How We Do Birthdays


33 Comments
Happy birthday, Johnny!

Today is a big day in the OFB household. It’s a certain somebody’s birthday. I’ll give you three hints who:

  1. Johnny.
  2. JOHNNY.
  3. JOHNNNNYYYYYY!!!!!!

Here are a few things you may not know about Johnny:

  • He loves Southern food, especially fried okra and boiled peanuts. I’ve converted him to my Dirty South ways.
  • He’s excellent at remembering something I’ve had my eye on and then surprising me with it when I least expect it.
  • Someday he’ll be involved in politics. Govnuh Johnny 2032. (Of course, first we must find our forever place.)
  • He never loses his cool, which offsets me very well. 🙂
  • A certain five-month-old has already figured out he’s the funny one.
  • He listens and cares about every little problem or stupid story I share. And, boy, can I ramble.

Oh, and he’s sorta the best. Everrrr. With him by my side, I’m 1000000x better. That’s a lot.

And today we celebrate him! Our birthday celebrations are notoriously low key since neither of us enjoys attention on ourselves. Put all eyes on me, and things get real awkward, folks. Like any other celebration, we stick to a budget for our birthdays. We try not to spend more than $50 on gifts for each other. And we get to pick a nice place to eat (with Johnny it’s usually a place with good steak). And there is always delicious cake. I might not ever know what to buy my boy, especially when he wants really weird stuff. But I know that he loves him some homemade chocolate cake with ice cream.

But one of our favorite birthday traditions is combining our birthdays with a fun experience we’d already been planning. In years past we’ve done Harry Potter World and a live taping of Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Of course, we’ve also had birthdays where we’ve both had to work our tails off and barely had time to celebrate at all. But not this year!

As we celebrate Johnny’s birthday, we’ll be on Hilton Head Island for a few days. My brother is staying at our place and caring for our cat, Persie, while we try to go from translucent to just pasty-white. If we’re slow on commenting, it’s probably because we’re embracing beach bum status — or severely regretting going on vacation with a five-month-old. One of those two. It’s our first road trip with our girl, so wish us luck!

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33 Comments

  • Reply Joshua June 11, 2013 at 7:18 am

    Happy birsday Johnny! Live it up! You guys have a great time on Hilton Head ya hear!

  • Reply Emily June 11, 2013 at 7:19 am

    Happy Birthday, Johnny! And happy vacation, y’all! Hilton Head is the best, and at the very least you know it’ll be an adventure with your little girl. Have fun!

  • Reply Halsy June 11, 2013 at 7:30 am

    Happy Birthday! I agree fried okra is delicious…I wish I could actually make it where it tastes as good as it does when ate at a southern restaurant! Enjoy your trip! We just got back from a week on Fripp Island, SC(45 minutes from Hilton Head). We survived an 11 hr drive with baby girl. We traveled at night and she did great. On way back only 2-3 melt downs split over a 7 hr. drive starting around nap time and a 4.5 on 2nd day started around nap time again! She was so good…things went way better than expected and she loved her first trip to the ocean! Hope your baby girl does just as well and even better! We do pretty much the same thing for birthdays around here as you all. Now though within 1 month of end of May to end of June we have Mothers Day, baby girls bday, our anniversary, Father’s Day and hubby’s bday! I think we should pray for any other babies to be born in the winter 🙂 As budget gets tighter I’m sure how we celebrate will change and I’m ok with that! Again enjoy your trip!

    • Reply Halsy June 11, 2013 at 7:35 am

      I don’t know how I forgot to mention this but hubby surprised me for our anniversary on Sunday with an amazing present…he said he was finally on board to pay off my student loan with some savings! Woo hoo! I just pressed send this morning on my last student loan payment! Finally no more pesky student loan debt!

      • Reply Joanna June 18, 2013 at 3:51 pm

        Congrats, Halsy! That’s great news! We’re so happy for you guys. I can’t think of a better anniversary gift.

        And things went better than expected on our road trip with Baby Girl also! You guys were smart to drive at night and around nap time. If we take a longer road trip anytime soon, we’ve already decided to try the nighttime method!

  • Reply kate June 11, 2013 at 7:37 am

    happy birthday! enjoy! we’ll actually be in HHI for a week, starting next week. we’ve taken our son (who is 8 now) there every year since he was 0. it’s become a very special – and loved!- place for our family vacation. have a great time!

    • Reply Joanna June 18, 2013 at 3:52 pm

      Isn’t it the best? Johnny had never been and he immediately loved it. You guys have fun, Kate!

  • Reply Jordann @ My Alternate Life June 11, 2013 at 8:10 am

    Happy birthday and good luck on your vacation!

  • Reply Michelle June 11, 2013 at 8:29 am

    Happy Birthday! Have fun! 🙂

  • Reply debtperception June 11, 2013 at 8:53 am

    Happy Birthday Johnny! Enjoy your vacation!

  • Reply E.M. June 11, 2013 at 9:28 am

    Happy Birthday Johnny! I hope you guys enjoy your vacation!

  • Reply Marlene June 11, 2013 at 9:42 am

    Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great vacation. I’m sure the little one will be great! We took our son everywhere with us when he was a baby.

    I may just have to add those claw things to my amazon wish list. I love oddball gadgets. Lol

    • Reply Joanna June 18, 2013 at 3:54 pm

      Thanks, Marlene! She was great! There were a few hiccups, but she loved experiencing all the new sights and sounds. We’re glad to have roadtrip #1 out of the way!

  • Reply Jake @ Common Cents Wealth June 11, 2013 at 10:21 am

    Sounds like an awesome time! Have fun and tell Johnny happy birthday for us. I’m jealous that you guys will be on a beack, hopefully the weather is nice for you.

  • Reply Chris June 11, 2013 at 10:40 am

    Uh, I think you made a typo. I’m sure you meant he wants really awesome stuff! Not sure why I don’t own those.

    Happy birthday and have a wonderful vacation!

  • Reply Sara @ Fit.Fun.Femme June 11, 2013 at 11:22 am

    Happy Birthday Johnny! Hope you three enjoy your vacation !

  • Reply Sarah June 11, 2013 at 11:33 am

    Happy Birthday!
    June must be the month for awesome people because my birthday is tomorrow. 😉 Hope y’all have a great vacation!

  • Reply Newlyweds on a Budget June 11, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    My husband and I also choose to do something fun for our birthdays rather than buy gifts. We’d rather save the money and put it toward a weekend getaway. Happy birthday Johnny!

  • Reply MomofTwoPreciousGirls June 11, 2013 at 1:24 pm

    I was blessed with girls who loved riding in the car and either slept or played the whole time. My oldest only had issues with drives between CT and RI. Go figure! When were on those trips I had to bust out the kiddie music CDs. Thank goodness the trip was about 1.5 hours bc if she was awake it was Six Little Ducks or nothing! Later on we discovered RockABye Baby CDs that are kid friendly, instrumental versions of your favorite rock groups! We were gifted a Smashing Pumpkins one. Still bust it out on late night travels!

    • Reply Joanna June 18, 2013 at 3:58 pm

      So awesome that you have good car riders! It was smooth sailing for our girl until the last two hours on the way home! I sang kid songs for two hours straight, and she still cried. We need more kid-friendly music so I don’t lose my voice! 😉

  • Reply Grayson @ Debt Roundup June 11, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    Happy birthday Johnny! Enjoy your time at Hilton Head. It is a great place.

  • Reply Emily June 11, 2013 at 3:27 pm

    Happy birthday and happy vacation! Enjoy the time away with the family. I think you’ll be surprised how fun traveling with a little one can be.

    • Reply Joanna June 18, 2013 at 3:59 pm

      Thanks, Emily! It was really fun seeing her experience so many things for the first time!

  • Reply Danny C. June 11, 2013 at 4:49 pm

    Our rule of thumb: When you take kids it’s called a “trip”, no kids is a “vacation”. Hopefully the imagery of those two words side by side makes it self-explanatory.

    • Reply Joanna June 18, 2013 at 4:00 pm

      Haha, that’s a great way to differentiate it, Danny. Johnny and I definitely know what you mean now that we’ve had our first trip with Baby Girl! 🙂

  • Reply jennifer p June 11, 2013 at 5:03 pm

    you guys are the coolest .i love reading your blog.
    i know what you mean about pasty,casper the friendly ghost here.
    happy birthday johnny and i hope you three have a great vacation.

    • Reply Joanna June 18, 2013 at 4:13 pm

      Thanks, Jennifer! Since having a baby on vacation prevented much sunbathing on my part, maybe you and I can be forever transparent ghosts together!

  • Reply Rob June 11, 2013 at 5:16 pm

    “But I know that he loves him some homemade chocolate cake with ice cream.”

    Happy b/day bud, I see that you’re a man after my own heart when it comes to decadent chocolate cake with ice cream! 🙂 And I see that you received your best present that a guy could ever have when you married that lovely wifey of yours. Great blog post, Joanna!

  • Reply Michelle June 11, 2013 at 11:05 pm

    Happy Birthday! I love fried okra too. Yummy.

  • Reply Cait June 12, 2013 at 1:18 am

    Happy birthday, Johnny! Enjoy your time at the beach 🙂

  • Reply Chris June 12, 2013 at 5:08 pm

    Happy Birthday! Enjoy your time at Hilton Head it’s beautiful!

  • Reply Timothy Mobley June 13, 2013 at 12:41 am

    Happy birthday! Enjoy your first family vacation and relax at the beach. Please do not reply to this comment 🙂 Oh yeah, fried okra is delicious!

  • Reply Laurie @thefrugalfarmer June 13, 2013 at 7:14 am

    Awww, sweet post. 🙂 And happy birthday to Johnny!! Can I say too, that the cake looks delicious?? Have a great vaca. 🙂

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