The night before my big departure back to Japan, we had a little birthday/goodbye party for me, marking the end of my 3 weeks at home. The lovely Salinas family offered to allow the celebration to be held at their casa, which is much more of a party house than mine ;) We decided to make it fiesta themed as I wanted Mexican food to be my last meal stateside. We brought out all things Mexican, including Tori's Dad, and had a grand time!
[Eat...]
We had an amazing assortment of appetizers including Mariko's famous spicy tuna, and Tori's guacamole. Daniel worked the bar making margaritas with his super cool Magic Bullet. And that was all before the main course! We ordered meat from El Gringo and created our own taco bar.
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| Tori's Guac. The bowl alone could have been my dinner. |
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| No one was going hungry. |
[Smile...]
The Salinas' had so many props de Meixco that we decided we just had to take advantage. We pinned up a huge Mexican flag blanket and aimed to take as many ridiculous pictures as we could.
Mission accomplished.
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| Olé ! |
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| The Salinas Family |
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| The Bohan Family |
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| Getting organized. Got to make sure the tequilla bottle is visible. |
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| Smile! |
Family fun at its finest!
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| Fathers and daughters. |
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| Mothers and daughters. |
[Be Merry!]
After seeing the paper party hats at the store, I knew I had to enhance the party with a few more little treats, preferably ones that reminded people of their childhood. I grabbed a pin the tail on the donkey game which turned out to be a hit, and the Salinas' surprised me with a piñata! A Dora the Explorer one no less!
First you spin...
...then you pin...
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...then we laugh at how not even close you were to the actual tail location.
First you hang... ...then you hit!
Elementary School Reunion
My Elementary School best friend, Kelli, who I hadn't seen in years, stopped by to say hola and partake in the fun. We grabbed Lauren and had a little Tulita photo shoot, during a conversation that primarily consisted of the phrase, `Remember when...?!`
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| Kelli, Kate and Lauren |
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| No idea what we're doing. |
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| Childhood BFF |
And finally, no birthday party is complete without birthday cake, red velvet to be exact.
Thank you everyone for making this day so special,
(especially you Salinas'!!!)
Kate
[The Latest]
Must Read: Five Things We Learned About Back-to-Back Debates from CNN
Google Search: running in Tokyo
Accomplishment: A successful trip back to Japan, and a lovely run in Yoyogi park
Obsessions: a few new candles that I got for Christmas, and my big brown boots
so much fun loved it!!
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