, radishes, green onion, "Green Delight" dressing, and "Catalina Dressing". It was very filling and I stopped after one big plate. It was so funny my family was really hyper after the meal, I'm serious...we were laughing so hard and having such a good time.

Here's the famous cheesecake! It tasted incredible and my family LOVED it! They all wanted a second piece. (There's only one piece left and I'm afraid it's mine! ;0) I sprinkled the top of the cake with cocoa and lucuma powder and then after we cut it, we drizzled it with raw chocolate sauce.

I wanted to show you the creamy texture of the cheesecake... (sigh) so good!

This is me and my wonderful Grandparents! God gave me the most awesome heritage! I'm so glad we have the privilege of having them live with us.

After dinner, I opened my presents. I won't tell you all of them, but I will say about the gifts that are more "health" related quickly. Mom and Dad gave me a Pilates Mat...wahooo! I was so excited because what I use right now is so short and I happen to be tall at 5' 10 and 1/2"! Hopefully I'll have time to try the mat out today. And then, a dear friend of our family's gave me a really awesome book called "The Juicing Bible" (the 2nd edition)! That got me really excited too, as I only have one little juicing book and it's definitely something I want to get more into, especially in the summer with all that lovely, extra produce from our own garden. My best friend, Emily gave me $15 certificates for Booster Juice! Yay! ...SO that's some of the awesome gifts I got (they really blessed me...aren't birthday's fun? lol)

During games in the evening we munched on Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, even dipping them in the left over chocolate sauce (from the cheesecake). I was really surprised, my one brother (who is not into this whole "raw" thing) even liked them and admitted it. :0) He's not that crazy about cheesecake, but he really liked the cheesecake I made.

It was an awesome day leaving me with one thought: "I love my family!"