Wham, BAM, birthday!

The first week in June marks 2 repetitive events in my life every year for the past 5 years. The Art Fair in the Village and my birthday. Yes, they are forever to going to fall on the same week as long as I am physically able to be in the restaurant business. 

The Art Fair in the Village is an amazing event that takes place the first weekend in June. This year over 60 art vendors came to the area to set up their tents & sell their product for 2 1/2 days. And this year, we had GREAT weather! This weekend meant a few things for Cerulean this year:

1. The one and ONLY time a year we open the restaurant for breakfast. Mmm, yummy breakfast. Doors open at 8.00am. 

2. The inaugural Art Fair for the Garden. We opened the Garden early at noon so we would have overflow lunch options from the restaurant. Boy, did we ever!

Dog Days seemed rather fitting : )

3. The official 'kick off' to summer and one of the busiest/longest days we experience all year. For example: I was at the restaurant at 7.02am on Saturday & left the restaurant @ 9.38pm. My break consisted of (literally) running home, changing out of my sweat drenched clothes into dry clothes & eating a pb&j as I walked back to the shop.

The fun side of this day was not only the yummy family breakfast that we all partake in after the crowd disperses and we begin to prepare for lunch, but bar-tending in the Garden. It has been a long time since I have managed a bar on my own and let me tell you, it is addicting. One shift out there and I instantly want to do it again. I love serving people, I love engaging with people, I love the feeling of being almost overwhelmed to the point of cracking...but not quite. : ) It was a great challenge on my birthday! I suppose it helped me feel young.....

So despite the phone ringing off the hook and customers getting upset that we would not take their reservation for lunch- it was a WHAM of a day. Close to 200 covers each lunch and dinner & a record in sales on the day. It may be long and taxing but BAM, it's worth it!

However, the best part of the weekend was Sunday. Ah, Sunday! Caleb decided to build me a deck for my birthday (yes, that's what I said) since I told him I would like to have a simple cookout when he asked what I wanted. He had received a grill for his birthday so I thought it would be fun to hook it up, have a few people over, cook some burgers, and just relax outside for an afternoon. And just when I thought this weekend could not get jam-packed enough...This is what I got:

AMAZING! Monster deck, friends, family, Banks' buddy, Alfie... it was a wham.bam.weekend.